Released on = November 11, 2006, 6:14 pm

Press Release Author = Multicultural Business Council

Industry = Small Business

Press Release Summary = In a major policy change, Wal-Mart reversed last year\'s
decision to eliminate the word "Christmas" from their stores. News of their 2005
policy to have all store signage say, "Happy Holidays" and forbidding store
associates from saying, "Merry Christmas" caused a backlash in the form of boycotts
from Christian shoppers. Learning from their mistake, Wal-Mart has reversed this
policy by allowing religion-specific holiday greetings at their stores for the
holiday season of 2006. This story reveals 4 key lessons for all business owners.

Press Release Body = Wal-Mart reversed last year\'s decision to eliminate the word
"Christmas" from their stores. News of their 2005 policy to have employees and
signage say, "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" caused boycotts from
Christian shoppers. Learning from their mistake, Wal-Mart changed this policy by
allowing religion-specific holiday greetings at their stores for the holiday season
of 2006.

Media reports immediately declared that Wal-Mart had shifted their focus to the
Christmas holiday. This was not, however, what Wal-Mart has done. To the contrary
Wal-Mart has expanded their holiday greeting program to include people of all
religions wherever possible.

Wal-Mart has long shown tremendous expertise dealing with controversial consumer
issues. A policy reversal is one of the most delicate of all controversial issues
with which a business must deal. When Kmart pulled guns from US stores they made an
announcement condemning the guns. In Alaska, where the right to bear arms is
exercised by an overwhelming percentage of residents, several groups decided to
boycott Kmart. Management restocked guns in the Alaskan stores, however never dealt
with the way they had insulted the Alaskan populous. Kmart never regained consumer
support, leaving Alaska.

There are 4 lessons for us:
1. Do not let the media define your business decisions. When the media reported that
Wal-Mart returned "Merry Christmas," Wal-Mart dispatched spokespeople to major
broadcast outlets. They clarified the message that Wal-Mart by spelling out the new
policy was to greet customers with the appropriate greeting for their religion --
Muslim customers will be wished \"Blessed Eid!\" Similar greetings will be used for
Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
2. Listen to your customers. Although most business owners listen to consumer
groups, Wal-Mart listens to cash registers. When consumer groups began complaining
about the Happy Holidays policy they held judgment until the cash registers told
them they had made a mistake. Unfortunately too late for 2005\'s season.
3. Keep your reaction proportionate. Wal-Mart was also wise knowing that
non-Christians make up an important part of their customer base. Therefore they
needed a policy that addressed as many demographics as possible within their
customer base.
4. Communicate with employees. Knowing that this policy reversal would get
tremendous attention, Wal-Mart took the time to ensure associates were well aware of
the new policy. This is not an easy task for an employer with more than one million
employees, but Wal-Mart recognized the need to make this important investment.

According to Multicultural Business Council (MBC) spokesperson Rick Weaver, "the
number of choices consumers have in satisfying their needs dictates that the savvy
retailer must address the individual demographics of their customers. No longer can
businesses whitewash its product assortment, marketing plan, or visual displays to a
generic consumer if they want to be successful."

MBC works with companies and organizations to address the cultures of their customer
and support bases. It has been their experience that shifting the focus from the
traditional broad-paintbrush generic approach to an highly targeted programs will
net excellent results in both sales and profits.

Web Site = http://www.mbcglobal.org

Contact Details = Rick Weaver||1720 Northumberland Drive, Suite 202||Rochester Hills
, 48309||$$country||||248-802-6138||rick@mbcglobal.org||http://www.mbcglobal.org