Wal-Mart goes Organic

In an effort to lure upscale customers, Wal-Mart is carrying more organic products, which many see as a move that could reshape retail.

A new Supercenter that opened this week in the Dallas suburb of Plano features over 400 organic foods as part of an experiment to see what kinds of products and interior decor can grab the interest of upscale shoppers.

"Like many big companies, they have figured out it is just good marketing and good reputation building to be in favor of things that Americans are increasingly interested in," Peterson said.

Here in Dallas, high end super markets such as Whole Foods Market and Central Market are the places to go for large varieties of organic products and they are quite pricy compared to your regular Albertsons, Kroger, et al, but that hasn't seemed to hurt business. Quite the contrary is true...Organic outlets are popping up everywhere. With Wal-Mart getting into the organic scene, prices will be coming down big time!

"They have huge potential because it's not just Wal-Mart we're talking about, it's their entire supply chain," said Jeff Erikson, U.S. director of London-based consultancy and research group SustainAbility. The group says it does not do any consulting work for Wal-Mart.

Erikson said Wal-Mart could bring the same pressure it has exerted over the years on prices and apply that to pushing manufacturers and competitors to adopt more sustainable business practices and larger organic offerings.

"We love to see companies like Wal-Mart taking a big step and making pronouncements as they have, because their tentacles are so large," Erikson said.

Wal-Mart plans to double its organic grocery offerings in the next month and continue looking for more products to offer in areas such as grocery, apparel, paper and electronics.

Even the "sustainable environmental dweebs" are ecstatic over this move.

Sustainability experts say what makes this program interesting is that Wal-Mart will work with its suppliers to get more fisheries around the globe certified by MSC, instead of just buying up the existing stock of certified fish.

Wal-Mart says this means there will be more sustainable fish that will also be available to Wal-Mart's competitors, such as Whole Foods Market, which already sells about 18 MSC certified items, according to the MSC Web site. Wal-Mart plans to offer between 200 and 250 items.

Hubba hubba! This is great news for everyone! Ain't capitalism grand!