system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Eli5: Why has Walmart struggled overseas when it was able to completely dominate the United States market?

And yes, I know every market is different, but what about their approach to the overseas market, or maybe the difference of overseas consumers, have made it difficult for them to expand overseas?
gpt
I live in Germany, where Walmart spectacularly failed. The biggest issue seems to be that Walmart failed to understand how cultural differences come into play; among the problems that are blamed for Walmart's failure in Germany are:

* overambitious expansionist plans that went ahead despite the fact that a German company had successfully fought off a hostile takeover bid, at a time when Walmart was still very small in Germany;
* attempts to cut costs by threatening workers with redundancy if they didn't accept working practices that were borderline illegal in Germany;
* being forced by a German court to comply with German law by publishing financial statements, which revealed that the company was far worse off than it had claimed;
* annoying employees and customers alike by insisting on policies that work well in the US but which Germans find creepy, such as employing greeters, or making staff offer assistance to any customer that comes within range (Germans prefer to be left to shop on their own, and to approach staff if and when they need help).

The mistake was to fail to understand that laws, expectations and cultural attitudes are very different in other countries, and that not complying with them can sink your business.

That's not to say that Walmart is completely unsuccessful outside of the US. For example, Walmart owns Asda, which until just a couple of years ago was the UK's second largest supermarket chain.