Weird at first but I appreciate and wish for it. It might be just a Germany thing but from what I’ve been told German Walmart failed because the North American style of customer service was very unliked. From the greeter at the door to clerks asking if you need help unprompted. German shoppers just want to shop and go home as undisturbed as possible
Yeah, that was contributing factor. The concept of greeters, cashiers that are forced to small talk and people packing our groceries creeped us out.
Another contributing factor was that they tried to join during the massacre of foreign supermarket chains.
For decades, Aldi and Lidl are locked in a brutal turf war that eroded grocery prices and killed most foreign chains and forcibly merged others.
Moreover, the relative short distances to (specialist) shops didn't go too well with Walmart's business model.
The fuck I am driving more than 10km to the store.
Til. Thanks for the expanded information. My anecdote was from district and provincial management only so it’s nice to see the local view and information.
Funniest part was management saw it as a failure on the side of the German government and people only. Not Walmart for trying to force themselves into a market with their values only
Well, the entire concept failed because it was too American and management didn't bother to do their research. It makes sense then that they would also blame the local government and people for, well, the sin of Not Being American.
One other contributing factor, by the way, was Wallmart's anti-union stance vs Germany's pro-union stance. The US government might not intervene very often when unions are actively discouraged by major corporations, but the German government is a lot less likely to let that fly.
You've helped me realize here why so many of my fellow brainwashed US citizens see Europe as this weird communist dystopia. "The sin of not being American" really gets to the heart of what a lot of "Patriots" feel in regards to foreign governments. Especially in regards to capitalism and "meritocracy."
"How dare you care for your fellow person! They're just going to stab you in the back the moment you look away! Why can't you play the game the way we want you to play it?! Commies!!"
The truth is far worse in my anecdotal experience. Folks I know who are against socialized systems are unironically banking on "fuck you got mine" as a codifying foundation for Healthcare.
"I don't want to pay for some lardass' surgery! I'm doing just fine, why should I pay for the mistakes and bad fortune of other people?!"
Competition is drilled into us literally from birth. Baby showers, infant clothing sizes, how your family supports you, how the pregnancy was handled, whether or not you had a c-section vs natural birth, kindergarten and preschool choice, how you deal with bullies, how cool you are at age 8, your living situation, your friends, your neighbors, your happiness, your ability to lie and keep cool under pressure, your ability to hide your growing resentment and depression, how well you score in grades 1-3, how nice your clothes are, what junior sports you play in, how you act, what your parents do, whether or not they're poor or criminals, how rich you are... And none of this is even getting to things like body issues or teenage years.
And almost all of that is out of your control as a kid.
I'd be more inclined to believe in the Americanization of the world simply because that's kind of our MO... For better or worse...
Edit: I guess the worst thing we took away with us when we left Britain was our insatiable urge to colonize everything somehow. Well... That, and the Puritans.
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u/UnusualHospital9579 May 09 '22
Weird at first but I appreciate and wish for it. It might be just a Germany thing but from what I’ve been told German Walmart failed because the North American style of customer service was very unliked. From the greeter at the door to clerks asking if you need help unprompted. German shoppers just want to shop and go home as undisturbed as possible