A particular rumor has been going around the Nigeria retail space for a few years now; let’s call it “The Walmart Rumor!” And because there is no smoke without fire, on a team from Walmart visited the Governor of Lagos State recently. Shelley Broader, President and Chief Executive Officer of Walmart Incorporated Europe, Middle East, Africa and Canada visited Governor Ambode in a quest to establish business presence in Nigeria starting with Lagos. Ambode welcomed the Walmart executives while pledging his commitment to create “an enabling environment” for the global retail company because “the presence of the brand in Lagos will go a long way not only to create jobs for our teeming youths, but also to boost the economy of the state…”

While all these sounds great and Nigerians that have returned home from diaspora must be overjoyed out of their minds to know their favorite brands will soon be accessible, there will be some negative consequences.

Read on as we discuss what Walmart will be bringing to the largest economy in Africa, good and bad:

Jobs
Walmart stores in North America are huge and one store can employ over a 100 employees. And these are just store jobs- there will also be administrative opportunities, truck and transportation opportunities and so on. Before the store can be set up, there will be building and construction jobs. We can expect Walmart to have a finance and legal team as well. Young intelligent folks looking for an opportunity to work for a global organization will be wise to start looking into the coming opportunities.

More Brands
Walmart is a great and cheap way for a small/medium-sized brand/company to enter into a new market. Many brands that were previously unknown to the average Nigerian are going to use this opportunity to enter the Sub-Saharan market at little cost. Nigerian waist-lines and pockets get ready!

Obesity
As many new brands, especially food products come into the Nigerian marketplace, we can expect a rise in obesity rates. Walmart is not exactly particular about the health benefits of the products it carries. It is not Whole Foods. It is more particular about cost. As more Nigerians make Walmart their destination for grocery shopping, rather than the usual open place markets, they will take advantage of the cheap products Walmart provides and sacrifice quality and fresh options.

Cheaper Options
As mentioned in the previous point, Walmart tries its very best to be the cheaper alternative. This means Nigerians will have the opportunity to push a few bucks even longer and wider than before.

Competition
Walmart has a lot of money behind it. Think $22 billion in profits alone. Addo market women cannot compete with that. Aba cannot compete with that. Shoprite/Spar won’t know where to begin. Competition can be good and can be bad. For the most part, Walmart in the US has destroyed a lot of small trading businesses. Shoprite has not been able to do this-probably because of accessibility. Before letting Walmart into Nigeria, the government must put rules in place that will protect small businesses from the impact.

Foreign Investment
Yes, Walmart will need to spend to set up in Nigeria and that means some dollars will come flowing into the economy soon. Aside that, the presence of Walmart will sooner or later attract other retailers and companies to give it a try. If Walmart can succeed, I am sure Target, Costco, Tesco etc will consider giving the Nigerian market a try too.
Nigerians think walking around in huge shopping stores are a great leisure activity. Just visit any Shoprite branch for an insight into this weird behavior. The coming of Walmart will therefore reduce the pressure on the aisles of Shoprite. Nigerians will have a new destination to behave weirdly. Walmart doesn’t even know what it is in for yet!



These are our thoughts on this retail giant’s presence in Nigeria. What do you think? Do the advantages preclude the disadvantages? Can we ignore the disadvantages and just focus on the good? For the business owners, how can you take advantage of this coming reality?

http://forwardnigeria.com/7-things-walmart-will-bring-to-nigeria/

The first time they would launch in Naija, the whole city would be in queues the whole day. Trust warri people.

Fantastic, all your points are noted

Obesity
As many new brands, especially food products come into the Nigerian marketplace, we can expect a rise in obesity rates. Walmart is not exactly particular about the health benefits of the products it carries. It is not Whole Foods. It is more particular about cost. As more Nigerians make Walmart their destination for grocery shopping, rather than the usual open place markets, they will take advantage of the cheap products Walmart provides and sacrifice quality and fresh options.

and also lots of pictures to be taken at their stores




for me op I fink is good to let international brands like this come into Nigeria

Walmart eats up competition

They bypass the wholesalers and always buy direct frm the manufacturers

Fr instance, they are the largest importers of Chinese products into america

We await walmart's arrival. It's good for retail industry in Nigeria. Be innovative or go home. Healthy competition is good.

grandstar:
Walmart eats up competition

They bypass the wholesalers and always buy direct frm the manufacturers

Fr instance, they are the largest importers of Chinese products into america

Yup! They "swallow" up smaller businesses. Plus, they strongly discourage workers from joining unions, another red flag.

our leaders are not properly educated. if they were they'd understand that walmart will cause more harm than good to Nigeria. so many communities in america stopped Walmart from coming into their communities because they were fully aware of the adverse consequences. but our leaders know nothing!

you're very correct.

basille:
Not only will most part of the huge profits realized from here be spent abroad, they would also introduce slave labor, exploitation of workers, and worst of all Monopoly, and most of this cases are in a seemingly organized country like America talk less of Nigeria where almost nothing works.

It is alleged that the owners of Walmart make more money in an hour than most of their workers make in a year.
There's even a site dedicated to stop Walmart exploitation of workers http://makingchangeatwalmart.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-SMetMkcVI
And am sure we don't want to be part of that.

If the government are so obsessed with retail outlets, then i suggest A city mall with lease-able space for local retailers would be a better alternative like the Ikeja city mall. This helps to enhance division of labor, provide employment, business opportunities and checkmate monopoly.

. . . the part that says Nigerians will have new places to go is so funny and factual because many girls be like taking selfies @ NEXT etc and posting updates like "Shoprite things" now WALMART will be included

This is a good discourse. It will have impacts, positive and negative, in the country. But I think that the government can make policies to protect the interest of local producers. There is nothing wrong if they are instructed to patronize local farmers is wholesale and bulk supplies. I think outlets like Mr. Biggs, shoprite et al already patronise local content wholesale suppliers. There will be serious competition with small time importers of china products with their own massive importation. However if the policies of the government can focus on technology and R & D of local content and manufacturers, then we may put up adequate competition with such.