preview

Case Study : Walmart Stores, Inc.

Satisfactory Essays

III. Situation Analysis Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the largest retailer in the world with a bullseye on its back from competitors taking aim in all different directions from supermarkets cutting prices to match Wal-Mart’s price, to Costco leading the warehouse market and online retailer beating out Wal-Mart.com. In addition, 2008 brings an economic slowdown and a reduction of feet through the doors of Wal-Mart Stores. Added to this, Wal-Mart has received negative publicity relating to employee compensation and benefits, forcing suppliers to cut prices which result in jobs moving from the US overseas to meet the demands of Wal-Mart and moving into areas putting locally owned retail outlets out of business. Wal-Mart has over 6,8001 stores worldwide, with a strong internet presence with a wide product selection. Wal-Mart is supported by over 66,000 suppliers worldwide, offering products in numerous departments including pharmacy, grocery, hard and soft goods, electronics, pet, health and beauty, etc. Wal-Mart uses a limited advertising budget at a cost of “about .3% of sales revenue compared to 1.5% for Kmart and 2.3% for Target.” In addition, “Wal-Mart’s spending for radio and TV advertising was said to be so low that it didn’t register on national rating scales.”2 Interesting, Wal-Mart maintains a low advertising budget by “clustering new stores in a relatively small geographic” allowing the “advertising expenses for breaking into a new marketing could be shared across all the

Get Access