Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful? The print version of this was sent to me by a business colleague - we had this debate a month ago about what's left for North Americans -- what's really left that we can call our own -- in other words, is there a future? He mentioned this article in BusinessWeek. The article takes a critical look at Wal-Mart, and it's policies detrimental effects on suppliers, workers, communities and even the American culture. Wal-Mart's mantra of low prices and it's dominance of the world retail market is unquestioned -- unchallenged. It had revenues topping $245b US last year. It's three times larger than the number two retailer, France's Carrefour. Weekly, over 138 million shoppers flock to it's 4,750 stores. Last year, 82% of Americans made at least one purchase at Wal-Mart. Last year, Wal-Mart was responsible for cutting $100b US from consumer spending, by having everyone march to their low prices. Economists have labeled this the "Wal-Mart effect." Wal-Mart has 30% of the US market, and analysts project that could reach 50% by a decade. Wal-Mart has a huge share of the top consumer products in the US market, controlling:

28% of Dial's sales

24% of Del Monte Foods' sales

23% of Clorox's sales

23% of Revlon's sales

32% of disposable diapers sales

30% of hair care sales

26% of toothpaste sales

20% of pet food sales

13% of home textiles sales

15-20% of CD/video/DVD/magazine sales

35% of food sales

25% of drugstore sales.

So what's the problem? Well, for starters, Wal-Mart pays it US sales clerks about $1,000 below the poverty line in the US. Wal-Mart polices culture by forcing publishers to change/hide or remove entirely content from CDs, videos, DVDs and magazines. Wal-Mart even refuses to sell Preven, the morning after pill. In communities where Wal-Mart moves in, other businesses are driven out, and there's usually no net benefit from having a Wal-Mart store due to the low wages, and the concessions Wal-Mart wrings out of local governments. Now think of this: what if Wal-Mart collapses? The ripple effect on the US economy and the world economy would be tremendous. So how far should they be allowed to go?