Needing and wanting...

Sounds like Wal-Mart is going to ride out the economic storm pretty well going into the holidays, according to the company's CEO and President Lee Scott.

"This is Wal-Mart time," he told investors Monday.

I guess you can't go wrong when you sell what people need rather than what they want, and when you know your customer.

Because when times are tough, like they are now, we are buying what we need. Wal-Mart realized that as it surveyed its customers.

That was part of Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Eduardo Castro-Wright's message last week in Los Angeles, when he told a Town Hall Los Angeles leadership forum that the fundamentals of consumer behavior "are changing as we speak."

They sure are.

"Consumers are looking for a better value," he said.

Wal-Mart seems to be proof of that.

The retail behemoth is going into the holidays with a bolstered share price and a good knowledge of its customer base.

That must be scary for competing retailers, who based their business plans on selling more discretionary goods -- things people want.