Halo 3 Launch Latest Effort in Electronics for Wal-Mart (Touch Points)

(For a graph depicting the sale of Nintendo Wii boxes, click here.)

While efforts to go upscale in apparel and homeware segments have struggled, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has succeeded in its moves to ramp up sales in consumer electronics with big-name brands. The latest step is expanding to the video game world.

Halo 3, the long-awaited final chapter in the trilogy from Microsoft sold exclusively for the Xbox 360 game console, had a record-setting launch and Wal-Mart played no small part.

Halo 3 sold $170 million worth of copies in the first 24 hours after its midnight launch Sept. 25. The 24-hour total bested the previous record for a video game, set by Halo 2 and its $125 million in opening day sales in 2004.

Wal-Mart helped beef up the numbers by pre-selling the game through walmart.com and with dedicated Halo 3 checkout lanes during midnight launch parties at its 24-hour supercenters.

Wal-Mart doesn’t release specific category sales, but spokesperson Melissa O’Brien said Internet pre-sales did “very well” and at the midnight launch “our registers were ringing faster than ever before for a video game.”

“It was expected to be the hottest video game of the year,” O’Brien said. “And it was.”

Halo 3 pre-sold 1.7 million copies in advance of the Sept. 25 launch and finished the first week with more than $300 million in sales.

In its promotion of Halo 3, Wal-Mart also offered a glimpse of new steps advertisers are taking to reach tech-savvy younger viewers who are increasingly “zapping” commercials with their TiVos and digital video recorders.

Wal-Mart was the sponsor of the first episode of “CW Now” on the CW Network, a “commercial free” news magazine show targeted at the younger demographic featuring trends in fashion and entertainment.

The debut episode of “CW Now” on Sept. 23 was dedicated to the Halo 3 launch and while the segments have the same look as other news magazine shows, viewers didn’t need the benefit of a commercial break to be reminded several times the quickest way to buy Halo 3 was at a dedicated gamer line at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Green Effect Spreads

The latest evidence of the “Wal-Mart Effect” is in its sustainability push at its stores and through the supply line. Shrinking laundry detergent bottles and compact fluorescent light bulbs have spread beyond the Wal-Mart shelves and likewise have “green” building practices.

J.C. Penney Co. opened its first pilot store to test sustainable construction initiatives on Oct. 5 at a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified shopping center in Denver.

Office Depot has announced it will open its first LEED-certified store in mid-2008 in Austin, Texas.

Wal-Mart has also been a leading proponent of radio frequency identification and will have the technology in 1,000 stores by the end of 2007. Wal-Mart has touted the cost and sustainability benefits of RFID through more accurate inventory controls and fewer trips to the store because of out-of-stock items.

Dillard’s Inc. of Little Rock launched an RFID pilot test program in October and Wal-Mart and Best Buy are partnering with EPCglobal on an RFID test program for DVDs.

The program started Sept. 26 and involved tagging 12,000 DVDs across 15 titles supplied by various major movie studios. Wal-Mart currently uses RFID on pallets and cases to track inventory. This will be the first item-level test of RFID.

Scott, Lafley Share Stage

The CEOs of the world’s largest retailer and one of the largest consumer product companies shared the stage Oct. 11 at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.

H. Lee Scott of Wal-Mart and A.G. Lafley of Procter & Gamble sat across from each other in director’s chairs while Scott acted as an interviewer and led an informal Q & A about how P&G has incorporated sustainable practices into a company that boasts 22 billion-dollar brands.

The event was the “Sustainability in Retail” conference sponsored by the University of Arkansas and the Center for Retailing Excellence, a part of the Walton College of Business.

Lafley shared his insights about what today’s customer wants.

“They want it all, but they want to do their part,” Lafley said of customer expectations and desire to make environmentally responsible purchases.

More choices, time pressure and stress have made it harder to reach and engage customers, Lafley said.

Adam Werbach, the former president of the Sierra Club who has largely been disowned by the environmental movement for working with Wal-Mart, said cost-cutting and reducing packaging won’t be enough to make the sustainability movement succeed.

“We have to create consumer demand for products,” Werbach said.

On that note, Wal-Mart announced before the conference it had already met its goal of selling 100 million CFL bulbs in 2007, with three months to spare.