From Yahoo Finance:

Walmart Might Benefit from Ammunition Ban

What?

Walmart recently announced it would begin limiting certain types of ammunition sales, and now there’s evidence that the retail giant might get rewarded for their efforts. Public Pressure After the death of 22 people in a mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas Walmart last month, as well as a concurrent mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, Walmart has been under pressure to do more to help curb American gun violence.

At first, it seemed like Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon wasn’t really sure what to do beyond offering sympathy. But after increased public pressure from critics and McMillon’s own employees, some of whom organized a walkout to pressure the company into taking concrete action, Walmart took action. Walmart announced this week it would discontinue the sale of short-barrel rifle ammunition that can also be used in assault rifles as soon as the current stock is sold through, and it will also stop the sale of handguns in Alaska, the only state where the retailer still sells them, and has asked that customers not bring guns to their store in states where open carry is legal.

Poll Position Walmart is the nation’s largest retailer. Although it rarely divulges its sales numbers, but it is widely assumed to also be America’s largest gun retailer. There was reason to wonder if the ammo ban would hurt the company’s bottom line, as Dick’s Sporting Goods shares fell 6% this year after it stopped selling guns and ammo in 125 out of its more than 700 stores after the Parkland shooting.

But there’s evidence that this move might be good for the company, as a new poll from CivicScience found that “of 1,986 U.S. adult Walmart shoppers found that under the open carry changes, 29% are more likely to shop in Walmart stores and 22% are ‘much more likely’ to shop there” while 51% said their feelings were about the same as before the ban, 6% of those polled said they were less likely to shop at Walmart, and 14% were much less likely to shop. A concurrent poll about the customer’s feelings about the ammunition ban found similar results. Reactionary Walmart’s move has, predictably, generated a variety of responses, from the NRA’s expected outcry to measured praise from gun control activists and politicians such as Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke. Even conservative stalwart The National Review viewed the ammo ban as evidence that “woke capitalism is here to stay.” As far as the market’s opinion, shares of Walmart went up 1% in response to the news, and after taking an initial hit, in August Dick’s announced its best quarter since 2016.

I don’t have much faith in that poll.

Gillette explained why it went all-in with its anti-male scolding advertisement.  They were already losing money to Dollar Shave Club and other cheaper direct-to-consumer companies.  They thought they could cash in by going woke, essentially being the brand that woke Millennials and Gen Z would go to because they were progressive.  They actually wanted to sell men’s razors to moms who bought razors for their sons.

The problem was, that backfired miserably.  Turns out, going woke doesn’t attract customers, but it does drive them away.

Wal-Mart seems to have had the same thought as Gillette.  By going woke, they will attract more Lefty customers who would not be usual Wal-Mart shoppers than the number of Wal-Mart they will lose because they went woke.

First of all, poll data isn’t shopping trends.  Some Volvo driving Progressive Leftist might say that she is more likely to buy a Wal-Mart now that they have gotten rid of ammo sales, but will she?  Or will she keep driving by Wal-Mart to go to Target which is the big box store which has that customer culture already?

There is a lot of trend that indicates “Go woke, go broke” and it will be interesting to see if Wal-Mart can buck that trend.

What is scary to consider is that if it does, what does that mean for the future of Woke Capitalism in America.

Conventional wisdom says don’t insult your customer base.  When asked why he didn’t get involved in politics, Michael Jordan said “Republicans buy sneakers too.”

Woke Capitalism suggests that you can sell more sneakers to Leftists if you visibly attack Conservatives.

What is the break-even point on this?  Could a grocery store chain boost sales by having a big sign on the front saying “This store is a safe space, Trump voters not welcome.”  It might at Whole Foods.

I can only imagine that ending up with corporate-sponsored pogroms.

“Shop at Bob’s, where a portion of our profits go to bailing out Antifa.”

That seems like a very bad idea.

Hopefully, Wal-Mart will be susceptible to the same “Go woke, go broke” as everybody else has so far, just to prove that bashing Conservatives is not good for business.

 

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By J. Kb

8 thoughts on “Yahoo swears Wal-Mart won’t go broke for being woke”
  1. My personal opinion is that most if not all of the “smelly, Walmart shopping redneck deplorables” will continue to shop at Walmart either out of habit, due to low prices, or because they have few options in many rural areas. On the other hand I suspect that Linda Liberal will continue to park her Prius in Whole Foods, or some other smug retailer, where she doesn’t have to rub shoulders with the MAGA hat wearers. In other words, I doubt Wally World is going broke any time soon, nor are they going to get a bump in sales from the woke crew.

    1. NRW: Around our place, Target is closer and similarly priced, Winco is WAY cheaper (but only carries groceries), and both have far better quality merchandise (never buy anything from Walmart that you need to last), faster lines, and nicer people.

      We could easily do without Walmart entirely. And I’m willing to bet there are more like us than their CEO and Board think.

      Which is a shame for Wally World, because our weekly trips were worth a couple hundred dollars, but the service is so bad and slow that we now avoid Walmart whenever possible. This just cements that decision.

      That ANY place, after experiencing a mass shooting, would demand people who’ve voluntarily undergone and passed a stronger background check than Walmart requires of its own employees — and who as a group are more law-abiding even than police officers — to NOT carry defensive tools in their stores, boggles the mind.

      1. Customer service is the No. 1 reason I hate Wal-Mart. There are still a few necessity items I literally can’t get anywhere else but I limit myself to those only and only as absolutely necessary..

  2. Wal-Mart seems to have had the same thought as Gillette. By going woke, they will attract more Lefty customers who would not be usual Wal-Mart shoppers than the number of Wal-Mart they will lose because they went woke.

    And Dick’s, whose shares fell substantially (6% is substantial in a steady market, and for a large chain represents millions of dollars lost). Because gaining one person who buys one pair of $40 yoga pants doesn’t quite cover the loss of a $1200 hunting rifle and ongoing monthly $40 ammo purchases.

    The trouble is, a lot of us are less-than-thrilled with Walmart anyway (the lines for checkout are long, and slow), and they rarely have exactly what we need.

    Saying “gun owners not welcome” might attract a few Leftists willing to buy a soda or a pair of shorts once, just to show their “support”, but each “new customer” will replace a few normal Americans and their monthly grocery trips.

    They’re giving up regular customers’ ongoing weekly $200 purchases, for a one-time $15 purchase. And Yahoo! thinks the bottom line won’t be affected?

    No wonder every “economic analyst” talking head is saying a downturn is right around the corner.

  3. The only things I’ve gotten from Walmart is vacuum bags and canning jars, in my area they are quite a bit cheaper then everyone else. Not cheap enough for me to deal with a company that doesn’t want me around.

  4. Here’s the breakdown.
    Group 1: those who don’t care, and will probably keep shopping there
    Group 2: those who don’t shop there, but will because of wokeness
    Group 3: those who do shop there, but will stop because of wokeness

    There’s no way that group 2 will be big enough to replace the losses from group 3. And Group 3 tends to hold grudges- just ask S&W.

  5. I already avoided Wal-Mart because of its economic policies, I have no problem boycotting Wal-Mart and Kroger because of their 2A policies, just like Dick’s. I have better alternatives closer to home, I just won’t hurt them that much because I spent so little. Sort of like boycotting the NFL, I have never bought a ticket or branded merch, so there was no business to lose.

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