Dive Summary:
- Wal-Mart executives told 500 alcohol industry representatives at its "adult beverage summit" in Bentonville, Ark., last summer that it wants to double its alcohol sales by 2016.
- The company has since doubled its number of alcohol buyers to 12, promoted discounts for numerous brands, made more room for beer by dropping slow-selling items and designed new stores to stack such beverages up front.
- Beer in particular is a good fit because it is a high-frequency consumable that can drive the kind of repeat visits the company wants after disappointing second-quarter results, and most states allow it in grocery stores.
From the article:
... Founder Sam Walton frowned on drinking to excess, and Wal-Mart has said little publicly about its latest ambitions. Unlike initiatives to expand produce or steak sales, the beer push has been so discreet that some analysts who cover Wal-Mart haven’t even heard about it. Inside the company, attitudes are changing. Wal-Mart now promotes alcohol in its circulars, reversing a previous ban. Two Walton grandsons even spearheaded a successful campaign to overturn a ban on retail alcohol sales last year in Wal-Mart’s home county of Benton. ...