Walmart has a clever / corrosive effect on brands.

· Bits and Bobs 3/2/26
  • Walmart has a clever / corrosive effect on brands.
    • Walmart can marshal insane amounts of demand.
    • If a brand is about to invest in brand-building marketing spend, Walmart forces them to invest in lowering the price instead.
      • If they don't, they won't stock them on the shelves.
    • This benefits consumers and Walmart, but it harms the supplier.
      • Any time a three-way ecosystem is this out of balance, it is in the long-term bad for all participants.
    • The supplier becomes increasingly dependent on Walmart, and Walmart has more leverage over them.
    • Premium brands might be hollowed out by consumers seeing them as cheap, transactional.
    • It's a monkey trap: short-term benefit to the brand at long term cost.