Walmart Ad Match ending October 15, 2020

EastGTARedFlagger wrote: ↑ I'm pro-competition, optimally if foreigners step in and kick the complacent, arrogant incumbents around. Which Wally clearly has done, to the benefit of Canadian consumers.

Would you rather we rewind back to before WM came to Canada, back to the good old days of the Loblaws-Dominion duopoly, when they paid off the politicians to put Knob Hill Farms out of business?

rdiamond1 wrote: ↑ I wonder how long Walmart will continue to stay if we Canadians keep trying to burn down their stores ?

SenatorsFan wrote: ↑ Sobeys will leave Canada before Walmart does!

SenatorsFan wrote: ↑ Sobeys will leave Canada before Walmart does!

EastGTARedFlagger wrote: ↑ Where would they go? They aren't foreign!

SenatorsFan wrote: ↑ They would go bankrupt!

EastGTARedFlagger wrote: ↑ I know this is offtopic for this thread, but in many parts of Ontario (GTA for sure, probably Ottawa too) I can see the Sobey's name disappearing and being replaced by either Farm Boy (in affluent to mid-income areas) and FreshCo (areas that are not). Where I live, about a year after Farm Boy opened, the nearby Sobey's closed. We already have a FreshCo (formerly Price Chopper), so the redundant, weakest link got cut. Sobey's as a company will live on but their eponymous banner may not. Before it closed, I probably hadn't set foot in the Sobeys for at least 3 years, while I definitely shop at Farm Boy and FreshCo.

We saw Loblaws do this about 20 years ago when many "Loblaws" stores suddenly became No Frills, and now in many parts of the country (western Canada for sure) the Loblaws banner doesn't exist, only No Frills and RCSS.

SenatorsFan wrote: ↑ OK, fair point. Sobeys is a subsidiary of Empire. Maybe it's not so much that Empire is going bankrupt as it is that Sobeys will be rebranded. It's my understanding that Sobeys is still very popular in Atlantic Canada. Sobeys still owns the IGA brand which is very popular in Quebec. There's been a few stories where Metro wanted to close underperforming stores and the union convinced them to rebrand those locations to Food Basics. I go back to my hometown of Toronto a couple times a year. A former Loblaws and Fortinos have both been converted into No Frills and a Metro has been converted to Food Basics. I don't know if people realize that when these companies convert their flagship brands to discount brands, a certain amount of jobs go away with the brand (especially full-time jobs with benefits). I understand we're all struggling but when these chains convert, much of those savings come with a smaller and less expensive workforce which affects us, family and friends.

I'm not saying Walmart is any better in wanting as few full-time non-managers as possible. When I first started working for Walmart 7+ years ago, each department had a full-time department manager and 1-2 full-time sales associates who were the department manager's righthand people. Now those full-time non-managers don't get replaced in most instances especially on the non-grocery side of the store. High volume/high sales departments (grocery) do depend on some full-timers. Also, the full-timers in those areas are usually getting groomed to be promoted. The front-end used to be littered with full-timers which are now a minority. Even full-time front-end supervisors (known as Customer Service Managers aka CSMs) are being replaced with part-timers when they resign or take on a different position. It's not the guarantee of hours that costs the company, it's the associated benefits.

While you have Loblaws & Metro taking away amenities by converting their flagship brands to their discount brands; Walmart is on track to be a discount brand store with the same types of amenities that are typically associated with higher prices. Walmart is essentially saying that you can have both. That's where they think they have an opportunity to increase their market share and become even more competitive. I can feel a rebuttal coming on from some of you. 'Non-discount chains don't have price-matching which Walmart just got rid of' to which I reply that Food Basics competes in the discount category and they don't price-match.

minimalist wrote: ↑ Quick question for those who grocery Pick Up:

Can you use a Walmart eGift card online?

Or can these only be used in store?