Wal-Mart has no match. Matches are more likely to vary by year, usually tied to company profits. In these plans, employees can't count on the company contribution. Employees are more likely to have their contributions limited. That's true for retail as well.
Employees have to wait longer to begin saving.
Studies have shown that plans with immediate eligibility have higher participation rates. Employees are far less likely to also have traditional pensions. Kmart did the same in 1996. The shortcomings of retail and some service plans are intensified by those industries' lower pay. Ford doesn't match contributions by union workers - a fairly common practice among manufacturing firms.