Charlie Munger Quotes

After a lifetime of swimming upstream, I am convinced that one of the real secrets to Wal-mart's phenomenal success has been that very tendency.

Relentless improvement of the product and upgrading of consumer tastes are the heart of mass merchandising.

I believe there is not any big difference between any consumer business, whether it's a bank or insurance or vodka or chocolate, whatever it is.

When you start losing market share, it's really tough to gain it back; you need the product portfolio and presence in many markets.

I say at our management conferences that the amount Wal-Mart grows in just one year is the equivalent of Costco's size.

A lot of the things I did - it's not going to sound anything but egotistical - if I'm lucky and I did the right thing, they will be at Zara way before I can get them in the store, and I don't like that.

When you compete with Wal-Mart, even if you think you've found a niche don't ever become complacent.

I don't see anything Wal-Mart can do that other retailers can't.

We might describe our world as having retail sanity, but wholesale madness.

But they are also better, our competitors are better because Wal-Mart exists.

The challenge of the retail business is the human condition.

Wal-Mart's success strategies and tactics are easy to understand yet hard to duplicate.

Suppliers and especially manufacturers have market power because they have information about a product or a service that the customer does not and cannot have, and does not need if he can trust the brand. This explains the profitability of brands.

I've seen articles suggesting that Wal-Mart buys at prices lower than our competitors', and that this gives Wal-Mart an unfair advantage. I don't believe it... What we hear is concern that in some circumstances, Wal-Mart may actually be paying more than our competitors.

It's very challenging to carve back market share.

You can't be in a certain business and not sell to Amazon or not sell to Wal-Mart. You have to reckon with them, because even though there are other buyers, they're the only buyers that matter.

Market share is key.

If you have market power like Nike, you can set terms that are much tougher because athletes value the endorsement of Nike - it means as much to them as it does to the company.

I want to put H&M and Zara out of business.

When you look at a company like Amazon, one of the reasons that Amazon is one of the most powerful companies in the world is because we want to buy cheap stuff. If Donald Trump were to change trade laws, we couldn't buy the cheap stuff or in our Wal-Marts, they would cost a whole lot more.

Basically, the single-most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power.

The single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power.

Part of the reason Loewe has diversified into so many other categories is because what we can't do any more is simply say, 'Here's more stuff you can buy.'

If you've got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you've got a very good business. And if you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by a tenth of a cent, then you've got a terrible business. I've been in both, and I know the difference.

Asking, "How much is it?" is THE BIGGEST buying signal. Telling me, "Your price is too high." is THE SECOND BIGGEST buying signal