Wally World

I read an article by Fortune that seemed very similar to the microfinance article we discussed last class. The article described Walmart's intention to initiate some sweeping changes, and they targeted Mexico as the starting place. Similar to the banks Chu talked about in his article Walmart is targeting low income citizens: "Mexico's biggest retailer, with 668 stores, wants to crack the low-income market in a country where just 24 percent of households have savings accounts, compared with 55 percent in Chile. Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) plans to boost sales via debit cards, later ease users into more profitable services like insurance, and make money on interest-rate spreads." I think this move by Walmart is extremely creative, and as the article suggests, will be successful . I think this because of the fact due to their massive size and reach, they possess a great deal of persuasive power amongst low income families who frequent their stores. It only makes sense to add a no frills banking system to their repertoire.