{"id":460323,"date":"2010-03-22T15:41:20","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T19:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"tag:consumerist.com,2010:\/\/1.10003569"},"modified":"2010-03-22T15:35:33","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T19:35:33","slug":"as-the-economy-improves-shoppers-ditch-walmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/460323","title":{"rendered":"As The Economy Improves, Shoppers Ditch Walmart"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The NY Post says that they’ve found a correlation between economic growth and same store sales at Walmart. Their theory is that as the economy improves, people run away from the big blue box.<\/p>\n

Bentonville, Ark.-based chain is likely to post, for the first time in its history, four straight quarters of same-store sales drops. Coincidentally, the S&P 500 Index is up in each of those quarters.<\/p>\n

It’s an odd relationship America has had recently with the low-price titan.<\/p>\n

Research by The Post shows that in all but two of the last 13 quarters, Wal-Mart’s US same-store sales dropped whenever the S&P showed a gain — and vice versa.<\/p>\n

The latest decline in same-store sales must be particularly frustrating for the chain’s executives — including Bill Simon, the head of US stores — because it is coming after the chain poured $1.17 billion into its massive “Save Money, Live Better” advertising campaign in the last three months of 2009 alone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n