Walmart is one of the world’s biggest retailers and one of the world’s biggest corporations. The company was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton Rogers with the mission of helping people save money and live better lives. This ensured that it faced little competition from retail giants such as Kmart and Sears. However, as it grew, it expanded into an international grocery store, offering services to different international countries. This might keep one wondering whether there is a Walmart in Germany.
Well, currently, there is no Walmart in Germany. Keep reading to learn why there is no Walmart in Germany and the answers to some frequently asked questions.
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So, Is There a Walmart in Germany?
In 1997, Walmart expanded its operations into the German retail market. The company acquired about 21 Wertkauf hypermarkets and 74 stores from the Interspar chain. In the past years, Walmart has succeeded in the United States because it has guaranteed customers low-priced products and ensured efficient distribution.
When it came to the German market, they opted to use the same formula, which backfired. Although Germany’s market was huge, the country being the second largest in terms of its population, the cultural differences greatly affected Walmart’s operations. As a result, the company decided to withdraw from the market in 2006.
A Brief History of Walmart
Walmart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton with a single store and the mission to help people save money and lead better lives. It located the first store in Rogers, AR, and registered sales worth $12.7 billion.
Why Has Walmart Failed in Germany?
Walmart can boast of its success by having over 8,500 stores in 28 countries. Moreover, records indicate that the company is among the largest employers in the US and Mexico and the third largest in Canada.
In fact, in the entire world, Walmart is the largest private employer. This means that this store can rarely enter any country’s market and fail. However, the company withdrew from Germany’s market in 2006 for various reasons.
Here are the reasons:
The company messed up the pricing
When Walmart entered the market, they offered their products at lower prices, a strategy usually used to attract more customers into the business. However, the German government and its laws could not entertain this.
The German law could not allow Walmart to impose lower prices than the locals. As a result, the local business owners took Walmart to court so that it raised its prices to match those of the locals.
Employees from Germany were not pleased with Walmart's practices
The employees did light exercises when reporting to work while repeatedly chanting the store’s name. Also, employees were not allowed to be friendly or get involved with each other in any way. This made them feel embarrassed, and at some point, even the court had to intervene and order Walmart to stop those practices.
Walmart failed to understand German culture
For some reason, Walmart believed that Germany had a similar culture to that of the United States. Hence, it trained its employees to smile and be friendly to customers while serving them.
Unfortunately, this was not part of German culture. As a result, the German customers found this strange and unauthentic.
FAQs
What is Germany's version of Walmart?
Germany is among the largest countries in Europe and has many supermarkets you can choose from. Some of the largest chains to equate to Walmart include Rewe, Edeka, and Kaufland. All these have many stores across the nation and provide hypermarkets and convenient stores for the people. Moreover, buyers can find a wide range of products in these stores.
What is Germany's version of Amazon?
One fantastic service offered by Amazon is the Amazon Prime subscription, and there are several other online stores in Germany that offer subscriptions. They include Otto, eBay, Heine, Zalando, and ASOS.
Conclusion
Although Walmart is known to have a successful history of business ventures around the globe, it failed to continue in Germany. Most of the reasons for its failure surround the issue of its marketing strategy and not understanding the culture of the Germans. This is why we do not have a Walmart in Germany today.
The company learned a lot and, since then, has made various changes to how it operates in different markets. As for the company reopening in Germany, given its past experiences and the current situation, the chances are very minimal.
References:
For over ten years, Eric has served as a manager, advisor, and marketer in the retail and consumer service sector. Moreover, he is the head writer and managing editor at thestoregeeks.com. Eric is a father of two and an avid shopping geek.
