Walmart
Jon Yanoff
New Media & Public Relations, Fall 2013
News Release Strategy
Walmart is one of the largest retail store in the world and provides a large
amount of press releases to advertise new products being offered at big discounts,
new services, and involvement with many charitable type projects. Based on the
Walmart press releases and responses to the press releases it looks like there are
opposing views for almost every press release. The only time they don’t get negative
responses are when they announce something to do with charity or giving to a
cause.
Looking at some recent press releases and how they were viewed by
outsiders really sent different messages from time to time. I picked five press
releases from recent months to review.
On October 1, 2013 Walmart announced the opening of two large
distribution centers to deliver online orders faster and at lower cost. In the press
release they mentioned how this will provide many new jobs in Texas and
Pennsylvania and increase “access to more than five million products”. They also
bragged about $10 billion in sales for the year. However, Zacks Equity Research
looked at this very differently. Zacks said Walmart is “battling sluggish sales” and
trying to destock inventory. Zacks also stated that Walmart is signaling weaker sales
for the rest of the year.
On August 26, 2013 Walmart announced they are increasing the hiring of
more veterans and that they are the world’s largest private employer. The highlight
they are welcoming veterans home and currently have 100,000 veterans. However,
Forbes wrote a release bashing Walmart for hiring more temporary workers so they
can get out of offering benefits. Forbes also said Walmart is in the process of
transitioning 35,000 people from temporary to part time and employment is flat
even after opening new stores.
On August 2,2013 Walmart announced the U.S. District court ruled in favor of
them on a gender discrimination class action. Walmart continued to say they have a
strong policy against this for many years and it’s a great place for women to work.
They said “ lawsuit was driven by five people and they employ thousands of
women.” However, the Huffington Post wrote an article that sex discrimination at
Walmart is alive and well according to lawyers that interviewed thousand of female
employees. The Huffington Post went on to say that women pay and promotions are
also problems at Walmart. And finally Huffington quoted someone saying that
although Walmart is more aware of gender discrimination they haven’t solved the
problem.
On September 18, 2013 Walmart announced they are opening a store in
Coats, North Carolina and it will create 30 jobs and easy access to shopping and a
pharmacy. Walmart said they are helping save lives in the military and looking
forward to working with Coats residents. However, shortly after this press release
The Sun Journal printed an article saying how opponents are vowing to continue the
fight against the Walmart opening because it will put the local gas stations, grocery
story and pharmacy out of business. The local town is trying to pass a law
prohibiting a large Walmart from being built there. They have scheduled a public
hearing. Walmart told them they are not planning to include a pharmacy but it will
include a gas station. It looks like Walmart has a large amount of people that don’t
want this store built in the town.
On July 22,2013 Walmart announced it was going to give $2.5 million to the Heller
School’s Youth Community fund. The center focuses on youth employment through
the summer. Walmart goes on to say the Walmart Foundation “is committed to
helping people live better through philanthropic efforts”. They also say how they try
to help the needs of communities it serves including hunger relief and healthy
eating. The Philanthropy News Digest then picked up the story and also announced
the donation and the goals of the Heller School. There was no mention of anything
negative about Walmart in this article.
On July 16, 2013 Walmart announced their Back-to-School Sale and student
discounts. They went on to say that they have “Gimmick-free pricing” all season
long, online school supplies and a “Teachers Corner” in some locations. They stress
they offer low prices and people should trust them to keep the prices low. They also
say they keep their pricing low all year with no “bait and switch” tactics the other
retailers use. Following this press release ABC News published an article saying
Walmart Tops Retailers with Back-to-School shopping. ABC New article also speak
about retail stores luring you in to get things you don’t really need but charging
more for the basic school supplies. They fully backed Walmart as being the best
place to buy school supplies at low costs or to look around until you can find
discounts on the items.
When looking at all of these press releases I feel Walmart is having more
positive power when they make a press release about giving to charity or their
pricing. It just looks like they get much more conflict when the make a press release
about opening a new store or something to do with anything else. I don’t think I am
surprised the charity press releases get good press releases. Honestly, how could
someone bash them for giving to any needy kids or helping. They also are doing very
well with press releases advertising how good there pricing is and how they will
always be good in this area. After reading this I do feel they must be the best In price
or many other press releases would bash them. They do have a lot of charity press
releases and deals they offer by press release. However, they also have a large
amount of press releases about new stores and other stories. I guess they have to
give a press release for every store they open but it does get a lot of bad reactions
from other press releases. Looking at the list of press releases I did notice they
include a large amount of good things they wherever they open a store. I guess they
need to keep getting this message out because they also get a lot of people against
them wherever they build a new store. Walmart does try to always say how they
create jobs, help people and offer very low pricing to everyone. They also always say
that they are fair to everyone and don’t use gimmicks.
Bibliography
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Dedicated to Filling Online Orders." Walmart Corporate - News & Views.
http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2013/10/01/walmart-announcesnew-large-scale-centers-dedicated-to-filling-online-orders (accessed October
1, 2013).
"Walmart Corporate - Salute and Recruit: Walmart Scouting for Military
Talent in Houston." Walmart Corporate - News & Views.
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"Walmart Corporate - Walmart Company Statement Related to Order
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"Walmart Corporate - Heller School’s Center for Youth and Communities at
Brandeis University receives $2.5 Million Grant from the Walmart Foundation
for 2013 Summer Youth Employability Initiative." Walmart Corporate - News
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External
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logic, this, there would never be any such thing as sex discrimination, racial
discrimination, and it's just one trait: not "enough" for a given group that
shares the trait in common. "Walmart Faces Long Battle On Sex
Discrimination, Despite Supreme Court Ruling." Breaking News and Opinion
on The Huffington Post.
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"Opponents of Walmart vow to continue fight - Local - Sun Journal." Sun
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Summer Youth Programs | PND | Foundation Center ." Research Grant
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2013).