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The eventual appearance of Tesco's "Fresh & Easy" neighborhood grocery stores in the U.S. market has Wal-Mart (WMT) concerned for the first time in a long time.

With the expansion of their Supercenter stores in certan markets being opposed, it does reveal an underlying vulnerability that could be exploited by smaller rivals such as Tesco, who is based in the UK.

Same-store sales, while growing, has slowed down in contrast to Wal-Mart competitors like Target (TGT). That has the company reeling, at least in the domestic market.

If numerous Tesco stores were to open in the general service area of Wal-Mart Supercenters, you could see them draining same-store sales in certain regions on a steady basis. That could cut significantly into Wal-Mart sales and profits.

Mike Griswold, a retail analyst at AMR Research, said the news “reinforces my view that Wal-Mart is taking Tesco very seriously. They want any format they can get to try counter Tesco."

What is interesting about this to me is Tesco may have given Wal-Mart the answer to its problem by showing it how it can respond to the opposition it has been facing. Approval for smaller facilities isn't required on the same level as larger format stores are.

Wal-Mart is already moving on this, looking to acquire businesses on the domestic front for the first time in 25 year. It shows the potential threat by Tesco is real, and the need to make changes quickly.

What I like about this is Wal-Mart is showing it's still nimble and ready to move quickly and change strategies when it has to. For a company this size that is extraordinary. I like that they're not stuck with being overly concerned about same-store sales in their supercenters and are willing to buy businesses that may cannibalize them some in the grocery department.

Of course they could even add things to the smaller grocery stores they don't have in the larger stores and add sales and value in that way.

This is a good example of how competition can make companies better and result in better options and service for customers.

For Wal-Mart, they have created a team built to look at a variety of formats the company could grow in. They also have a development team based in San Francisco the will experiment with a variety of new projects.

It's amazing to see the threat by a competitor has probably given Wal-Mart part of the answer to growing sales in the U.S.