… this time the industry is web design and web hosting.

I’ve been participating in some discussions (off of blogs) for the last week or so on this. I’m really not too fussed by it. For those who aren’t familiar, this post on Whitespace is a great summary and viewpoint:

I don’t think Sam’s Club (owned by Wal-Mart) is trying to drive professional web designers out of business like the lowballing designers are. They are just looking to get more small-to-medium sized companies on the Interent. The more companies with websites, the more potential for ad revenue. However, this still presents a huge problem for freelancers and small web design firms that target these types of companies.

My viewpoint, in brief (because I’m almost sick of talking about this):

1. There is nothing to say that this can’t be done even cheaper (as low as 1$/month/website would be easily done)
2. You can’t service everyone. If this is your client base, and Wal-Mart serves them better than you, you can either change your client base or differentiate. If it isn’t your client base, it hardly affects you
3. This move may expand the segment more than crowd it
4. Whether you want the clients who are willing to go after 5$ websites is up to you

At the end of the day, I don’t believe this move should cause anyone to change their strategy. Your strategy should still be:

1. Provide more value
2. Have more skills
3. Have a better relationship

It’s only when you focus on areas where big business shines that you have problems:

1. Do it better
2. Do it faster
3. Do it cheaper

Because, ultimately, those are measurable deliverables. Value, skills and relationship are perception-based. Things any small shop can do just as well (if not better) than the big boys.

Paul has it bang on:

You can get high quality web design cheap. Just because Wal-Mart is offering a low cost design service, do not make the mistake in thinking that the design will be of a cheap quality. So again, many of you will compete on service. If you are not so nice to your clients (no matter how frustrating they can get) remember who else you have to compete with.