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Murphy Martin Commentary
November 30, 2006
"Make It Merry Christmas!"
We thought with as much
attention as has been given the subject in recent years,
particularly since 9/11, we would not find the need for merchants to
order their employees to avoid using the word "Christmas" in
greeting customers in store, or, many merchants choosing to not use
the word in their advertising.
There is supposedly a list of these stores on email but we decided
to check with the world's largest merchandiser--Wal-Mart!
We telephoned a new
Supercenter near our Dallas home. We heard a pleasant "Happy
Holiday" from the other end of the line.
We identified ourselves
and told the lady we were doing a column on Christmas shopping and
we were wondering if Wal-Mart employees had special instructions
regarding use of the word "Christmas" in their greetings. She said,
"Just a moment, you will have to speak with the store manager!"
After waiting on hold for five-minutes, I hung UP and re-dialed that
store's number. A young man answered, and I asked to speak to the
manager. After a wait of about 30-seconds, a lady answers and said
the manager was out of the store but she was the assistant-manager.
I explained my mission and asked what Wal-Mart's policy was this
year regarding use of "Christmas" in greetings? She said you will
have to call headquarters and she gave me a number to call. The
number she gave me was a firm in Atlanta that does "in-store"
signage for Wal-Mart and knew nothing about Christmas Greetings
policy.
We cut away the chaff and called Wal-Mart Corporate Headquarters in
Bentonville, Arkansas. We asked for Media Relations and immediately
had a young man who said he had been in his job with Wal-Mart for
only one month, but he had ALL the information we were seeking!
"Wal-Mart has Christmas
back in our ads, back in all our stores, back in everything!"
Do you have any specific
instructions for employees regarding how they address customers?
"Our associates can say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy
Hanukkah, whatever greeting is most comfortable for them!"
After talking with this new member of Wal-Mart's Corporate Media
Relations Department , we let our mind drift back to Rogers.
Arkansas. That is where it all started. that is where Sam Walton,
and his wife Helen, put up 95% of the money to open that first
variety store in 1962, Sam Walton's vision of what America wanted in
retail merchandising in the future proved correct. It did not come
easy and many a day, after they opened more stores in Kansas and
Arkansas and elsewhere, many a day Sam Walton would drive his pickup
truck to that small airport near Bentonville, Arkansas, climb into a
small single engine airplane and fly from small town to small town
where Wal-Mart stores were located. He built his empire on his
personal touch. Late in the day, that small plane would land back in
Bentonville, Arkansas, Sam Walton would get out of the plane and
walk to his pickup and drive home and give his wife Helen a report
of the day.
Americans shifted buying
habits to Sam Walton's new merchandising concept.
Today--Sam Walton's gamble is an International Global Company with
more than 1.8-MILLION employees worldwide, and 6500 stores and
retail clubs in more than 15 countries. New
figures will not be ready until late January 2007, but the year that
ended last January saw the world's largest retailer gross
$312-billion. In America alone, Wal-Mart customers spend an average
of $36-million every hour of every day in the year!
Success like that could
lead a man to do strange things--like dance the Hula on Wall Street!
That's exactly what Sam Walton did in 1984 because he had promised
he would do this if his company had a pre-tax profit of 8% in 1983.
It did...and he did!
On March 17, 1992 Sam
Walton was given the Medal Of Freedom by President George H. W.
Bush. Less than a month later the man who showed the WORLD how to
merchandise ... died!
In all probability, if Sam Walton were still here today, He would
still drive to the airport in Bentonville in the pickup truck of his
choice--Climb aboard the latest model Gulfstream -- fly to the
stores of his choice for that day...stand inside the main entrance
at each store---and there he would greet customers as they entered
those stores.
He would say: "Merry Christmas, I'm Sam Walton. Welcome to
Wal-Mart!"
Outside the front door of those stores would be Salvation Army Red
Kettles.....just like they are today!
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
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