WALMART RAWRRR

Given the enormous amount of data that Walmart captures, do you think they have been successful at converting into an experience that serves as a competitive advantage for them?

I think Walmart has definitely created a monstrous advantage for themselves but they have also created a high potential cost. If they can balance the cost with the benefit, it could even more drive their competition into the ground and create even more of an oligopoly situation for them. The main issues obviously being the problem with PR that Walmart has always had. Consumers and businesses alike are afraid of their power and ability to make demands that seem to be mandatory for anyone that has a relationship with them at all. Walmart is also in a similar situation to Microsoft back when they were struggling with the anti trust laws present in the United States. They need to be careful of litigation and bad PR that could result from people discovering that they are gaining complete capability to invade their lives. It is also very easy to see that people would be uncomfortable with such a large amount of power gathering in an area where the authority in control of the power is an organization solely with the intent of helping themselves and gaining profitability.

Despite all the possible negatives that are present in this situation, it is a huge plus for Walmart. The information that they gathered is something that their competitors are clearly unable to obtain and it seems that they are very efficient in keeping it so. I believe just this fact alone without it actually being of any use will drive their competitors to ineffectively spend money trying to obtain the same kind of information to be on par with Walmart who everyone envies or admires. To outline the benefits associated with their information mining, it is important to realize that they are pioneers in this area and they may not have finished investing in this project. That being said, they can do a lot more efficient or well researched, and theoretically better studies on consumer behavior and may be provided with an insight into what consumers are subtly saying that they need, ie. Pre put together shopping carts that they don’t have to collect together themselves to speed up the business cycle.  On the flip side, the information that they are collecting isn’t that varied from what other retailers look at, it is just much greater in magnitude. There is always the possibility that this may not actually help them, and after all, it is a huge wealth of information and will take a great well-trained workforce to fully digest and utilize. There is the high risk that their employees will reach a high level of frustration or duress because of the magnitude of their project and the potential as well as potential downfalls associated with it.

-      What do you think about the privacy issues associated with all of that data and the amount of personally identifiable data they are able to capture. Does it bother you? Do you trust them with it?

It doesn’t really bother me. A lot of that information is free floating around anyways and plenty of companies have been able to obtain large chunks of information in the past. Even individuals are able to do so quite successfully stealing other persons’ identities. It seems reasonable that they would be able to gather and centralize the information. The only problem is the willful way they seem to be going about it. They are also at a point where the size of their company is shifting the world’s economy. It is no longer ok for them to solely be considering profits and using the information for simply that. True, they spent a lot of money investing in this project, and should be able to garner rewards from that, but believe that just simply from their increase in profits they should be able to do so quite adequately. What remains is the fact that they have yet to, as a large company, offer any sort of direction or vision in bettering society or adding value outside of their industry. They already have a clear carbon footprint and are the gatekeepers for a lot of goods available to consumers. I believe there needs to be more introspection and controls put in place on Walmart. Walmart is encroaching on territory that not even the US government has reached, at least in terms of height and depth of information, I believe that there should be a law enacted that provides accountability to what Walmart may or not do. The access to such a shelter of power can really enable Walmart to lobby the government in a way that could arguably say that they control the government, and having already controlled their suppliers and consumers, that they are controlling everything.  What if a company put up a satellite that records everything people do in under the idea that they can design the perfect product? Would you be ok with that?

- What aren't they doing with technology that they could; that is, are they using all of the technology that is available to them to capture insights and create great experiences for their customers and, if not, what could they do?

Walmart could be doing a lot with the information. I think the biggest problem that they’re not addressing is the fact of how scrounging they appear by not wanting to release any of the information in any form, even selling it. After doing adequate studies, they could probably find holes where they could use the information available at other companies or information that won’t help their competitors. Walmart could easily sell, share, or trade the information they have with relative to no harm to themselves. After all, a lot of the information they have is available to other people as long as those individuals have the resources to gather and process it themselves. Walmart could themselves become an information powerhouse and enter that market. They definitely have enough capital to eat up competitors and they have also already been expanding into other industries such as the banking industry.  All the pieces are in place for them to become a data collection storehouse as they have such a large number of clients. The information could also be applied to societal benefits such as identifying different regions and the products or needs that could be provided for by the city or the government. Walmart’s information could also help not for profit organizations such as the foundation communities in Austin or other charities. The information could help organizations with limited resources, use them most efficiently to help those in need.