I think that there were several good points brought up on Wednesday during our discussion on Wal-Mart and their employee attire. I can definitely see why management wants to move away from having the smocks to having employees dress in khakis and a polo. I think that this would help improve the company image somewhat. I think that the new look would be a step up and a good way for Wal-Mart to lose some of its super discount store image. Even though this is what the company’s business model is based off of, it may help to attract some newer, higher income shoppers. One of the main points that we discussed was how the employees felt about the smocks that most of the stores currently wear. On the one hand I feel as if the smock is better for the employee because it can help them identify with their coworkers better as well as allow for personal expression through what they wear underneath the smock. On the other hand I feel that the business casual look may have the employees feel that their job is more important or worthy, but they may not like having to conform to wearing the same thing every day. Where I work back home, we wear a vest similar to that of the Wal-Mart smock. My personal opinion is that I would rather have to wear the vest than have to wear business casual. I am able to wear a t-shirt and shorts to work which I really enjoy. I would not like to have to wear khakis and a polo to work every day. Although, this may be influenced by the nature of my work and the fact that wearing this attire would make it less comfortable with the amount of physical activity I am involved in at work.
I think I disagree with your assessment of the uniforms outcome on bringing in "higher class" customers. I believe that the changing of the uniforms for a company such as Wal-Mart is something trivial with not much impact on how that public sees this company as a whole. Everyday low prices has been their base and in came from a rural origin. So unless Wal-Mart goes through a rigorous re-branding campaign I do not believe it could shake the "stigma" of being a mid to lower class wholesaler. Something as trivial as the uniform may have a slight impact in some instances but on the whole I do not think it has a large impact.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment above that I do not believe it can completely change the image of Wal-Mart, but it can have a slight impact in some cases. In your post though, I like your opinion on the vest/smock idea. For you, you would rather wear that because you can wear whatever you'd like underneath that and be comfortable. I think I would agree with that. Who wouldn't rather wear what they want under a little smock than a polo and khakis everyday? In my opinion, I think they place too much emphasis on their uniform and it's effect. I don't believe it affects how one is valued or how one performs, so they could probably focus on something more beneficial and effective if those are their goals.
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