What is Walmart Up To Now?
Most of what I'm reading seems to suggest this is a way for the retail category killing giant Walmart to gain leverage on the detergent category dominating giant Procter & Gamble. Known for its unrelenting focus on low price and lower price and lowest prices, Walmart seems to be acting counterintuitively by bringing in a premium priced detergent from Europe and stocking it next to Tide. One motivation may well be to put price pressure on P&G. But perhaps not so much. What if it signals a strategy shift for Walmart? Trying to be the source for new, cool products consumers can only find there. Walmart, pulling a Target? Tide we can find anywhere and even 'subscribe' to on Amazon. But Persil? Not so much. Or are we looking through the wrong end of the telescope? Is it actually Persil-maker Henkel's strategy to gain a toehold in the lucrative US market -- one they didn't get when they bought Dial.