Lipstick on a Pig?

So, here is an interesting picture. Its the exterior of the latest design being tested by WalMart. Probably would not have guessed that when you saw it. Most people think it's a new Home Depot or a cross between Garden Ridge and Pottery Barn. 

Whatever you think, this is the start of something big - the change to move WalMart from the "limiting" image of low prices for the lower class into more of a design conscious retailer (Ala their rivals at Target.) 

Interesting you say, but what does this have to do with me, you ask? I'm getting to that. If you have been reading long, you know it eventually gets around to culture. But before I do, by the time you finish reading this blog post, WalMart will have raked in $1.9M in sales - REALLY? (Don't forget they do a $1B a day!) So, I am not trying to upset or throw stones at them - especially since people with that kind of money can make people like me disappear without a trace. 

Inside this store, which is beautiful by the way, are new displays, new layouts, new looks and colors. But guess what is the same? You got it - the experience and the employees. Now, I am not saying that the employees at WalMart are of a different class than other retailers - not at all. I have relatives who work for this store. What I am saying is that with the dramatic change in their look, they are forgetting the one thing that must change if they want to reposition themselves in the marketplace - their people. 

And no, again, I am not saying they need to fire everyone at the stores. I am saying that the same level of service (or really lack there of) same level of cleanliness, same level of training and support they give their employees still exists - even in their new beautiful store.

While the store looks very different, the experience was the same. The corporate culture of WalMart is low price and optimized costs. they are spending a ton on new looks and a new exterior, but what are they spending to enhance the one element that has more control over anything else in their culture - their people? 

But, ah, the culture of this company is not about real change, they are about lipstick change. Will it work? Yes, for awhile. But people will learn quickly that it is still WalMart. And the people who already shop there will be happy they got a remodel. But it will not attract new customers - which is the point of the whole project to begin with!

why? Because the people who do not shop with WalMart now do not engage with their corporate culture. And they are making no change in that culture - ergo no new customers. 

Never forget the culture cycle (if you forgot, its in chapter 3 of my book, Culturrific!) Your programming determines your beliefs which determine your values and so on. And the employees that I interviewed in the store in this picture all said the same thing - the outside looks different, but the inside is still the same. 

You cannot beat your corporate culture. When will we learn?