@Risk

Showing just how strongly low prices drove consumer loyalty during the recession, Walmart dominates the newly released 2010 COLLOQUY Retail Loyalty Index.

Previously published in 2008, the COLLOQUY Retail Loyalty Index ranks the top retailers in the nation according to customer loyalty ratings. The 2010 index was built from a December 2009 survey of 3,500 U.S. consumers in five regions: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Northwest. Respondents were surveyed across four retail categories that included Grocery, Personal Care, Department Stores and Mass Merchants.

The results show that customers claimed the highest loyalty to Walmart in many of the Grocery, Personal Care and Department Store regional categories. Costco had the highest customer loyalty ratings in three out of five Mass Merchant regional categories. In COLLOQUY’s index from two years ago, shoppers claimed the most loyalty to Costco, which ranked first in nine out of twenty regional and retail categories. (more…)

Walmart suppliers in China aren’t meeting the company’s most basic ethical workforce standards, according to a new report from China Labor Watch (CLW).

The report, titled “Walmart Standards Fail, Workers Suffer,” focuses on five suppliers that manufacture goods such as decorations, shoes, tool, paper boxes, and curtains.  CLW investigated these suppliers by conducting external interviews with workers. The group found out that workers in these factories typically endure: (more…)

Supplier risk comes in many forms –financial solvency, price, compliance, to name just a few. Today, a day after Wal-Mart announced that it will begin measuring the sustainability of all the products it sells, it’s no surprise that I’m thinking about supplier risks related to sustainability and (even broader) CSR issues. The big question looming is this: If you sell to Wal-Mart, are you –and your suppliers –ready for the new Wal-Mart Sustainable Product Index?

Wal-Mart is introducing this initiative in three phases, beginning with a survey of its more than 100,000 suppliers around the world. This survey includes 15 questions, and according to John Fleming, chief merchandising officer, Wal-Mart U.S, it is a key first step toward establishing real transparency in the corporation’s supply chain.

To give you an idea of the breadth and depth of information Wal-Mart is asking for, I’ve copied the 15 questions here:

(more…)