Costco vs. Wal-Mart

The management styles of Costco and Wal-Mart will be analyzed in the following paper that has been researched. The analysis of this topic will reveal that both Costco and Wal-Mart have some similarities, but mostly they have very different management styles that have bent them in different directions but with the same goal. Costco was the first company to grow from zero to $3 billion in sales in just 5 years. For the year ending on August 31, 201, the company 's sales totaled $99 billion, with $1.7 billion net profit. Costco is 19th on the 2014 Fortune 500. Wal-Mart has over 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under over 50 different names. The company operates under its own name in the United States, including the 50 states. It operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has completely owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Wal-Mart’s investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America and China are highly successful. Costco and Wal-Mart have both had

On the other hand, Wal-Mart focused to achieve efficient operations, vertical integrations and high bargaining power, which allowed a low cost approach. The slogan "Always low prices" was realized by Wal-Mart’s ability to deliver high "value for money" to customers across genders. Wal-Mart

Within less than 30 years, Wal-Mart had transformed from a small rural retailer in Arkansas into the largest retailer in the U.S. In order to continue this rapid growth, the company had started to pursue international expansion grounded in the belief that the firm’s business model of offering quality products at low prices and great customer service would appeal to consumers everywhere around the world (p.8)[1]. China was of particular interest in going international as Wal-Mart’s top management held the opinion that it was the only market in which the firm’s success story in the U.S. could be repeated (p.2/8). However, in 2005 (nine years after its

Wal Mart company strategy is to provide lower prices for their customers. In a small

Inventory from China is now reaching 18 billion dollars, and has increased 20 percent over the past two years. Currently over 5,000 suppliers have steady alliances with Wal-Mart. Not only does this benefit U.S. customers by keeping prices down, but it keeps the Wal-Mart corp. very well received by the Chinese people. A large portion of the world's population is located in China being a respected company in this part of the world will greatly increase sales. Wal-Mart is, however, responsible for 10 percent of the countries trade deficit to China.

Global competition has a direct impact on Wal-Mart. Global companies offer competition for consumer business and companies within the United States and other countries who compete with Wal-Mart. The global competition for consumer business primarily takes place in the e-commerce domain that Wal-Mart dominates. Wal-Mart offers their consumers a convenient one-stop website with all the merchandise and products offered in the store, and some that are not. The exchange is significantly sped up by the convenience and availability of the internet. The internet allows transactions to take place at a faster pace than the standard face-to-face or telephone method. Target, a major competitor of Wal-Mart, also has a Website that is reached by consumers all over the world. This added competition, especially from a competitor in the same industry, forces Wal-Mart to keep their prices low while offering

Walmart has kept its prices so low by cutting-edge technology, corporate culture and put in their efforts to make the suppliers to lower the prices and sell goods as low as possible. The basic goal of Walmart is to keep their prices low and it has always been successful at this.

In business, three major strategies comprising of cost leadership, differentiation, and focus strategies exist. The focus strategy emphasizes on providing services and products to a specified buyer group or market segment within a given geographic market. The differentiation approach is often defined as provision of services or products that are perceived to be unique in the market place. Wal-Mart emphasizes on the long-term strategy of cost leadership. Through this strategy, the company ensures that it offers customers with quality products at relatively lower prices than other providers in the industry. Through overall cost leadership strategy, Wal-Mart has been offering better quality products at a lower price than any competitor can offer. For the organization to achieve this goal, it has developed long-term supply chain management, which ensures that products are made available to the market at the required time (Enz, 2010).

Another important aspect is a limited selection of goods. Whereas Walmart or Target may have upwards of 150,000 items sold in their stores. Costco will have less than 4000. They also have their own private label which is only equal to 15% of what they carry in the stores, but it equals out to over 30% of their total sales currently. Another aspect of the product selection is that instead of buying many

If you have noticed, most of the time we would go for a quick errand to buy necessities we would usually go to Wal-Mart, Sam 's Club, King Soopers, Safeway, Walgreens, or Costco. Of course, there are other retail markets out there, but we 're going to focus on the "two leading American retailers, posting more revenue than any of their rivals" (Bowman): Wal-Mart and Costco. For many years, Wal-mart has been growing instantaneously and is the number one retailer in the world for many years. Although, when it comes to employee benefits, Costco 's would be considered a better choice for employees. Costco may be treating employees better when it comes to

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retail and departmental store chain. Having business operations in 27 countries with 69 different brand names, Wal-Mart is able to serve a huge number of customers per day. Wal-Mart is the fastest growing and the most successful retail brand in the world. The factors which make it the strongest brand in its industry include large customer base, sound financial strength, strong brand image, and huge supply chain network. Wal-Mart has certain weaknesses in its operations and business setup like low acceptability of certain products, high employee turnover, and less recognition of newly introduced brands. These weaknesses can be overcome by availing attractive opportunities from the market and investing more in the most profitable areas. Wal-Mart faces the biggest threat from its competitors and ever-changing customer preferences.

The success of Wal-Mart is due in large part to its ability to consistently produce high quality products at a low cost. This is very critical to the future success of Wal-Mart because it provides consistency to customers who are price sensitive. By committing themselves to "Everyday low prices," Wal-Mart assures customers that the products sold within their stores are competitive in reference to its retail competition. This low price strategy also provides Wal-Mart with a

Walmart serves nearly 260 million customers weekly across 27 different countries, both in stores and through its websites (“Fortune”, 2015). Walmart relies heavily on its proper and effective marketing strategies; Walmart would not be able to achieve the level of success without these strategies. Low prices, easy access for its customers, and social media campaigns are a few of the vital tactics Walmart has used in its marketing plan. “Save Money. Live Better” is Walmart’s mission in delivering customers products at the lowest prices. This low price strategy plays a marketing role that caters to customers who seek the lowest prices and with grocery stores that provide great deals (Brown, 2017). Walmart’s low cost business model is protected by its powerful supply and distribution chains throughout the world. Customers can expect the same cost efficient style in every Walmart store worldwide.

Wal-Mart is arguably the most dynamic corporation in the last 50 years in the United States, if not the world. Arising from its beginnings in Bentonville, Arkansas, it has grown to over 4,400 discount stores, super centers and corner markets worldwide. Wal-Mart continues to expand despite public criticism of its labor practices as well as complaints about their treatment of competitors. The many strengths of Wal-Mart, like their low cost production and marketing practices, will aid Wal-Mart as it continues to grow in the retail

In this paper, I have researched to find out how this grant empire has become and remain so successful. I found out that one of the reasons is because it has been able to maintain the goals and standards that its owner, Mr. Sam Walton has built it upon. Even after his death, Wal-Mart continues to expand and grow in other countries. Wal-Mart is considered one of the top ten global companies today. Mr. Walton’s main goal was to sell products at a low price so that people could live a better life. Another reason is because Wal-Mart uses certain market mix strategies such as the four P”. These strategies, price, promotion, product and place.