What the “Bought in Quebec” program giveth to the Wal-Mart brand, the closing of its unionized Tire & Lube Express in Gatineau taketh away.
Wal-Mart’s approval rating in Quebec took a nosedive after the closing of its unionized Jonquiere store in 2005 because it wasn’t profitable. It dropped 60 points between 2004 and 2006 to just 11%.
In a case study presented at the recent ESOMAR conference in
Montreal, Wal-Mart outlined its successful
response and PR offensive: the Achat-Quebec program which highlights and encourages consumers to
buy products that Wal-Mart is sourcing from the province. A kind of “chez-nous”
statement meant to warm up things. It apparently worked. According to the case
presented, since the introduction of Achat-Québec in 2006, the company
increased its approval rating back to 41% and claims sales have increased by
nearly 10% and market share by 1%.
Let’s see what happens to the approval rating now.
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