Wal-Mart targets health-conscious customers with new food program

A story hit the web yesterday about Wal-Mart's new 'healthy' food program.

According to the story, this program includes two elements: pressuring national packaged food vendors (from whom Wal-Mart purchases) to create 'healthier' items with less sugar and sodium and smaller portion sizes; and selling more locally grown produce in stores across the country. (I put the word 'healthier' in quotations because, really, how healthy can a bag of Chips Ahoy! actually be?)

This news is interesting to me for two reasons. First of all, it's an interesting strategy relating to Wal-Mart's postitioning. Wal-Mart is the quintessential low-cost, broad-scope retailer. While this initiative doesn't change that at all, it will add a smaller-scale positioning within Wal-Mart's positioning as a whole. Health-conscious consumers can visit one of the chain's low-cost, broad-scope stores and find a narrow-scope, not-as-low cost section targeted to them (though, as the story states, part of the initiative will be selling local fruits and vegetables at a lower cost than will competitors).

Of course, this type of activity isn't totally new for Wal-Mart. For years, the chain has sold regional items: L.D.S. books in Utah, 'potato' souvenirs in Idaho, local university apparel, and so forth. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time Wal-Mart has created a section for a non-geographic customer segment. Whether the new food program will be successful remains to be seen, but it is interesting that Wal-Mart has become so large that it has the ability to create narrow-scope, higher-cost sections inside of its low-cost, broad-scope stores. It will also be interesting to see if the chain follows up with similar sections in the future. Will Wal-Mart begin offering sections for minority ethnic groups or the L.G.B.T. community?

Another, less interesting aspect of this news is Wal-Mart's ongoing attempt to rehabilitate its public image, which is another strategic decision. Wal-Mart has been seen as something of an "Evil Empire" for a while, and this new food program is not the first attempt to change that. The news story mentions past attempts by the chain to pressure laundry detergent producers to create more environmentally friendly packaging, for example. The 'social responsibility crowd' has been growing in recent years, demanding that companies provide responsible options in regards to the environment, food choices, and so forth. The food initiative is an example of Wal-Mart coordinating its web of activities to be attractive to this market segment. Of course, this segment of the consumer base isn't very large right now; the fact that Wal-Mart is catering to it implies that the chain believes this segment will continue to grow. The chances are that Wal-Mart has done some serious research to come to this conclusion; the chances also are that more and more companies are going to follow suit.