Asks Wal-Mart: "Would you like fries with that?"

Wal-Mart competes aggressively off-line...to be competitive on-line!

The people at Wal-Mart are anything but complacent--they work hard to blunt competition. And you have to hand it to them--for a large box store operation, they seem to never stop trying new ideas to be competitive; they do not take their dominance in the marketplace for granted.  

Now to blunt online sales made by Amazon and other web vendors, Wal-Mart is now trying an old concept applied to fast food and prescriptions--you can order an item on-line and get the shipping free.  What's more, they'll let you drive up--in some places they'll bring it to your car if you drive close enough to the store!  

It's a clear play on strategic advantage that performs double duty!

Here's how it works, buy something on their web site and they'll sell it to you at a competitive price--plus ship it for free.  It's kind of clever for one big reason:  They take advantage of making their distribution centers and trucking system do double duty...by being a low-cost source of goods, sent by a delivery system that's already going that way in the to begin with--everyday around the clock.  [Unlike many other places, you can't place an on-line order and pick it out of already-there inventory at the store--it has to come in by truck, with shipments originating at their distribution centers and palatized for individualized delivery.]  

In the process, they allow customers to take advantage of the free shipping--after all the trucks going there already--to avoid extra costs that's true virtually for every other vendor source.  The savings can be significant and the convenience is nothing to sneeze at either.  

In some places they'll let you drive up out of the rain and snow and even help you load the car--just like banks, McDonalds, and CVS pharmacies!  The savings can be significant--especially for large, heavy-weight items.  

Wal-Mart is to be saluted for it's shunning of complacency--it's unusual for the dominant player to be so nimble and aggressive.  

Would you like fries with that order?  

The full story is in a recent issue of Wall Street Journal's article by Miguel Bustillo and Geoffrey Fowler, "Wal-Mart uses its stores to get an edge online."  

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