Wal-Mart Eyes Organic Foods – New York Times
The debate about Wal-mart’s announcement to start carrying organic foods is certainly interesting. It would become overnight the largest retailer of organic foods. In doing that they would drop prices on organic foods and increase the amount of farmlands that are farmed organically. In essence they will be bringing organic to the masses. The concern seems to be whether Wal-mart will Walmartize the organic food industry.
Basically Wal-mart demands that their suppliers cut their wholesale prices every year with assumption that they can cut costs and make things more efficient. Since Wal-mart is such a huge buyer, the suppliers have to do it. But eventually you can’t cut costs without cutting quality. That’s why a lot of the stuff in walmart has the same name and packaging as in other stores, but what’s in the box is a lower quality product.
So the concern is that the Wal-mart price reduction demands will eventually turn organic food into junk food.
I can see the concerns and I can see the benefits, so I’m not exactly sure where I stand on this. Either way, I’m never going to shop at Wally World.
