Walmart Wine

Is Walmart really soon going to be offering its own brand of cheap wine? It will if you believe this email that's been circulating around for over a year:

Some Walmart customers soon will be able to sample a new discount item: Walmart's own brand of wine. The world's largest retail chain is teaming up with E&J Gallo Winery of Modesto, California, to produce the spirits at an affordable price, in the $2-5 range. While wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to throw a bottle of Walmart brand wine into their shopping carts, there is a market for cheap wine, said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. She said: "The right name is important."

So, here we go: The top 12 suggested names for Walmart Wine:

12. Chateau Traileur Parc
11. White Trashfindel
10. Big Red Gulp
9. Grape Expectations
8. Domaine Wal-Mart "Merde du Pays" [Kruse, Keith M] (Translated "Shit of the Land") 
7. NASCARbernet
6. Chef Boyardeaux
5. Peanut Noir
4. Chateau des Moines
3. I Can't Believe It's Not Vinegar!
2. World Championship Riesling

And the number 1 name for Wal-Mart Wine ..

1. Nasti Spumante

That's obviously a joke (though it is strange that Kathy Micken's name is mentioned specifically... I've emailed her to ask her if she knows anything about this). But here's another strange urban legend involving Walmart and alcohol. It's the Walmart beer and nappy legend, as told by Media Week (I don't think this one is true either):

WalMart did an analysis of customers’ buying habits and found a statistically-significant correlation between purchases of beer and purchases of nappies. It was decided that the reason for this was that fathers were stopping at Wal-Mart – on instruction from her-indoors – to buy nappies for their babies. Since they could no longer go down to the pub as often, beer was being bought as well. As a result of this finding, the supermarket chain supposedly rearranged the store to have the nappies next to the beer – resulting in increased sales of both.

Food

Posted on Wed Oct 27, 2004



Comments

Well about the Walmart and nappy "legend", this case was presented to us by our professor in Marketing class (University of Ghent, Belgium).
I don't know what her sources were, but be sure it was a source serious and reliable enough for her to believe it and present it to the class (it was an example of sales analysis or something, should look it up in my notes 😛).
Posted by Nathan  on  Wed Oct 27, 2004  at  10:24 AM
I don't know. The 'nappies & beer' legend just doesn't seem real. Super Wal-mart is the only Wal-Mart that carries beer, & the refrigeration section is near the front of the store, all baby needs are in the back...I wouldn't think that it's exactly the same at every store, but from what I've seen they're basically the same. Lots of schools teach 'theories' as facts. Evolution, Safe Sex...

Besides, I thought the whole point of marketing is to promote something so that people believe it...maybe your professor was pulling one over on you.
Posted by Maegan  on  Wed Oct 27, 2004  at  11:46 AM
P.S. this was all I could find regarding increased sales...no mention of nappies...

NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart's sales of UPC-coded product rose 10.8% in the 12-month period ended September 4, 2004, according to the latest Wal-Mart Channel Service reports, an exclusive service of ACNielsen, the world's leading provider of marketing information and consumer insights.
--
Alcoholic beverage sales increased by 16.7%, with liquor up 25%, beer up 17% and wine up 16%. In the liquor category, the biggest gains were in scotch (61%) and vodka (53%). Light beer was up 23%, while malt liquor was down 31%, and regular beer was up 4.8%. Imported table wine (up 88%) was the biggest gainer followed by aperitifs/vermouth (up 33%) while dessert wines fell off by 18%.
Posted by Maegan  on  Wed Oct 27, 2004  at  11:54 AM
Here is an article from the washington post which may be the source for the humorous e-mail. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000929/aponline192942_000.htm
Posted by Myst  on  Wed Oct 27, 2004  at  06:36 PM
Ah, so Walmart Wine wasn't just a joke after all.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Wed Oct 27, 2004  at  07:08 PM
All of the Super Wal-Marts I've ever been to always have the baby section right next to the "beverage" section...or is that just in the South and Midwest???
Posted by SS  on  Thu Oct 28, 2004  at  03:40 PM
The 'nappies and beer' thing is a common example of 'market basket' analysis, a form of data mining. I read it in:

Data Mining: Practical machine learning tools with Java implementations," by Ian H. Witten and Eibe Frank, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, 2000

More determined hoax hunters can find contact details of the authors at http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~ml/index.html
Posted by Matthew Honnibal  on  Sun Oct 31, 2004  at  01:51 AM
One more thing to throw at this...
I thought that some places don't sell liquor because of licensing problems. In Florida you can get basically any type of high demand alcoholic beverage from your local grocery store. Specialty items can be found in liquor stores, or you can find specialty beverage stores that cater to higher class spirits (fine wines, imported brews..). But my dad is from New Jersey & he says that grocery stores don't have liquor. You have to make a seperate stop at the liquor store. Even in some restaurants you may have to B.Y.O. alcohol. So...wouldn't this not apply in some places? Essentially we could say that the findings are skewed.
Posted by Maegan  on  Sun Oct 31, 2004  at  10:35 AM
The Wal-Mart wine may not be available in all stores. Here is a quote from the Washington Post article I posted:

"In the U.S., Alcott Ridge Vineyards will be sold only in the stores that currently sell wine."

Obviously Wal-Mart will have to follow the laws in the area they are located.
Posted by Myst  on  Sun Oct 31, 2004  at  02:22 PM
Actually, in our Wal-mart Supercenter there is a second baby section on the grocery side that also carries diapers/nappies. Ironically they are only an aisle or two away from the beer aisle.
Posted by enyhsnus1974  on  Sat Jan 29, 2005  at  06:17 PM
My Walmart carries both beer and nappies, and yes, they are located within about 30 feet of one another. I have been known on occasion to buy beer, nappies and condoms in a visit :red:
Posted by Celebrity Foods  on  Sat Feb 23, 2008  at  12:06 PM
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