Wal-Mart Doesn't Want You to Think of It as a 'Store' Anymore
December 06 2017 - 9:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Nassauer
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is taking the stores out of Wal-Mart.
The retail behemoth with more than 11,700 locations around the
world announced Wednesday that it will shorten its legal name to
Walmart Inc. The move highlights the company's shift away from
building traditional stores toward competing online with rival
Amazon.com Inc.
"We felt it was best to have a name that was consistent with the
idea that you can shop us however you like as a customer," said
Wal-Mart Chief Executive Doug McMillon.
Other big companies have changed names to signal a shift in
strategy to customers or investors. Steve Jobs in 2007 decided to
shorten Apple Computer Inc.'s name to Apple Inc. as it moved into
phones and other devices. Google Inc. became Alphabet Inc. in 2015
as the company branched out into more businesses beyond search,
like self-driving cars and robots.
Companies that are in the midst of change often struggle to "sit
down with a group of investors and say, 'Forget everything you
heard before, we are different now,'" said branding consultant
Allen Adamson. "That is why some companies pursue a change."
Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in 1962 in Rogers,
Ark., after opening several stores with other names including a
Walton's 5 & 10. The name Walmart came from Bob Bogle, one of
the first store managers, according to Mr. Walton's autobiography.
The company incorporated in 1969 as Wal-Mart Inc., then became
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in 1970 when it went public.
Stores still account for more than 95% of its revenue, but in
recent years the company has shifted away from opening hundreds of
new stores to pouring funds into growing online and improving
existing stores.
Last year, Wal-Mart purchased online retailer Jet.com for $3.3
billion to expand its e-commerce efforts. In the most recent
quarter, sales rose the fastest in nearly a decade, boosted by
accelerating online sales and more shoppers visiting stores.
To pay for the online strategy, executives said in October that
the retailer would deepen cost-cutting and only open around two
dozen U.S. stores next fiscal year, the lowest number in at least
25 years.
The corporate name change "is just a symbol of how customers are
shopping us today and how they'll increasingly shop us in the
future," Mr. McMillon wrote in a blog post. "Whether it's in our
stores, on our sites, with our apps, by using their voice or
whatever comes next."
The new legal name will take effect Feb. 1, the company
said.
Many corporate name changes are spawned by acquisitions or
reorganizations. The 2000 merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE
Corp. gave the world Verizon Communications Inc. Just this year,
Coach Inc. changed its name to Tapestry Inc. after buying rival
Kate Spade & Co.
Others were the result of necessity. Limited Brands Inc. became
L Brands Inc. in 2013 after founder and CEO Leslie Wexner sold off
his original retail chain, The Limited. During the 1990s dot-com
boom, companies like 1-800-Flowers Inc. appended ".com" to their
nameplate. Though many raced to drop it after the 2000 bust.
A few name changes have been head scratchers. Kraft Foods Inc.
raised eyebrows when it choose to name its global snacks business
Mondelēz International Inc. in 2012.
Tribune Publishing Co., whose newspapers include the Los Angeles
Times and the Chicago Tribune, received a similar critique when
changed its name to Tronc Inc. last year.
Though Wal-Mart's change is comparatively subtle, Mr. McMillon
looked to head off one potential conflict. "While our new legal
name removes the dash, we're not planning to change the Walmart
cheer," he wrote in his blog post.
Wal-Mart employees in stores and corporate offices often begin
meetings by shouting the spelling of Wal-Mart, including the
"squiggly," the internal name for the hyphen in Wal-Mart.
"It's important to have some fun at work," he wrote, "so for our
associates in countries where your cheer calls for the squiggly,
keep doing it!"
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 06, 2017 09:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
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