Why Walmart failed in Europe
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- Опубликовано: 21 ноя 2024
- The US supermarket chain Walmart is the most successful company in the world. But it also has a problem: its concept works particularly well in the United States of America, where it was invented - in Europe, however, a planned expansion failed miserably around 20 years ago. Why? Let's find out.
A film by Matthias Schwarzer
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Sources for the video:
Why Walmart failed in Germany (Spiegel, German language):
www.spiegel.de...
Walmart's failure - a chronology (Spiegel, German language):
www.spiegel.de...
Walmart business figures in 2004 (Manager Magazin, German language):
www.manager-ma...
Walmart ethics code angers Germans (DW):
www.dw.com/en/...
Court: Also Walmart employees are allowed to love (Stern.de, German language):
www.stern.de/w....
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Intro song:
MÆT - Start Again
Music:
Epidemic Sound
#usa #walmart #retail #shopping #food #economy
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In the states the greeters are mainly there as an anti shoplifting measure and i believe stage carts they have mostly been do away with the anti shoplifting is now done by cameras and secret shoppers offically called loss prevention that walk around in plain clothes prending to shop while looking for lifter that they then call the police on
You could make a video : Why Lidl failed in Norway.
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U deserve 10 million subscribers and Billions of views
Excellent quality content
@@christopher9727 Did they shop at Walmart then ? 🔨🛠🔩🔩✝️
I live in the UK. Once, a few American hair salons started popping up. I was walking past one when suddenly, out of the blue, this young girl popped out with a fake smile and a fake script telling me how wonderful they were and if I needed a hair cut.
The unwanted approach, coupled with utter fakery, just creeped me out. It must have creeped everyone else out as well…because they’ve all disappeared.
.
Their image of perfect customer service really feels like an uncanny american dream skit to us
Ever been to Egypt as a tourist? 😂
Trust me they won't leave you alone
@@Ligmaballinthat’s tourism areas
I'm American and this sort of thing makes my skin crawl too. I think an air of friendliness is more natural here, so maybe it's possible to go further without it seeming overly fake, but you can definitely go too far over the top. And if I ever had to participate in employee hype sessions at the beginning of the day, I'd be looking for a new job real quick. In any case, there's a Walmart down the street from me, and they don't have to force smiles there.
As an European I think a good grocery store experience is when absolutely no-one talks to you.
Self-checkout for the win.
I don't think that's a blanket European thing. That's a you thing in your area. We're not one country.
That's usually how shopping goes in the US for the most part. Most people don't even have Wal-Mart near them
@@charisma-hornum-friesit absolutely is a wester Europe thing
And a japan thing these days theres restaurants these days where you don't have to talk to anyone there ,heavenly sounding @@fakedthunder
May I also suggest that another point of failure for Walmart is that, in comparison, European and UK shopping is much more local, so we don't need to buy in bulk and can manage with smaller fridges. If it's only 10 minutes to your nearest supermarket, we can easily shop multiple times per week.
Since most of us North Americans drive anyway, even in dense cities, and we're by default lazier and have bigger friges/freezers at work, we'd prefer to do one big grocery every week or 2 given the option anyway.
There is a big difference in the rules for land use between the US and Europe. It is strictly separated in the US while mixed use is allowed in Europe, so that supermarkets can be located inside residential areas.
That's an effect, not a cause. Local shopping used to be a thing in the US too, before Walmart and similar destroyed all the downtown shopping areas.
@@StephanePare It's not like you have much sensible choices other than driving around in a car to get around in the US. Living in the Netherlands, I have like 10 supermarkets within a range of 1 km radius. Al tho admitted, this is bit on the extreme side since I'm in the middle of a big city. But even in the smaller places I have lived, I usually have choices from 2 to 4 supermarkt I could go to within a radius of 5 km.
The superstores here like Walmarts are also generally at the skirt or outside the city. Since they need lots of space which generally isn't available in the middle of a city here in Europe. And if there was space, it would be on an industrial zone site. Making them less assessible compared to around the corner shop.
And at least the only german ex Walmart i know in Wurzburg had not nearly the same productr range as in US. Some clothing and electronics extra...
I think it's a misunderstanding that Europeans don't like friendliness from staff. We like it, but we don't like unnecessary, over the top, insincere friendliness.
yep
Exactly.
This
Hell, even in friendlier countries like Spain, that would be considered weird. Nobody likes fake cheerfulness.
yes, it's the fake smiles and scripted lines. It's creepy
I can't believe they make Walmart employees chant "Walmart....Walmart" before their shift. That's so degrading. You couldn't get away with that dystopian shit in Europe.
Was thinking exactly the same. USA is such a cult.
Gimme a break, dystopian shit was born in Europe.
@@killval849 Nearly every country on earth has a dark past, but I would like to think in 2024 we could treat everybody fairly and with respect.
@@bkkp5468what are you a soft serve
(Okay, let's give me a rhythm!)
(Follow me)
We are, we are Walmart
We are, we are Walmart
(Everybody!)
(One more time!)
We are, we are Walmart
(Last time!)
We are, we are Walmart
(Okay, me now.)
Young man, young girl
Welcome to Wally-world
You’re gonna be a cashier someday
You got a smile on your face
You love this place
Movin' those carts all over the place
Singin'
We are, we are Walmart
We are, we are Walmart
(Two more times!)
We are, we are Walmart
We are, we are Walmart
1. we have unions
2. we have minimal pay
3. we have laws against unlawful dismissal
4. we have ALDI, Lidl, Edeka, Rewe, etc.
5. we don’t need it
Europe Is not a country, not all of those appeal to every country
lidl for life
@@littlefinger4509 Except for maybe the 4th point the other points all apply since I'm fairly sure it's a requirement to some degree for membership in the EU.
@@VonArens Italy has no minimum wage
1.-3. are not unique to Europe and also exist in the USA. 4. and 5. are redundant and an example of stupid internet "arguments". And 5. particularly is not a committee decision but something the market economy will eventually decide. All in all quite a worthless post.
I worked for an USA company that had an affiliate office in Northern Europe.
Once they sent an office inspector from USA to inspect our office. The outcome of their inspection was that the office elevators had no seismic sensors and there was no evacuation shelter in case of a tornado. We were flabbergasted of the level of ignorance explaining to them that we don't have earthquakes nor tornadoes here.
Second continuous struggle was with the hiring quotas where we needed to explain in every hiring process why we didn't hire a black person again. Each time we needed to explain that our country's black population is 0.00001% and we don't even ask peoples race or ethnic background here. We're not racist enough to do that.
Crazy
Wow you sound stupid in Northern Europe, I bet you might not be out of STONE AGE and have Central Heating and AC???
American lensing is fucking insane, a heady combination of ignorance and arrogance. It's not just the idea that Everywhere Is Like America, but also the idea that, if it's actually proven to them (eventually) not to be like America, then surely It Must Want To Become Like America.
Americans, even in business settings, are crazily unhinged and utterly US-centric. Zero wisdom or sense for the world outside of the US. Solipsism through and through.
"our country's black population is 0.00001%"
That IS the problematic part for Americans. How can they "solve" racism if there's no racism to begin with??
I worked in a call center, which answered for American companies. We where the Nordic office. One company that for the first time opened a nordic line(s) asked us to thank you for calling us, asked us to say their call is important etc.
We told them, that will backfire. It will come off as rude and that you look down on people. People here KNOW you don't see them as important if you call a support hotline. No one thanks you for calling them here, it's like someone would thank you for using the bus when you enter it. It's just weird...
We got a lot of complaints about it, especially from the Danish people whom didn't filter their complaints at all. So it just took a week before that "Americanization" talks disappeared and we did it the Nordic way. Which is to say "Welcome to XXXXXXX Tech support, how can I help you?" which is much more standard and polite according to us Nordics.
@@linuxares same here in the slightly less Nordic Netherlands. Had a chat online with eBay the other day and the fakeness was off the charts. They kept thanking me and complimenting me without giving an actual answer. Since the eventual answer was basically ‘no’ I felt a bit angry about this disingenuous way of communicating.
I'm American and I hate it too. Fake niceness is annoying to listen to and to give. There's being friendly, and there's "corporate friendly" in which you're not really listened to and feel like you're dancing around issues since no one can be direct. They tend to short circuit when the script isn't followed.
Are you in France as it sounds very much like french customer service.
@@linuxares Same here in the UK. We don’t like the artificial, over the top saccharine sweetness of the American way of answering the telephone.
@@linuxares thats how we in the netherlands do it too
I'm American but studied abroad in Austria, in a rural town for a long couple months. I was slightly annoyed that I had to go to a specific store (shoe store, electronics store, groceries) to get what I needed instead of getting it all in one store like we do in Walmart in America. But later I realized this is how life should be, each of those stores was local, and they specialized in their craft, i.e shoes/groceries/etc. It shouldn't be one big corporation selling everything as it completely destroyed countless mom and pop shops as we call them here. One company should never rule all.
No I spent time in Hell Hole Paris and Amsterdam, total GARBAGE Countries!!! No wonder they are failing!!! No country should be that messed up!!!! Horrific!!
Admit your IQ is only 100-115 and you are under 30 with NO Life Experience GOTCHA!!!
In fact it saves your time. You don't need to navigate all the groceries, electronics, and dozen of other departments when all you need is shoes.
It’s funny this documentary outlines why American companies are shit why American employees are broke and Phil abused at work. They have no representation in the workforce the companies fight against unions and try to brainwash people.
@@adaslesniakwe have malls you know. In malls you can find different stores and they are in every neighborhood
Good to see in Europe we have laws protecting employees from this kind of malicious corporations.
Worker protections start with the workers themselves and their solidarity. The law protects those who protect themselves.
@@JonathanMaddoxWorker solidarity and protecting themselves? That sounds like a good place to start a union. I've heard rumors though, that the US isn't very union friendly.
@@cy-one Right, probably because of all the capitalists.
@@cy-one When there's a strike in Europe, people are annoyed by the strike and the inconvenience it causes. When there's a strike in the U.S., half the population (those who vote Republican) see this as evidence that unions are evil and need to go away.
In the UK, Walmart bought ASDA (Short for Associated Diaries), a long established family chain since 1920s
It didn't work they sold the chain in 2021. When they originally took over they had greeters at the entrance, But they didn't last that long. I believe there was too many long established Supermarkets in the UK.
Tesco Sainsbury's Morrisons.
You were correct about Kelloggs they are known as Frosties all over Europe, I have a friend who works at the main Kelloggs factory in Europe In Trafford park in Manchester.
Another thing not mentioned in the video or the comments, something that really put a dent into Walmart's strategy in Germany, was that their main way of outcompeting their rivals was outright banned in Germany. In Germany during imperial times in the 19th century, they implemented a law to ban the sale of certain produts below purchasing value. So if the package of flour would have cost the salesman 1 Mark to buy from the mill, he could not sell it for 80 Pfennig, in the hopes that soon he would be the only one selling flour in that city, thus outcompeting everybody else, until he is the only one left, and then suddenly flour would cost 2 Mark. This law was implemented back then to ensure food security for the lower classes, and thus prevent uprisings against the monarchy.
In the US Walmart repedeatly uses this strategy to strip entire towns or even regions bare of local competitors. When they tried to do the same in Germany, they were shocked that this was not possible for them. Apparently Walmart leadership did not check the Germany laws, as they did not do on German union law. (When they learned that other supermarket chains willingly had representatives of the unions on their leaderboards, they saw them as outright communists.) So the courts forced Walmart Germany to raise its prices on basic goods like flour, milk, bread and the likes. So the profit margins of like 7-8 % that Walmart HQ had hoped for never materialized, because European, and especially German supermarket chains, operate on a much smaller profit margin of just 2-3 %.
So the US governors go after Microsoft for having their own web browser, but is OK with Walmart killing off small business owners in the American country side ... that's why lobbying is a thing, I wonder how many lobbyists Walmart employ in Washington DC.
well they shouldn't have done!Walmart should have gone into Germany and annexed them and added them to their empire and subjugated the German peoples' Republic of die Deutschland volke fatherland .Walmart were supposed to making mountains of money,coming out of their ears so that they could buy things.now look!stuck in poverty on the breadline,with nothing to look forward to,trapped on benefits for life,stuck in one town.you need money if you want to buy things!
It's called "loss leaders". Every supermarket chain has a FEW items at insanely low prices to get you in the door hoping you'll buy other things too. Walmart convinces people it has the lowest prices ON EVERYTHING but that's not really true: in some cities another supermarket has lower prices on average, and often Walmart's "great discount" is just 50 cents less on a $10+ item. But people believe the hype and shop at Walmart.
As for Walmart expecing 7--8% profit, that sounds unlikely. Even American supermarkets have a 2-3% profit margin. If you want 7-8% you don't open a supermarket, you sell a niche luxury item or invest in stocks.
You don't fuck with german supermarkets, these people are insane, they see a company like Rewe and go "Nah, I'd win"
What you said doesn't really make sense as such - if they're not allowed to undersell, they would make more money in the short run at least, not less. They would have to deal with competitors, but then price wars would be forbidden by law and it wouldn't be as much of an issue. They just couldn't hike up the prices beyond what competitors would do, which Walmart really isn't known for anyway. It's more that they sell a lower volume, rather than the margin being lower.
They basically failed because they didn't do their research. They tried to force American work/shopping culture on a country that has actual laws in place against their practices and to protect employees. When customers found out, they just went elsewhere.
love how they ask you to be as friendly as possible, but also if you're too friendly with your coworkers, you can be fired. Wow.
But if you're friendly to the people you see every day you might try to form a u-u-u-u-u-UNION!!!!!!!!!!! 😱
Slavery on new level....American way..
I would say, before viewing the whole video, i already bet that they failed on Europe because of Unions 😂
Like, we europeans always have a worker union. On everything! @metalgear6531
To everyone in this chat, Jesus is calling you today. Come to him, repent from your sins, bear his cross and live the victorious life
@@JesusPlsSaveMe Beat ya to it by about 27 years. Been meaning to ask more about my church's housing ministry though.
Fun fact regarding greeting, when Circle K rebranded the gas stations Statoil used to run in Norway, they tried this whole "unnecessarily fake/friendly greeting" that all employees had to do. Regardless what we were doing at the time, if we were cleaning, restocking, making food, actively dealing with another customer(!), every time a new customer came through the door we were supposed to drop everything and give them a smile and a wave and say "Hello, and welcome to Circle K!".
I saw it for what it was and refused to do it even once, and it took not even a week before head office said to completely drop it because they had received thousands of complaints from both employees and customers.
I remember something similar when our local statoil rebranded to circle k, made me instantly miss the more chill feeling of statoil. thank god they dropped it
Swede here. Curious if they tried this in Sweden, too. I'm absolutely moved to tears that not only did complaints come in, but that they were in the hundreds of thousands.
I'm always met with greetings when i shop at CirkelK, but that's probably because i shop there way to often.
Fun fact, another of the big gas stations chains in Sweden is called OK ... i swear I'm not making that up.
same in UK with Starbucks - ".. hello, can I have your name please.." - .. ooh just f**k off an' gimme my caffeine before I pull all your teeth out motherf***er..
Personally makes me uncomfortable when I'm just minding my own business and someone invades my information field to drop something useless like a fake smile with "hello and welcome" and suddenly I'm engaged into a social interaction that I did not want nor need, it's draining
The moment you mentioned the first reason I immediately understood why Walmart failed in Europe: they didn't adapt to European standards in any way shape or form.
The main reason is they ignored laws and practiced outright criminal activity.
Another thing is that in Germany you can't really sue someone to shut them up like you can in the US. In German courts the losing party has to pay ALL the costs, including the opponent's lawyer.
So if a company sues people when it's obviously wrong it will get really expensive, really fast for them.
@@Kalenz1234 Yeah it seems to be very common for US companies to not do their due diligence when acquiring European companies. I also have some fun stories of a US company that acquired my European employer.
Let’s just say they didn’t realise you couldn’t fire people with a permanent contract, they didn’t realise people compare salaries here and everything just seemed very US minded regarding workers rights. It was a costly lesson to learn for them.
Note that this company in the US is seen as very ‘people first’. As a European it’s just not even meeting the bare minimum.
100%
it is what a colonizer does.
@@jeanmartin963 a failed colonizer in this case.
You forgot to include "guns" 0:19
The thing that amazes me most about Walmart are the greeters. Partially for stuff like the fake friendliness, but a company that tries to squeeze every dime out of their employees that still pays people to just stand there and say "Hi" to people. It's fascinating.
I found that ridiculous as well. I think the assumption is, that this creates some advantage over your rivals - it became a disadvantage right away.
Their main function is not really to say hi, but to check your receipt against the un bagged large items and watch for theft. They call them greeters but they are really security guards.
I mean, if it saves them momney from preventidng shop lifting its probably worth it. just feel sorry for those employees.
@@EmilyGOODEN0UGH Wait you guyd don't have cameras, alarms and sensors to check if someone steals?
the thing I don't get is how are Americans okay with the whole fake friendliness thing? Doesn't it annoy them? This is basically them saying "Hello, see how friendly I am? Spend a lot of money here". And of course it's not the employees fault, I bet they don't enjoy this one bit
American here: you dodged a major bullet bullying Walmart out of your country. It actually doesn't work here, its a giant parasite leeching majorly off government benefits and major employee abuse.
they bullied themselves out by completely ignoring german laws and culture
Walmart is successful in America because they privatise their profits while socialising their costs. So you subsidise the walmart, then you can pay for the foodstamps for its workers. Because working full time should never pay a liveable wage, that's socialism!
@@snowrabbit9558Not really, the pay just usually is not good.
@jackpkm I'm sad to hear that. Europeans benefit from previous generations standing firm.
I hope you in the US will be able to unify against the many (not all) cooperations eksploiting their employees.
God luck 👍🍀❤
" It actually doesn't work here"
The number suggest otherwise.
"leeching majorly off government benefits"
That would be any store that accepts EBT cards.
Walmart was one of the main causes of the demise of small town America. They put in THOUSANDS of stores in the mid-west. Those ln small towns started driving 25 or more miles to save money. Small businesses in the town could not compete and went out of business. Jobs declined. When walmart had snagged all of the business, they SHUT DOWN OVER HALF OF THE STORES. So those rural folk went from driving 5 miles to shop went to 25 then to 100 miles. Towns died, the poor tripled and jobs were few and low paying. And rural America has never recovered.
Thats capitalism for you....
Yeah, wonderful Walmart destroyed a lot of small town businesses. 😬
Its a toss up between walmart and Monsanto for worst corporation
@@StofStuiver unregulated capitalism.
@@nadiabairamis3854 If its regulated, its not capitalism.
"We don't smile in Germany. In general, and also not in the supermarket".
You smiled while saying that! But yes, it is so right. I would be so creeped out by an overly smiling employee.
@@SIC647 Yes, but he smiled at us, because he's communicating with us and there is some pre-existing social agreement between a video essayist and their audience. Smiling at a total stranger who is trying to mind their own business and doesn't want to engage with you is more of an invasive action.
That Americans refuse to accept that other countries have their own culture and want to have everything their way is very American of them.
@PersimmonHurmo
That’s a broad brush to paint all Americans with.
We Americans don’t like the way the that the American government and American businesses are either.
"That Americans refuse to accept" Corporations do not represent the people of america. The greedy, fascist, is not representative of those who live under there boots.
As an American, the majority of us understand other countries exist. You seem to forget how multiracial the United States is. Within our country, we experience cultures in small bursts from all around the world. And Americans often admire the cultures of other nations, and most of us are honestly quite jealous of them. We want free healthcare, better workers rights, maternity leave. Perhaps you should look upon yourself, as you are doing the very thing you accuse Americans of. We're not all that bad, I promise. I myself am studying history from all around the world in university, and I have many other (thousands upon thousands) of classmates who are also dedicated to learning about the world we live in.
@@leonardo.diCATio No tendency ever includes 100% of occurences. Obviously, there is going to be "some" americans who travel abroad and won't make a fuss if their is no AC in their hotel. What we say is that many would (make a fuss).
@@leonardo.diCATio Stereotypes are based on some level of facts. The problem is that most of the Americans much of the world see's or hears are the loud, generally obnoxious ones. The vocal minority if you will. It doesn't help that American media reinforces a lot of these stereotypes either.
Walmart also requires a car dependent society, the whole model is about being a “1-stop shopping” experience, this is only possible with individual car ownership. So it’s not surprising that any region that has a pedestrian/cyclist focused social model is an anathema to stores like Walmart.
In my mexican town there is a walmart that people only go to, to buy a tv or because they are bulk shopping. When I'm low on something I just go to the local store to get what I'm low on
We here in the US if we live rural, are not close enough to some products or food to pick up groceries daily. Much less be able to walk/bike to them. And in my case I am 70 years old, and live atop a rather steep landscape. But, yes, I avoid Walmart.
Channel: Notjustbikes
@@tanikokishimoto1604 As a kid I lived rurally too in a small town in Switzerland of 1000 inhabitants. The next supermarket we usually went to was roughly 10-15km away (6-10 miles).
However there was a bakery 5min by foot away and several small stores within 15min by foot.
Now I live in a city and the next supermarket is very close, 100m from my door. It isn't big but has everything I usually need, especially the vegetables & fruit sections are big comparatively. Otherwise there's enough shops on my way to work or home that I can go buy groceries without issues several times a week.
This is the case for any large supermarket. Tesco, Carrefour, and probably others I'm not personally familiar with succeed with the same business model in Europe
I am an American. My son worked for Walmart for 10 years. I refuse to set foot in a Walmart store. They are anti-union, they put small, locally-owned businesses out of business, and they're doing their best to destroy American manufacturers by having their cheap, shoddy products made at slave labor prices in Asia.
Sadly big chains destroying local competition isn't something we can call a difference between the US and Poland. Żabkas everywhere.
"They are anti-union, they put small, locally-owned businesses out of business"
Customers make the decision where to shop. Walmart isn't putting anyone out of business. Customers that are willing to drive 45 minutes to save $10 on a small appliance are what put the local places out of business.
Walmart does things for its employees that many small businesses cannot do.
Full benefits, including retirement with match. They will pay for your entire college degree - imagine coming out of high school and getting a job at Walmart that now starts (in almost every place) around $16.50 per hour. You then work there while getting your college taken care of, even if you took six years doing it part-time, you were literally paid $200,000 by Walmart, graduate with no school debt and can move onto another career that is more along the lines of your degree and leave walmart behind. That is a company that has hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in you and yet they will pay to educate you to work somewhere else.
Walmart bad though.
they don't need a union either and the vast majority of workers don't need one. You need to remove that brainwashing. Less you work in a steel mill or coal mine or oil rig where they are lying about your hours, keeping you from having the proper safety equipment and training, Unions are just a way to make people dependant on someone else and a HUGE money grab.
Union for stocking shelves, being a cashier and working in the back. Whatever. The only thing worse than that are Unions for coffee slingers at Starbucks - the least needed union ever.
@@mjs28s all those "benefits" you just named are things the rest of the world solves by their welfare system. That's what other countries take their taxes for. 16.50$ aren't good at any rate and you will get at least 17 USD in German supermarkets, potentially more.
A union is a fundamental piece in working capitalism, as it is the way to make everyone profit from their labour. Every industry needs a union and the concept of unions that are prominent in many parts of the world are negotiation clubs for all workers of a company or industry to negotiate all the wages, working hours, occupational safety requirements and other benefits of a company or an industry together. This works very well and is the key difference between the third-world-country the US is and the prosperity and health of the workers in the rest of the world.
Unions are the difference between low wage and nothing to make it up for in the US and 30 days of paid vacation, vacation bonuses, paid unlimited sick leave, higher wages, workers rights and many more civilisation in other countries which the US simply doesn't have.
Your attitude towards unions is the reason for the average American's poverty.
Dont talk so unamerican , you are a disgrace to critic a great succesfull rich american company the way you shamelessly do !!
here in nyc usual suspect looting stores and stabbngs
Every single time Walmart is brought into conversation is always "low prices", "item diversity" and "efficient logistics". Never is the most improtant ingredient mentioned: absolute miserable wages that require the government to intervene with food stamps that are needed for Walmart employees to survive. The answer to the question "how is this legal" is: corruption in all levels of the US administration and legislative systems.
You didn't really mention why Walmart failed. I think one of the reasons is that we in Europe, especially in Germany, not so car centrist. In 10 minutes walking distance I have 3 medium grocery stores (Aldi, Lidl, Rewe), a few small ones and bakeries. My refrigerator is never full, I always just go and buy a bag full of groceries when I need, and I have 3 children. Then in 10 minutes bus ride I have a shopping mall where I can buy clothes and misc. items. I just can't buy such huge quantities because I never have my car with me.
I think he pretty well explained why. As a Dutchman I feel Kaufland is enormous. So why can Kaufland exist, and Walmart not? He explained.
Indeed , in the Netherlands we too have Lidl and Aldi, but for the same reason as Walmart didn't succeed in Germany, the German Lidl and Aldi can not compete against the „local" supermarket Albert Hein, thag has far more shops. Even small quarters might have one or two. In Rotterdam you stubble on AH which is not even the cheapest of supermarkets, yet it has a high penetration.
@@Haroekoe He just brought up the different culture and the unions. Those are not really the factors Walmart failed. People would still buy stuff and Walmart would still make profit. The reason Walmart failed is because people didn't went there to buy. I would say there are two reasons: 1. people don't use cars here 2. people don't buy big portions here, not like in America.
Firstly, here Kaufland is well integrated into the city. You don't need to drive 20 km. You just hop on a bus/subway and in 10 minutes you can enter Kaufland. Kaufland is literally next to my residence. And the other Kaufland in the city are also directly in the city. This is already more in line with the German culture. We don't drive cars to buy stuff.
Secondly, in Kaufland you buy pretty much the same stuff you buy in Aldi. No huge portions like in America, but normal sized and the same quality. Sure, Aldi/Lidl are suppose to be cheap, but they are also high quality. Kaufland is cheap but they also care about quality. Walmart cared only about being cheap. We Germans care about both price and quality. This is why Walmart failed but Kaufland succeeded.
Das Auto ist es. Ohne Auto kann man nichts machen. Keine Fussgänger hier! Jetzt wird alles geliefert.
Faulheit.
@@holz_name The portions are a big part of it. So often I don't want to buy an enormous bag of stuff, I just want a snack. And it's so common in the US that you can only buy in bulk. Especially for those of us who use debit and not credit cards, it's anywhere from silly to idiotic to buy stuff you don't need just because it's bulk packaged. In fact where I live discounting offerings on multiple items of one type are already considered a mildly predatory practice by many. It saves you money, but only if you genuinely need that stuff, otherwise it compels you to buy stuff outside your means, and we don't like that.
@@holz_name
"Sure, Aldi/Lidl are suppose to be cheap, but they are also high quality. "
....And that's the moment you lost all credibility. 😆
I was living and working in Germany when Walmart entered the market. We dealt with them and one of the things that stood out the most was the arrogance and bullying they did with vendors, ignoring existing systems that they deemed insufficient. In addition their heavy handed relationship with the slave vendors also reared it's ugly head. Their demise was always just a question of time.
I was with a friend in Germany in the late 90's and was struck that WMT had trouble with the hours grocery stores were supposed to keep. Obvious they didn't like being forced to be closed on certain days or hours of the day.
Wait for Costco... they are also coming your way..
I actually had onboarding at an big american company which included: earthquakes, tsunamis in central germany(!), Bomb threads, amok /suicide attacks and floods ("keep extra clothing and meds in inside of your desk!) We even had to take a quiz about it. Well, after that I felt as prepared as possible.
Most people do not know this, but Walmart played a HUGE role in moving manufacturing out of the US and into China. They did this by bullying the vendors. If you want to be in Walmart, you must lower your prices... here's how you do it....
PERFECT - SLAVE LABOR , that's what it is all about at walmart
I'm European and as soon as you said about overly friendly behavior and greeting when entering, my immediate reaction was a resistance to go to such place. For me if I look at something and worker comes to talk with me without me making an eye contact or direct approach with questions first, I leave the shop. It's not even conscious decision, I just get a feeling I want to get away.
I'm English, not sure where in Europe you're from, however I feel the same. I hate it
@@gnomethegamer9706portuguese, same. Might be an european thing
I think it's because it's so obviously fake. You are selling stuff, I'm there to buy it, no reason to pretend we are friends. If a stranger pulls up and is extremely friendly, we expect a scam or some marketing ploy, immediately putting us on guard. Naturally I can't speak for Europe as a whole (I'm from slovakia)
Netherlands here, and it's the same here. Most people here percieve it as pushy and unwanted.
@@Martcapt agreed, I think we see through the falseness of it all
Better title: How Europe successfully resisted Walmart :D
Walmart failed in Europe because they couldn't keep out the unions. In America, there are nefarious ways companies keep out unions. I'm an American and even I know you can't have a company in another country and expect everyone to adhere to American standards. Also, that cheer they do creeps me out too.
When I started at Walmart last year, I was afraid they would pull this group cheer stuff or subject me to anti-union propaganda, but none of it has happened. However, there is no chance of a union in this region, and there is plenty of job competition in the local labor market for unskilled labor.
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What is unsaid, nobody cares about retail employee unions the cost diffrence is just not that much, the US mega corps are concerned that they have to use Union Trucking, Union Warehousing and Union Processing plants and will be at price disadvantage in respect to their peers.
It's not just unions. Unlike in the US, employee protection doesn't just come from the Unions, it's in the political parties programs too. It's in law mostly.
A simple thing like ultra low wages are not possible, due to minimum wages that are very much non-negotiable. Payed vacation and sick leave without limits are basic human rights here. It always horrifies me when my american friends talk about the amount of sick days they have.
I don't like the unions here (for several reasons), but I don't need them to have decent rights at my workplace.
@@BuzzinsPetRock78 You have those rights because unions and pro worker parties put those there gradually during the last 100 years. You might not be leaning towards the left, but if you ignore the company owned media trying to portrait everything leaning left as communism and look up socialism, you might discover that it's not there to enslave the people, but to empower the people ... the worst nightmare of all big companies.
As a European (Swede), those greeters and excessive smiles at the register would feel fake and dishonest.
I would definitely feel uncomfortable shopping there.
As for the motivation exercises, such cult behaviour would be absolute demotivators and demoralising. It's writing on the wall of bad management that focuses on insignificant surface solutions.
It's why the USA outperforms in many industries though. Create a cult around your industry and expect everyone to outwork your international competition. I'm not saying it's a healthy system, but it plays a huge part in Americans out earning most Europeans gdp per capita. It's also easy to earn more if you work an equivalent of 100 days more than a German for example. Americans work far more overtime and have fewer holidays on average. 😅😅😅 Europe mostly outperforms the USA only in specialty industries, tourism, and resource extraction per capita in the case of Scandinavia. I'd much prefer the Vacation days to the income sometimes, and other times I'm fine working more for more pay. To each their own.
@@viewer-of-content GDP per capita isn't what individual American workers earn, it's an aggregate with the capitalist class taking the lion's share. America goes out of its way to make itself a haven for capitalists, largely at the expense of American workers most of whom are paid only a fraction of the value they generate. This attracts wealthy migrants from other countries with stronger workers' movements and protections, which further inflates the GDP figure for the USA.
@@JonathanMaddox .
Indeed, quoting GDP percapita can be very mis;leading, it doesn't indicate general wealth. In 2020 the Waltons had more wealth than the combined wealth of 42% of US families.
@viewer-of-content Compared with Europe, the US median wealth per adult is very mid.
The US median wealth is better than Eastern Europe, but worse than Western Europe; with France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and UK being 2×-3× larger than the US.
I have the same feeling as European too. I like when people talk to each other politely and with honour but those American greeting are kind of fake and creepy.
I worked for the Uk's third largest supermarket company Safeway for twenty five years until 1999 until Walmart bought ASDA and entered the UK market . At that moment Safeway UK immediately lost the confidence of its largest institutional investor . Everyone expected that Walmart was going to crush the UK opposition .
Lidl and Aldi , on the other hand, responded by improving their fresh food offer to such an extent that they became the new destination for quality fresh food at discount prices and Walmart eventually left the UK .
Both Lidl and Aldi have cleverly avoided the need to offer on-line shopping and home delivery in the UK . They build smaller and more efficient sized stores and provide a more local and frequent shopping experience with quality and value at the core. Just Brilliant !
Did not know Asda was Wallmart...bought a whole caddy of food there once ...and had to dump most of it...was absolutely dreadful quality. Aldi is very nice and then Waitrose/M&S for splashing out on delis...LOL
Aldi realised in Switzerland that they can't build their check out sections like in Germany. They adapted to the Swiss style, which means not just to throw the groceries back in the trolley as fast as you can. There is actual room to pack your things. International stores should always adapt.
@@LeenapantherThey changed that model in the UK recently. I got banned off their FB page about 10 years ago for asking them why they had that timed system for the checkout staff here whereas in Germany and Belgium they didn't. 😅
@@Leenapantherthey still scan your stuff at the speed of light tho 🤣🤣
Similar in Switzerland. They adapted very quickly to the different habits of Swiss people compared to germans. SWiss people don't like to be rushed, thus they stopped askind the cassiers to scan everything sprint-style. They also added alot of local and quality products as alot Swiss people are VERY concious about shopping locally and have enough money to spend for quality rather than quantity. There was another shop called 'Saturn' which sported the slogan 'Geiz ist geil' (greed is great) and it was an utter failure in Switzerland. It had cheap products and the staff had no freaking clue whyt they were actually selling. Swiss not amused.
1:30 Hey, that‘s the Walmart in my hometown. Now it’s a shop called REWE, which is a cooperative of independent merchants. Business is doing great.
As the brilliant Southpark episode about Walmart shows, it works in the USA because it doesn’t have a proper downtown area in most places. While in Europe and Asia people like to go shopping in pedestrian friendly downtown shopping environments with smaller shops. For their groceries most people buy it in smaller quantities every few days.
And shopping is done less by car than in the USA, especially here in the Netherlands.
Apart from really small towns and hamlets, people in European cities do not necessarily go downtown to do their shopping, but buy their groceries from one of the nearby stores in their subdistrict, microrayon, or ward.
On example of Tallinn, Estonia, each ward in a district can have several grocery stores within walking distance.
Many wards are served by several conveniently-placed malls with amenities: pharmacies, opticians, hairdressers, laundry shops, the post office, automated delivery boxes, a cluster of competing ATMs, cafes, restaurants, mobile operators, dedicated stores each for electronics, watches and luxuries, and gyms. Some have a pawn shop, electronics repair, a vape shop, others have a cinema.
Grocery stores are situated in each block, and are within 5 minutes' walking distance.
Malls are within about 5...15 minutes' walking distance, and usually, each is separated several bus stops away from the other.
Some stores and malls in Tallinn are situated very close to one another, each within waking distance, and so, they form a mall or store cluster.
(Edit: Changed from 'subdistrict' to 'ward'; separated one paragraph, and added another.)
Even in the for-cars-only "new towns" in the UK they failed to manage ASDA like a Walmart, so there's more to it than that (they have competition from other supermarkets, instead of them being 5, 6, 7 + hours drive away like in half the US).
@mardus_ee same in belgium if you live in the city outside of the city it's like a 10 to 15min drive by car or a 15 to 45min bike ride.
It works well in the US because they have them in out-of-the-way locations, you need a car to get there, but we in the UK, hop on the bus.
@@mardus_eeAmericans see any urban area and call it “downtown” even if it’s not. Happens in my city all the time where people will call residential neighborhoods “downtown” because they happen to have a few high rises and pedestrian infrastructure despite being mostly residential.
As a Brit living in Germany, I remember seeing a documentary about Walmart's expansion into Germany and it was such a cringe. The staff during the morning motivation nonsense looked decidedly uncomfortable and were half-heartedly involved at best. They also don't pay their staff a living wage, resulting in most of them being on government subsidies - or in other words, the tax payer is actively supporting the owners' greed. Happy to see them go.
Yep, that sums up american large business
Get out of paying taxes, pay your workers so little that they need government assistance, get the uneducated mad at government for “feeding the animals” instead of mad for taxing them unfairly
Then convince people that those on government support are leeches while indirectly pocketing the money that the government supports
The main reason why Walmart failed in Europe is because they are used to being unregulated.
Germany is the single most regulated country in Europe.
I thought it was France 😅
@@etienne8110 Dont fight for the titel in regulation against germany ^^.
@@etienne8110I know that you can’t wash your own car outside your house in Germany, I doubt it’s France
@@semirelatablesarah one stupid regulation doesn t mean much.
You can t insult a camel in Djibouti, doesn t mean it s the most regulated country 😂
@@etienne8110 it’s not a “stupid regulation”, neighbours will call the police on you if they see you doing it.. I doubt anyone is actually being reprimanded for insulting a camel
I'm from Europe and if the shop assistants are too friendly with stupid smiles, I'd never ever go back. I want to buy stuff and not have a small talk with people I don't know and don't want to know.
Difference of cultures. Americans are a lot more friendly, I guess.
@@triple7marc more like fake
@@eevee2411 Nah. You just can’t grasp the concept of friendliness. Probably not very friendly yourself if I were to guess.
@@triple7marc apparently not then 👍🏻
@@triple7marc europe is a place with many countries, there's no "Europeans are X way" but people in most places in the world do not like fakeness and npc behavior, chanting walmart like a cultist and acting happy all day so the customer isn't upset is fake and depressing, at least if they were paid a lot more but they're not. Having some small talk from time to time is fine, having forced small talk because the job requires you to ... is just sad
Walmart failed in Brazil too, basically because they just imported their supermarket here without adapting to our cultrure. They tried to impose North American shopping patterns to Brazil, never trying to understand how we do stuf. After just a few years they closed all their branches here.
How do you do stuff?
@@ladripper47874 there are basically 3 main points Brazilian consumers didn't like about Walmart:
1. Over friendlyness. Like in Germany, the fake smiles didn't sit well with us. Here the employees are polite, but that very different from forced friendlyness.
2. Constant low prices. How can people not like low prices? The average Brazilian consumer likes discounts, if something is always cheap, people here don't think it's worth buying. At the end we end up paying the same amount.
3. One store for all your needs. People here like to browse different shops, walk around. There's one store here, Carregour, that sells many kinds of products, but is not so many different things like Walmart, and Carrefour already supplied this niche.
And there's also another point, we have strong Unions here too, and a minimum wage. Walmart couldn't keep its low prices (that people didn't even want) and pay its employees.
amazing non-explanation...and 98 likes. What kind of people actually follow this channel?
they failed because employees in BR have way more rights than in the US
The US culture is basically slave labor and we can do anything we want to do with you ! THAT doesn't work in BR
@@ladripper47874 Huge difference in culture, we dont eat cereal on breakfast for example. We dont like huge packages as well, and the more important, we like specialiazation. Our Walmart was full of generic eletronics, clothes, furniture, not a single person would by that stuff on supermarket here.
It is not smart to start a business in an other country not knowing the local shopping and labor culture, and not beware of local (labor) laws.
Also not smart to have management not aware of these differences.
I suspect they were aware of it, just like they were aware here in the states. They were successful here by starting in small rural towns and bullying the local governments until they got large enough to move to the suburbs and cities. They thought they would be able to just over power the local rules and laws. Oops!
C'mon Walmart thought they could just bribe somebody to overlook lawbreaking and everything else. And the inter company rules "Shop thy fellow worker". In a country that had lived through Gestapo and STASI. must confess though I have 5 shirts bought in Wamart/USA many years ago. They do last though.
On the contrary, a company like McDonald’s for example (which is nevertheless very American), did a wonderful job at expanding in Europe because they adapted to each country they set foot in, especially in France (which could have had the potential to make it fail spectacularly if they had tried to impose the American culture in the country of gastronomy).
@@andreameertas franchises, it’s the franchisee, who has to follow the countries laws rather than the “corporation” McDonalds
@@alanfairbrother890 Right, for the legal part. Even though the corporation can interfere (like Walmart did).
But for the cultural part, the direction to follow is given by the corporation. And that's what McDonald's are best at and Walmart sucked at 😂
17:10 because Europeans workers have rights and are protected by gov. ;)
same in Brasil, where they ALSO FAILED AND LEFT
The fake friendliness creeps me out.
europeans are boring and soulless after all
0:03 it says follow the streetname for 1km, not 300m
Even tho I am a native Spanish speaker I clearly understood "1 kilometer" 😂
Why would someone lie about that??
@@CarlosAlola I think that was just an error.
@@CarlosAlola my theory is "failed attempt to convert from meters to feet"
Maybe it said, turn in 300m and then follow the next street for 1km
They tried the whole greeter thing in their UK Asda stores too, the Great British public's response was predictably similar to that of the German's.
Walmart gave up on ASDA some time ago.
It wasnt a success. At all.
A bit like: Tesco tried to expand into Japan without doing any homework whatsoever, and failed instantly because the supply chain model is inverted WRT the UK.
Tesco tried to expand into the US with mini-stores - failed.
M&S tried France, failed. Its a cultural thing.
@@AnotherPointOfView944M&S was working in mainland EU. The problem was the supply chains after brexit. They couldnt get enough product over.
Asda is complete garbage. Their stores are horrible.
Not sure what the set up is for them now, but I was in an M&S in Malaga. So still in Europe in some way.
Does WalMart still control ASDA?
Our local ASDA's are doing fine, the whole " greeter" thing is a total hideous American trend and don't get me started on the motivational crap, I would just like to know the people there are paid a fair wage and on the whole seem to quite like their jobs, which seems to be that way at our local one, staff are always helpful and friendly without appearing false. And there are plenty of American owned firms in England which try to enforce their anti-union tactics on their staff (Estee-Lauder for one) and our government seems to let them get away with it, I'm imagining fat envelopes packed with cash sliding under boardroom tables here.
Americans: Walmart is the most dreadful place
Germans: Walmart is too happy
😂😂😂
We like happiness a lot. Just not of the faked, corporate kind.
@@MaticTheProtolie
@@Diesel-ER899 who tf are you
I think a lot of it is not national so much as socio-cultural.
Americans are by nature a majority of generally optimistic and positive people as a matter of natural selection.
We LEFT Europe with its stifling feudal structures and went to a new world of adventure, fortune, opportunity, struggle and challenge.
You stayed home under the heel of Popes, Kings and other despots. Grubbing away until Bolsheviks, National Socialists or others led you to wars. Then we came over and saved yer a**.
You want that back?
Putin is trying to give it to you.
I'm glad we don't have them in Europe. Bad for small businesses.
People who work in Walmart are not even friendly. I know because I worked at two different Walmarts in two different states and the employees really didn’t care. Basically because working in Walmart sucks. Worse job I ever had. Again, it depends on the state and city but I don’t Walmart starts at much higher than this. Maybe $15.00 an hour? Don’t quote me on that.
Correct. You ask them NICELY where this and this' are, which aisle, it's like squeezing blood out of stone.
. ..
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John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
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Jesus
How much would you be motivated to work if you were paid so little your own boss told you that you had to get on food stamps to survive. Walmart employees make up a huge demographic of those on welfare in the US. If my job didn't pay enough to meet basic needs I would half ass it too. @@luigivincenz3843
Maybe that is why they have them doing those positive mantras
you say its the worst job but people still works they.
Walmart also solve the problem of unemployment in local nearby area
I had a boss (another grocery company) who complained that I don’t smile enough at work. I told him that my Grandmother’s family was German, America is weird, and that we should do things the German way. That didn’t go over too well. He retired and I smiled! 😁
I'm 🇨🇦 Canadian and wish we had more aggressive protections here against massive corporations and their predatory worker treatment.
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LIKE OUTLAWING Communist Unions, we agree!!!
I always preferred Zellers.
@@nevarmaor yup zellers `100% was better.sadly the sold out to target which was a faied "expansion for target" still have a few unfinished/built target stores around here (like only 2 actually got built lol)
@@Shawnchapp Target did the exact same in Canada that Walmart did in Germany. Tried to act like an American store.
They also had an abysmal supply chain setup.
Employees having to chant „WALMART WALMART WALMART!“ Before every shift is crazy. Litterally a Cult
Not a cult. A humiliation ritual.
I’m immediately quitting the job if i’m told that nonsense is part of it. Very strange behaviour.
@@ajuiceboxxx agreed
Very much North Korean, having to shout and adore the name of the dictator.
@@lukasvandewiel860 true
I may be American but am allergic to WalMart. Thank you for a reminder of why I don't need to shop there.
Sounds like a certain Onion Skit 🤔
One time I spent 30 minutes in line just to buy a few things. "It sucks," would be an understatement.
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Walmart is not considered a shopping paradise in the US. It is more of a ghetto.
Yea it’s seen as a place you want to get in and out of despite only three lanes being open. Target and Publix are seen as non ghetto.
@@louisinese the blacks
@@louisinese How are Target and Publix prices compared to Walmart?
@@mihi2086 They are higher in prices, though target has its own brand like Walmart’s “Great Value” the clothes are good quality.
@@mihi2086wm only puts "cheap" prices in certain "selective" items but them increases the percentages drastically to others to trick ppl into thinking that they are cheaper, which, is not the case. A few of my local sm are way cheaper in general, even target in my area is cheaper in many items they just don't have such big varieties of the same thing like wm does, but hands down the shopping experience at tgt is way better.
Some years ago, there was an idea in Poland, in book store named Empik, to call customers by first names. When you paid with credit card they known your first name. Customers were so angry. It was breaking of personal borders. In Poland we use forms like Mr, Ms, Mrs and usually don't call strangers by name in shopping situations. And we don't need sellers to read our names from credit carts. Empik stoped this idea soon. There are many cultural depending factors in Europe.
@@agac4829 that's so fucked up, I'm glad I missed that 😭 if a stranger called me by my first name without warning I would die on the spot
"Hello Tomasz! I see here on your credit card record that you recently bought a HEMMROID CREME. How is that going, does it help? Anyway here is your receipt, Tomasz, have a nice day Tomasz XOXO" that's how I imagine the interaction 😅😊
Calling customers by their first names is crazy😂😂😂
This happened to me when I bought my last car. Halfway through going over the contract, the salesman started calling me by my first name. I was never so shocked in my life! I was easily forty years his senior. I had never met this in my life, so maybe he was just someone without much etiquette. Hopefully, he is not a representative of the new generation of salesmen.
The greetings alone would make me turn around in the instant
0:30 and bullets
Hell yeah brother
they do sell ammo and guns at my local supermarket. I used to buy 9mm there before they raised the prices
America f yeah!
Thank you, I needed that
Actually they don't sell Ammo in most stores any more it's fairly Rare
i think European shopping culture is just incompatible with the format. especially in higher density urban areas. Europeans don't like to do a 20 min drive to go to a supermarket just outside of town if they have more than one option at walking distance. you do see them more in less dense areas, but Wal-Mart can't sustain them self's alone on that and compete with Lidl, Aldi, Kaufland, Super U, ...... (depending where in Europe you are)
Large supermarkets like Metro have no problem sustaining themselves, but people go to them once a couple of weeks or even once a month. It's definitely not the Walmart model.
@erejnion Metro does well because it caters to hotel and gastronomy, with a possibility to directly claim the VAT.
There were similar stores in socialist Yugoslavia in every town ,on 3-4 floor and you could buy totaly everything ,from food ,to furniture ,electronic ,toys ,tools etc ,was call "Robne Kuce" ,there were 6 off them only in my city off 150 000 .But difference is that all off them were in center off city and not on outskirts.So we are not use to go to suburbs to buy stuff
@@marcusott2973 Plenty of normal people go to Metro too. But, again, they go like once a month.
@erejnion not denying that, but Metro's main turnover comes from resellers. From the biggest hotel chain to the smallest kiosk, they all buy stuff from Metro.
The last thing a European shopper wants while shopping, is an employee talking to them 😆Not because we look down on them, but Europeans are more introverted in public spaces. When I see an employee smile at me, I'm immediately thinking, 'Don't talk to me, don't talk to me, don't talk to me. PHEW, they simply walked by."
I can't speak for others, but in my experience it's because I feel like a jerk if I refuse their help when they offer.
Omg I hate if a employee comes to me offering help 😂 I know they're doing their job, but I'll ask for help if I need, thank you. It also gives me the impression I'm being observed, stalked around the store. No thank you 😂
This is me too 😂😂
I don't mind if an employee asks me if I need help, but yeah no employee does that here (southern Europe) and it's completely fine. If I need help, I'll ask for it.
@@lexye. same here. honestly i feel a bit offended because it feels like they're thinking I'm trying to steal something 😅
When I visited Germany I tried making small talk in a Aldi and quickly learned that’s not really a thing there. It was nice shopping in silence for the next couple weeks though
In Spain we have "El Corte Ingles" Which is often placed inside the city and the store is an entire building, in each floor you"ll find different things. Very useful shopping there without having to take a car.
The Germans are down to earth, just like the Dutch, and they just did not like the over aggressive selling tactics, the overly nice approach to the customers, it seems fake to us, i am Dutch and we are very suspicious to that, i am not surprised they failed..
Yeah, if they can afford to pay someone to greet me at the door they could also have chosen to not hire that person and lower prices even further. Fake.
I prefer AH every time!
The American FAKE friendliness that'y rarely even skin-deep just achieves the exact opposite of the desired effect in Germany and other European countries.
Hi, Estonian here. Same attitude. I enjoyed visiting Dutch small and large shops. Very similar to my home country, ok, a bit more smiles 😀. In US it took a year to accustom with endless smiles and friendliness
They don't aggressively sell at Walmart. There's scarcely any employees there.
As an Eastern European, the "Walmart American Fake Positivity" Section was so cringeworthy, my face looked like I was eating a lemon
Fellow German here: I think the closest you'll get to Walmart over here in Germany is Kaufland. It also combines a huge variety of groceries with household goods, electronics etc. within a giant building.
And theyre basically going bankrupt 😂
@@bogdanstamenic2836 they are kept alive by the dutch because for us it's a 1stop shop that is cheaper for us in a lot of things
Kaufland stores in the Czech Republic are not that big, but are very successful (they provide good price and large variety of goods). The bigger stores with mixed goods are Globus and Tesco.
@@justanoop4jou ...and we swiss. Germany is so cheap compared to Switzerland and shopping tourism id a serious thing, cities next to the borders (on both sides) complain.
Kaufland and Lidl are owned by the same company, Schwarz-Gruppe.
He didn't even mention Walmart's anti-competitive business practice lawsuits.
That's when you sell product at a loss so that yoyr competitors also need to sell at a loss to keep business. In this situation, since everybody is losing money, you cannot win by offering the best service, instead you win by having the most outside help or the deepest pockets. Then, when everybody else is bankrupt, you have a monopoly and can jack up prices as muvh as you want.
Walmart tried, German courts fined.
It assumes that customers think this is important. If I buy a book from a large online retailer, I pay 5-10% less than when I buy it from my town's local bookstore. It will likely also take longer because the store will have to order it. Still I go to my local bookstore because it is a nice place, it has local people working there, and it sponsors the local economy. I meet the owner sometimes when walking about, and we recognize and greet each other.
They investigated opening in Australia, but when they discovered that they couldn't ban employees from joining a union, had to give them holidays and sick leave, and had to pay them at least the minimum wage, they fled for their lives. All in all a very similar situation to that German experience. 🙂
I visited a Walmart in the US. The first thing that struck me was an old gentleman whose job, it seemed, was to stand there smiling and nodding at the people entering. A "greeter" apparently. Bizarre!
...MINIMUM WAGES AND UNIONS ARE TO PROTECT PPL WHO'VE GOT NOWHERE else TO GO,THOUGH.....BECAUSE THEY ARE immobile TO GO ANYTHING ELSE.....ISNT that
.........ISNT HAVING NOWHERE ELSE TO GO A FORM OF slavery,THO .........
.....YUP,THATS ABOUT GOVERNMENT *_must_* TO KINDA HELP PPL TO BE ABLE TO WORK SOMEPLACE ELSE BY GIVING THEM AFFORDABLE MOTORIZED PRIVATE WHEELS OR LIKE NOT LICENSING THAT STUFF WITH PROHIBITIVE PURPOSES..........AND not LIKE "MAKING SLAVERY A BIT BETTER"....ISNT that
.......SO..WALLMART IS BEHAVING PROPERLY
Doesn't Bunnings have "Greeters" as well?
They also failed in Brazil for (mostly) the same reason.
As an Asda Employee in the UK when Walmart took over they literally had to adhere to all the UKs workers rights... we were every year given our Workers Handbook for UK Employees which was like a small Novel then we saw the US equivalent..... a couple of pages. It made us feel very sorry for them.
A lot of us in the US think it's bizarre too. It would be even more bizarre to actually have to do that job. Think about how boring and humiliating it would be to stand there for hours smiling and saying hi to everyone. It's probably the lowest paying job in the whole building.
"and good riddance to bad rubbish" as we say in the UK
Where do we say this I'm not being rude I just haven't heard this maybe it's cos I'm scottish
@@oogboog3878 Might be n age thing. As a boomer I used & read this at times, back in the day
@@oogboog3878'The origin of the phrase “good riddance” can be traced back to the 16th century in England. The earliest known usage is found in a 1602 play titled “Troilus and Cressida” by William Shakespeare.
Subsequently, a Scottish writer Tobias Smollett wrote in 1805, in an obituary no less, the first recorded instance where “bad rubbish” was added to the phrase'
@@georgeprout42 cool guess it's mostly an age thing then
@@daffyduk77It's an age thing as a older millennial who was born in the 80s I use to hear the saying when I was young but by the mid 2000s it just stopped being used
I'm English and have lived in Germany for 30 years + I find German supermarkets wonderful Not too big , not too small and with amazing staff..Ah we have so many stores that do the other items and variety is the spice of life .
Re the mega sized products in Walmart ..it could account for the obesity we see on our screens. Most of all culture counts and each country is special. No take-overs as big is not always beautiful .
aye
this you just call him fat ?
I'm American. I've lived in Germany for three years and visit Europe regularly. I find myself more at home in a German supermarket than any U.S. supermarket. More local produced products like meat and dairy and the freshness is superior in Germany.
I'm Dutch and think German supermarkets are way to big. I also avoid lidl and Aldi if I can over here.
I agree on all counts, most especially on how nice variety is! The plastic food we get from American stores is almost inedible!
14:52 The court didn't just find the rules "invalid". They stated that the policies actually violated Germany's constitution at a root level. I always wonder why so many Americans value their "freedom" so much when in reality so many basic human needs are heavily restricted and the society is actually steering towards religious fundamentalism.
What Americans have sold to them as "food" is deeply disturbing.
and deadly toxic
Thesis of video title begins at 8:00 min. Americans can skip to that point.
I noticed this comment at about 8:06 ... wish I would have noticed it sooner but you know how in the mobile YT app the one showing comment rolls between a few different comments? Well, in my case yours didn't roll threw untill it was too late and I didn't dive into the comments 'till I saw it... but thanks for try'n. I love the sentiment.
I mean I assume most Americans aren't gonna skip half the video? This comment definitely has a negative connotation and I'm not sure why you added that
@@FuriousSkating Well I for one appriciated the attempt to save me some time cuz the first 8 mins was babbling about stuff I already know just by living in America AND has nothing to do with why I clicked on the video. It's background info that would be more useful to a European or other non-American audience who hasn't visited America. Furthermore I seen nothing negitive about it and see you viewing it as nagitive as a projection of how you think.
The two major reasons mentioned are:
1) The difference between US and Europe wrt social structure/culture. You cant just transpose a model without regard of those. Its reflected in the product size, workers rights and ethics, how to relate to customers, loyalty of consumers to certain store names and product brands, etc.
2) Very poor preparation and mismanagement. There is a reason German chains like Lidl and Aldi work well here. Im dutch and even back early 90ies we already had several Aldi's in this 30k size city.
But there is a 3rd (not mentioned) reason aswell:
3) European cities are typically built around old city centres; which are also the small stores in and around the old city centre. It is what makes European cities so attractive. Small and medium size shops, where you can spend all day. Maybe sit on a terrace to have a drink, a meal, and a chat. Its vibrant and cheery. Our infrastructure is built around those and this concept and is repeated in other parts/neighbourhoods of cities. All of that also makes it possible to walk to those, or bike.
The US concept is based on driving (!) to the edge of a city, park and enter a large shopping mall. That is the opposite of the Europen concept and in fact, many in the US are and have been trying to change the US way to the European way, for diffferent reasons. That cant be changed easily, because it is deeply embedded in infra structure aswell as in culture.
When Lidl cam4r to Finland in 2002 it tried to import many German ways: no baskets to collect the purchases, no packing area behind the cashier and they did not accept credit cards. They had to change all those.
@@okaro6595 Same in Sweden, they had to stop importing certain products from Germany since they were never popular here. The thing I remember the most is dairy products. They are processed a bit differently with a different taste profile. Something that is very uncommon here is to heat treat dairy products so they become long lasting, like cream you can keep in the cubburd instead of the fridge.
This changes the flavor drasticly and they were heavily criticized for it and now they only sell Swedish dairy products (exception with certain cheeses for obvious reasons)
@@waitwhat1167 This is why they're successful: They adapt, and don't try to force their home culture on new markets. Exporting culture _can_ work, but then you have to have an attractive culture to sell. Walmart does not have that.
We Europeans have many things in common, and one of them is knowing that each nation in Europe is a different world, and that even within each nation there are different worlds. In Spain there are national and regional supermarket chains, and chains like Carrefour, Lidl, Aldi, but they have all adapted to Spanish culture.
As a person who visits Germany at least once a year, I really appreciate this video. Wal-Mart is a juggernaught here in the U.S. that has put many good companies out of business. I really enjoy shopping at the smaller grocery stores in German, mostly Edeka, Lidl and Aldi.
In France and Spain you have Hypermarkets, they sell almost everything.
We have "Cora" in Belgium but there is only a few of those and none in Flanders.
@@flitsertheo I've only seen like 2 Cora's, one near Liege and the other in Anderlecht. However I've seen many, many more carrefours
@@salimelmouaffaq1351 In Romania the Cora hypermarket chain was sold to Carrefour which actually are worse.
Yeah. They‘re weird
Both countries do it much better than stores like Walmart. Which is why Walmart never risked entering those markets - they would get wrecked
No Walmart in Europe, that is not a great loss for Europe, it is a win! There are movies on the internet about the customers of Walmart and they are remarkable, better not come close to them. There are more reasons why Walmart would be a bad choice. If I want a product and if I want to be pleased by that product I want to pay so much that all people who have contributed in my happiness are paid a reasonable amount of money, they too should be happy with my purchase. If not all factory workers are happy I can not be happy. Walmart is extortioning it's workers, underpaid for the lowest possible prices for greedy and unfriendly customers. One Aldi is enough! (and there are two Aldi's)
......
Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today
Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven
There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today
Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell
Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
Romans 6.23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
Don't even need videos. People of Walmart shows you what you could find at a Walmart somewhere in the US. And then you get forums and Reddit post where employees and ex-employees share all the BS they face.
They exploit vendors too
In my experience as a European. Its not that people dont want to be interactive while at work. Rather its that the interaction they want is not forced, its things like sympathy for a busy day or late night of work. A brief reprieve from the job. But also we dont want to be slowed down, talk as long as your normal business interaction lasts then get tf out of the way.
As an American, this is the first I've seen those weird mayo mixed ketchup things. They won't last. Products like that come out as a new marketing thing and then get discontinued.
They've already been around like 6 years
I remember saying that about mayochup in 2019
@@TheMysteryDriver Maybe they are regional. I've never seen them either
Heinz mayonnaise is pretty horrible too. The market leader in the UK is Hellman’s , more expensive but like night and day to Heinz
@@XchampionXFTW I’ve never seen or heard of such a product 🤷🏼♂️
Sounds like Starbucks in Australia, it failed because we already had some of the best coffee/culture in the world here, ie don't try and sell fridges to Inuit
I don’t know what it is about Australian coffee but there is a local small shop by where I used to live in Seattle whose beans are from Australia and it’s the best coffee I’ve ever had. I can’t drink Starbucks after this, ever.
Thanks
@@pmacgowan Starbucks would work in Australia if they actually sold coffee made from Australian beans.
@@Brozius2512 But that's not AMERICAN
Or Masters in Australia. This was a joint venture by US hardware retailer Lowes and Aussie supermarket chain Woolworths. It's competition was a hardware retailer called Bunnings (owned by Woolworth's deadly competitor, Wesfarmers).
Bunnings operates out of big warehouses that look like warehouses - with concrete floors and steel racks for the goods.
Masters tried to make their stores more attractive to women which didn't really work, but really bombed because it was selling goods aligned with the Lowes (US) seasons, rather than Australian seasons.
Masters lacked Bunnings 's "industrial" no-nonsense charm, and that is a third reason why it failed.
It would be interesting to know if Walmart made similar mistakes.
What did THEY learn from this? That you cannot deny the rights of workers and act as if they are robots and obedient servants...
Same for most supermarkets
they didnt get the memo from Abe Lincon "slavery is now illegal"
You can in the US
I doubt they learned anything. What they learned is: "Ok, Europe sucks after all. They are all fucking communists who dare tolerate unions. Let's go elsewhere, where they do things right". That is all. You can't expect anything more from incompetent fools who only make billions by exploiting abusive laws made to their exclusive benefit. You can't expect more from blustering idiots who didn't even bother to gather ANY information on Germany before trying to get their way there.
I doubt they learned anything. What they learned is: "Ok, Europe sucks after all. They are all fucking communists who dare tolerate unions. Let's go elsewhere, where they do things right". That is all. You can't expect anything more from incompetent fools who only make billions by exploiting abusive laws made to their exclusive benefit. You can't expect more from blustering idiots who didn't even bother to gather ANY information on Germany before trying to get their way there.
Thank you for putting citations in the video itself and not in a pastebin linked in a description. Makes them a lot more accessible.
In the US the "door greeter" position is now much less about welcoming people in and much more about checking the recipts of people exiting.
One of the downsides of having such a huge store is that it facilitates theft.
There are many stories of people putting on wal-mart vests and walking out of the store with massive TVs under the guise of helping a customer with it.
We are enjoying the YT-videos of shoppers or even cashiers caught stealing from Walmart even in the Netherlands! 😂 Especially the ones from Florida are good!
@@johansilwouden3403oh god. Florida. Such a pants off wild state.
Once heard someone say it's not stealing when it is from a company that large its more like fishing in a public lake or gathering berries
@@PandorasFolly And of course the police videos from Universal Studios! T o be fair, there are a few with obnoxious Europeans in it, like a drunk Brit. Still waiting for the 1st Dutchman to be arrested! 😅🤣
Imagine getting physical receipts in 2024.
@@XDRosenheimyou don't use cash then only tap is that what you mean?
I remember a Walmart. It was in a mall outside of town. Thing is, Germans don't go to the mall to buy groceries. We buy them in local stores. The mall is for stuff you can't get in town. I was not surprised that they failed at all.
Around 1999, a law firm in Germany sent a representative to deliver and verify that I was the right person to receive an inheritance from one of my German relatives. He spent a few days with us in Arizona.
One night while driving with him to a restaurant for dinner, I recall a discussion with him about Walmart. He was eagerly awaiting a new Walmart that was going to open near to where he lived.
I told him then that he should not be happy about Walmart coming to Germany. I explained to him that when I lived in Hannover for a few years in the early 1970’s, I preferred buying much higher quality food and goods from the smaller stores in the Hannover neighborhoods. Finally, I told him that I felt Walmart would just corrupt the retail market.
I’m so glad they failed because Walmart is as non-German of a company as there is. I was truly concerned that Walmart would adversely affect the “German-ness” of Germany!
FYI, besides lower prices and more efficient operations, there’s one more reason Walmart became successful in the U.S. Sam Walton realized that opening his supermarkets in cities and suburban areas in the U.S. would mean too much competition to overcome, so he started by opening stores in rural markets until he was successful enough to move into those more lucrative markets.
very well said, a similar concern is quite strong here in france aswell. (albeit not for walmart)
.......
Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today
Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven
There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today
Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell
Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
Romans 6.23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
I can confirm that growing up in a rural town (less than 9000 pop) Walmart was awesome! It was a flex to have one, as they had nearly EVERYTHING a kid could want. PlayStation, bikes, snacks, shirts, ice cream, bb guns, photo developers/printers, & fishing gear. It was my dream to live in a stocked Walmart and have overnight nerf fights, gaming nights, bike rides, blackout hide & seek, & sleepovers. Didn't even want a mansion, I wanted a Walmart.
Now, I avoid it like the plague. Their prices aren't good and haven't been for years, home goods aren't very durable, produce is questionable, most foods are junk, and their checkout is horrible. The only credit I'll give Walmart is their massive selection, and the convenience that they're always there when you need something, but I try to stay away, and shop real supermarkets or thrift shops, or discount stores, and for one-off or niche stuff, I buy online or through in-person 2nd hand meetups.
Good points, but you Germans goofed up by letting a flood of aliens into your nation. So much for the uber mensch.
@@qx4n9e1xp In Canada the Walmart stores now have almost no selection of anything. The inventory was drastically reduced to make room for groceries, which they had none of at first, so now there is not much of what you need in the other aisles, and if they have it at all, there is no selection. What they do have is poor quality and over priced.
Walmart has caused all the other stores to go bankrupt. The few American stores that still exist are impossible for a disabled person with no car to get to, nevermind hiking through MASSIVE parking lots to get from 1 store to another! The physical impact has been terrible, and it has done the same culturally and economically. It's the worst possible thing that could happen to a country, outside of a military invasion.
Their failure in Europe is so satisfying to watch. I remember that in the early 2000 American fast foods tried to persuade every young worker that it's such an honour to work there and that you have to grind all the time and compete with others and probably never go to the bathroom... this American work style is really something horrible.
Weirdly Aldi and IKEA both got caught doing really dodgy anti employee activities.
Big corporations from any country will try, that's why you want to have regulations.
all multi nationals are evil.
Yeah but they GOT CAUGHT doing it.
In murica companies can do nearly whatever they want.
@@Kalenz1234 hence why Europe is not productive and their salaries are lower and lower.
@@capybaraponque611 I prefer a lower wage over chanting the company name every morning like I'm in some kind of cult. The goal of nations should not be to facilitate the economy, but to protect and serve its citizens. The economy is only one method of serving your citizens, laws and regulations are another, and strong democratic institutions and Labor rights are the most important.
Starbucks failed in Australia too. America didn’t realise you can’t replace awesome Australian cafe coffee with American dishwater. Countries have different cultures that just can’t be swept away.
Starbucks is actually doing fine in Germany, but it definitely doesn't have that cult following as it does in the US. Mostly because it's expensive af and more sugar than coffee. Those store brand coffee to go cups do have that kind of cult following though. I see those every single day
Starbucks is thriving in countries like China you don't need Australia. Just like Walmart still brings in more revenue than any company in the world it didn't need Germany either.
As a French person, it's true that I've never seen a Walmart in France, although I think there are a few, but there's no shortage of them. I don't know if that's the case in other European countries, but we really do have a lot of choice in France because there are a lot of supermarkets or 'Grandes surfaces' as they say.
That means there's a lot of competition, which may explain why Walmart is finding it hard to establish itself in Europe.
Of course, there's already the Swedish furniture and interior design giant, Ikea.
German supermarket chain Lidl.
The giant Leclerc.
And a number of other major French chains such as Auchan, Super U/Hyper U, Intermarché, Carrefour, Cora, Netto and others...
I love Leclerc!!! So much better than Walmart in every way.
As a french guy, Walmart is just a Big Carrefour or Leclerc, but ours are much better as french laws makes customers and workers in a more advantageous position than the big companies
I just remember the godly Croque monsieur from carrefour🤤🤤
The Walmart shown in this video had way more hardware and home improvement choices than the typical hypermarket.
Looks more like a huge Carrefour or Leclerc combined with a large Leroy Merlin than just the hypermarket. (Leroy Merlin being the french equivalent of Lowes or Home Depot for anyone wondering)
In Sweden it's not unusual for the regular Joe to be friendly with and say hi to the cashier at the store, engage in some polite small talk.
Turns out this is not universal, cross the pond to Denmark and it's apparently considered weird and the cashier is probably reaching for the silent alarm.
Not in Stockholm. Lucky to get a hello.
Can't say I have ever experienced that here 😂😂
Must be more rural.
In finland we just say hello but never say anything unnecessary. Also if you talk they could think you are drunk and then they cant sell you your 24 pack of beer.
@@lindatisue733 works in oslo
Like in Sweden, It just depends on where in Denmark you are shopping. The bigger the city, the lower the chance of talking cashiers.
Besides the lack of employee protection there is another reason why Walmart can only be succesfull in countries like the USA: car dependancy. If you are depended on driving to do your groceries it is handy if one store has everything you need. But if you only have to walk or bike five minutes to do your daily groceries, you will only drive to a shop for other things like clothing, electronics, garden stuff. And then it will be more likely you go to a store specialized in clothing, electronics or garden stuff.
That seems to be going away as a factor. Based on the social media comments by Germans that I'm reading, they hate that parking fees keep going up in cities, and they don't want to take public transport. Every time there's an article about another store or chain closing in a city or multiple cities, the comments are "no wonder - no-one wants to go into cities any more. I rather go shopping at the big stores with big parking lots at the edge of the city."
In Holland there ar innuf people who want to thake there car with theme in the supermarket!!
@@fosterfuchsIts the same across Europe. Local stores have become too expensive to buy at. Buying once a week is more economic, since if you go shopping daily at a close local store you will spend a lot more then with weekly shopping. I usually buy at Lidl or Eurospin here in Slovenia. Their stores are usually located at the outskirts of towns.
@@fosterfuchs Also because everywhere has the same crap products that are the same crap on Amazon. The specialist shops don't stock proper stuff anymore, the few who do are quite successful online too and more likely to relocate to an industrial estate etc. The big shops will also accept returns of their utter crap no questions asked, but small shops can be dumb about it and then you also had to go there specifically for that one return of the trash they shouldn't have even been selling.
In Germany there are price floors. Hard to compete when you compete on volume and can't do that
Walmart is technically a department store that sometimes includes a supermarket. No one in America considers Walmart to be a supermarket chain.
We don't think of it ws one, but depending on where in the US you live, a Walmart might be the only (or at least nearest) store in your county with groceries.
There are Walmart Groceries now though. It’s just food mostly
In Finland we call those kind of stores hypermarkets. Supermarkets sell basically just groceries.
Walmart is not a department store by any stretch of the imagination. All Americans I know consider Walmart to be a supermarket. Bloomingdales or Nieman Marcus are department stores.There is no comparison. In my grandmother's generation Walmart would have been called a five and ten. If anything, we call them big box stores now
@@gauloise6442 BECAUSE THE STORE IS A BIG BOX. LOWES, HOME DEPOT, TARGET ARE ALL BIG BOX STORES
You forgot to mention DM.
This German market chain has product prices even below Aldi and Liedl. With extremely nice looking shops.
And instead of selling expensive products from P&G with built in planned obsolescence, they make their own products - better and cheaper.
I live in Germany, I can walk to a "supermarket-zone" in 20 minutes and less than 5 by car. It’s close to bus stops and we have some parking-spots. DM (drogerie markt/drugstore) is right next to lidl and in front of rewe & aldi, 5 minutes away from a gas station which also offers food and desserts. I Love this zone it’s super accessible and young people love to spend their time on the parking lots. Dm is a personal favorite of many girls, we have our own products such as "balea" a shampoo costs less than a euro and the quality is really nice. We even have some good makeup brands by DM and the products are not cheap at all!!
@@sofia-om7sp If you mean with cheap "of poor quality" then you are right.
But cheap in the sense of the word means low price and good value for price and this is what applies to DM without any doubt.
Greetings from Leonberg, Germany.
@@hg6996no I meant cheap= affordable. The quality is okay and you can make it work ( the drugstore makeup) I know many girls and women who buy some products religiously over and over again. I also enjoy checking out the make-up from time to time and use some products and enjoy them.
I am an American who lived in Germany for a year back in the day. I hate to say it but, Americans don't value quality as much as Germans do. It’s the down side of believing that newer is better, and that cheaper is best of all. From the work I have done working to assist people in rural areas of the USA after major disasters, Walmart has devastated so many small towns. The local mom and pop grocery and hardware stores run by locals for generations could not compete and were run out of town, making the center of many small towns in rural America no longer look very livable. You will find a lot of things in Walmart and, you can generally find "good enough" for what you need items but, you will not find very high quality items or a wide variety of competing items in a Walmart.
Germany has Aldi, the same company that brought us Trader Joe's, a store I am very fond of. I remember riding in a Mercedes Taxi when I was a young man in Germany. Six cylinder, manual transmission, and it handled like a dream, was ist los here?!! In America Mercedes only ships high end luxury cars and trucks so most Americans would be dumb-founded to see a real, average, somewhat affordable Mercedes sold as a daily driving vehicle with manual transmission, rather than a luxury vehicle. I suppose it must be similar to a German viewing a Walmart. Walmart to most Americans have forced their way into the economy and in many places are hard to avoid. But, they do not represent the quality most of us want in America.
Walmart has also led the way in getting rid of cashiers, forcing people into long lines at one or two working registers, hoping you will take the hint and use the self check out. Many walmarts have eliminated cashiers entirely and will enforce self checkout only. I no longer shop in those stores. Convenience is one thing but real social networking, even a brief moment of interacting with a cashier, I will not give up. Might as well put on a mask and be afraid of each other, oh wait, that has already been done. ;-) Germans are much more communal in general than Americans are. You see it when you attend a German festival, how entire families will go out together as a family. I remember when I was a young man going into a Gästehaus to get some food and a beer. I would go to the empty table if I could find one, as would be common courtesy in America. In Germany people at occupied tables would ask me to come and join then at their table. Walmart is indeed big. But, Walmart is also quite sterile when it comes to customer relations. That, and being low quality to save a little bit, would be my guess as to why they left Germany.
I WISH America had a more community focused culture, in America it’s considered super weird to sit with people you don’t know in public, or to offer people you don’t know to sit with you, and even family culture isn’t as close or as broad as it is in other countries/ cultures
:((
Aldi did not "bring us Trader Joe's". Maybe to your town, but the original Trader Joe's was in Pasadena CA, owned by an actual Joe. It had expanded to more locations by the time it was sold to Aldi (Nord, I think). I shopped at the original one and the concept has been largely retained under German ownership.
*sees employee smiling and saying welcome *
*heavy breathing in a paperbag *
More like being creeped out because that's not how ANYONE in the entire country behaves.
when it's a natural and genuine smile from the employee's heart, we don't mind it at all. but europeans generally don't tolerate fakeness and abuse of power, corporate or otherwise, the same way americans do. forcing minimum wage retail workers to fake smiles all day is degrading and grotesque, almost like forcing someone to say thank you after getting slapped. fake smile mandates add nothing to my shopping experience except a startling reminder that the company is fully aware that their employees are miserable, and their only concern is whether it become a PR problem or not
Im here 5:07 in the video. I dont see how walmart has more stuff than Carefour in europe. So im guessing walmart didnt make it here for the US shady US labor laws they probably wanted to practice here and thought leveraging the amount of European people they could employ didn’t save them.
That was my first thought: this looks like a normal french supermarket experience at Carrefour, E. Leclerc, Cora...
Came to the comments to say the exact same thing. Maybe it’s just that Walmart has more of everything?
This might be the weirdest coincidence... I'm also at 5:07 (i am not joking..) and i also came to the comments to write how we also have giant supermarkets with almost everything in Europe....
@@Maria-7z1u6exactly. The average Walmart is way bigger than the average carrefour, because they have more different brands and variations of products.
Very informative, thank you.
No fucking way that morning pep dance thing is real 💀
It’s overhyped and something that used to be more common back before the pandemic.
And even then, it depended on the store management, among other things.
I worked for Walmart for a few years just as a reference.
Imagine man, actual humiliation ritual 😂
I haven't spent much time in the USA, but I do remember going to a Walmart that was so big you could practically see the curvature of the earth as you looked down the aisles. With processed foods, there was an endless variety of flavours in different combinations (most of them sounding absolutely disgusting), but when it came to cheese, they had a couple of huge shelves and a vast array of basically 4 different types of cheese, which are all pretty similar anyway. If you wanted cheddar, colby, monterey jack or swiss, you could spend hours deciding which packet to get - if you wanted anything else, you could spend hours searching in vain.
To be fair, we _do_ have supermarkets in Europe that have a similar model, although without quite the excessive variety of choice - I know of Tesco and Sainsburys supermarkets close to me in the UK that have clothing, electrical, garden and homeware sections as well as food, and I remember France pioneering the hypermarché concept maybe 30 years ago.
We have Carrefour in Belgium (is a French brand) is a bit similar but a lot smaller and less choice. but the rest is really not like Walmart. The supermarket “Delhaize” does not sell furnitures etc.
I LOVE Delhaize, which I think is Dutch? My son lived close to 1 in Belgium for a year and used to get their ready meals. Lovely. A bit like M & S.
Walmart's problem was that it tried to implement its US business practices without any alterations to national preferences and markets. In Mexico it created the stores with huge car parks not realising that a lot of Mexican shoppers travel by bus. A fact which they failed to take into account so stores where not on bus routes and shoppers couldn't handle large quantities. With the exception of Aldi and Lidl (also known as Trader Joe's in the US) it is difficult to know of any food retailer that has been really successful outside of their national market.
@ jamesbriers696
Aldi (German) is very successful in the USA
Two things about Wal-Mart
1.) They treat their employees like sh^t (Dollar General and Family Dollar are worse)
2.) They do not hire many people full time. Therefore most of these employees have not health insurance or a retirement fund.
In fact W-M uses the US taxpayers to subsidize their employees by giving them so few hours that those employees qualify
for Medicaid (health insurance) and Food Stamps as well as aid with their fuel bills. Who pays? The taxpayers!
@@here_we_go_again2571 Yep. It's really frustrating how much corporations are able to cut their expenses by leaching off of our taxes.
Socialism for corporations and the rich, rugged capitalism for everyone else. It sucks.
It's kind of ironic that they failed to take into account basic research. They really ARE cheapskates!
"it is difficult to know of any food retailer that has been really successful outside of their national market."
Tesco are quite big globally (notably in CZ from buying out Kmart who failed there). Carrefour have a global presence. And maybe you can count 7/11 but that's not quite the same market.
I was in Costa Rica several months ago, and I shopped at several Walmarts in that country and I can attest that Walmart appears to be very popular in Costa Rica.
Never underestimate importance of local knowledge!
I am German and I have lived both in Europe and the US and there is another thing that is not mentioned here, but which is very important. In the US people are used to get in their SUVs and then drive 20-30 minutes to get to some mall or superstore to park their 4 ton truck in a parking lot the size of a small town (in this clip, the entrance was about half a mile away). This kind of environment destroying resource wasting megalomania is not well received in Europe and actually frowned upon. It puts us off, quite frankly.
You sound like you're full of shit
Right. We also have laws that protects smaller local supermarkets.
Yeah the closest we have in belgium is I think a hypermarket from carrefour but most people do their daily shopping in lidl , colruyt, ah ,... something like that they're still super markets but not huge. People like to have shops close by. Distance is different in a country where one end of the country to the other is a 2:30 h drive .
Mexican here and we can basically choose the American or the European model based on where we live. I used to be more in tune with walking to shop in small stores multiple times per week. Then something happened that made me WORSHIP living in a suburb and getting in the SUV to Walmart once every 2 weeks: Having 3 children and a demanding job. I guess larger families in Europe are a very rare sight, and more common in the US. Also, europeans really don’t like to overwork. It’s all good. For our life choices, convenience comes first. This is what made me understand that these are not better or worse models, just different.
The United States is a very big country. We have states that are bigger than European countries. So travels to the grocery store are limited to weekly or even monthly for many. I'm not a fan of Wal Mart. They put most of our competing stores out of business with cheap low quality junk from China. These big corporations have killed most of our independent owned business like grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware, lumber, bakeries, movie theaters and coffee shops to name a few. I'm glad Germany showed Wal Mart who the boss is. You may have prevented your country from many other US parasite Corporations moving in.
I despise walmart. Whenever they move into a small town they basically destroy all the smaller local stores.
No, they do not.
@@kathyyoung1774 They did it to my hometown
@@anemoneyas I've lived many places, and nowhere did Walmart bankrupt other companies that were being managed even halfway well. If a store is the "only game in town" and overcharging everybody and another store moves in to be competition, then, yeah, they risk going out of business. That's normal, not evil. Competition is healthy.
@@kathyyoung1774 I would much rather be slightly overcharged by my favourite local store than going to Walmart for anything
@@yourdad5799 Which makes no sense. So many people have been brainwashed against Walmart by media, but they can't really ariticulate why they don't shop at Walmart. Obviously they are doing something right if they're the top retailer. Lots of happy customers.
Walmart is an absolutely terrible employer. it's unfortunate that Walmart is able to continually treat their US employees in a way that is considered a violation of human rights for German employees.
I assure you that Americans don't care for Walmart's strange ways either, the difference is that our government allows it, and everyone just tolerates it for the low prices.
The US government allows such practices because people over there are so terrified of anything that remotely smacks of socialism (God forbid) that they vote in administrations that are as pro-corporation and anti-individual-employee as can possibly be.