TOUGHEST CRITICS ARE INSIDE WAL-MART

DAN ALAIMO

WASHINGTON -- Seeking to defuse the idea that Wal-Mart Stores is "an amazingly monstrous company taking over the world," a Wal-Mart executive told a recent industry gathering that the retailer is very much focused on satisfying its core customers -- especially on matters of price -- and that its harshest critics work for the company.

"When we talk in our company, we mostly talk about how we are not very good and how our competition is much better," said Gordon Erickson, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of the Bentonville., Ark., retailer during the closing presentation of the Retail Conference of the Magazine Publishers of America, New York, here last month.

In some executive meetings one could get the impression Wal-Mart was on the verge of bankruptcy, he said. "Paranoia is our middle name."

Speaking of Target and Best Buy, he said, "These are really strong companies. These are people that are as good and probably better than we are." As examples, he cited Target's apparel presentation and Best Buy's use of technology. He paid similar compliments to Home Depot and Lowe's. "These guys are amazing in how they look at their business and how they care what their customer is saying," he said.

Wal-Mart's out-of-stocks are 5%, which to the industry is "world class," but to Wal-Mart, "that's disaster. We should be 100% in stock all of the time. If our buyers are doing their jobs right, we can have that assortment, because we have technology that tells us what sells," he said.

"We love to sell merchandise," Erickson concluded. "We have a whole bunch of fun. We don't like to talk about our successes because we are concerned that they might turn into failures. We really admire our competition. We spend a lot of time in their stores. We really love our customers because we understand that if we do our job, if we can save them $500 a year, they can pay for Christmas."