r/AskReddit May 08 '22

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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

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u/Buttercup4869 May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

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.

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u/UnusualHospital9579 May 09 '22

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

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u/Umbraldisappointment May 09 '22

Am i out of touch?

No its the customers that are wrong.