SWOT analysis of Walmart

Lowe's is one of the biggest big box retailers in the world today. As a result, the company faces competition from various companies, both directly and indirectly. Two of Lowes’ biggest direct competitors include Home Depot and Wolseley PLC, both of which carry similar products in the home improvement category. Each of these retailer On the other hand, an indirect competitor of Lowe’s is any small construction/repair company. These smaller repair companies are classified as indirect competitors because Lowe’s is known as a retailer for “do-it-yourself” home improvement projects. If a repair company is hired to complete a service, Lowe’s is facing indirect competition.

Dicks Sporting Goods retailer is one of the leading companies in selling athletics products. Over the years, the company has achieved tremendous milestones in the industry. However, this being a competitive sector, there are various factors that inhibit the company 's progress. This research paper will conduct a SWOT analysis of the company, and there after offer possible recommendations on the effect.

Some main strengths of Trader Joe’s are the strong brand image, their employees, organic and private label products, customer loyalty, and offered unique products. Trader Joe’s strong brand image helps them to attract and retain more customers. Their private labels are named according to the background and nationality of food. They offered an extensive line of private label items with brand names such as Trader Joe’s, Trader Ming’s, Trader Jose, Trader Giotto. Due to their strong brand image, they established themselves as a leading retailer of food and non-food items in the US. Americans ranked Trader Joe’s overall as No. 1 retailer in 2013 (Ager & Roberto, 2014). Trader Joe's offered unique and high-quality products from different countries which attract customers to try new items and stocks of 4,000 items, 80% of which bear one of its own brand names. Trader Joe's describes itself as "your neighborhood grocery store" (Wikipedia, Trader Joe’s). Trader Joe’s claimed that 80% of its customers had attended college. The company described its target market as “intelligent, educated, inquisitive individuals” and they reach this customer by opening store among well-educated residents (Ager & Roberto, 2014). Their customers are too loyal towards their brand image so they keep coming back. Instead of targeting all customers, they need to target new customers in order to grow their business and to keep being a leader in the retail industry in the US. And also, their employee are valuable assets of the company, who led them towards the further growth of the company, therefore they are treated fairly and trained to provide the nice and friendly service to Trader Joe’s customers. Almost most of the people want to work at Trader Joe’s because they pay more than minimum wage and higher compare to other retail stores. New part-time hires earned $12 per hour and full-time employees earned approximately $50,000 per year which is above minimum wages. Plus, they contribute 15.4% of employee's salary towards retirement Saving. Furthermore, they offer good health and others benefits even to part-time employees (Ager & Roberto, 2014).

Walgreens headquarters is located on 200 Wilmot Road in Deerfield Illinois (Walgreens Corp. Office), they currently operate 8,173 stores in all fifty states, district of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (Facts & FAQ). With this many locations they have a large workforce, employing over 240,000 people (Facts &FAQ). About 30% of employees are healthcare providers which include pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and other heath-related professions (Facts & FAQ).

JC Penney is an American department store chain with 1,095 locations throughout the United States. In the latter half of the 20th century, shopping malls became very popular and most of the company’s stores were situated in the downtown areas, they followed the trend of developing more stores in the shopping malls to attract customers and increase the financial profitability of the company. Conversely, JC Penney had freestanding stores, and was able to get consumer traffic which helped the company earn a profit and increase its market share.

Sam Walton, a businessman and entrepreneur with an innovative vision, started his own company, which became the leading in discount retailing today. His brilliance and unusual business practices lead him and his associates to acquire a successful company for over thirty years. Even after his death, the company is still growing steadily today. Walmart executives still continue to rely on Walton’s traditions, concepts, goals, and philosophies. He exerted a tremendous influence and left a legacy behind.

Walgreens is a drugstore that also sells health and beauty products, household items, office supplies, toys, and food and beverages. The wide variety of items combined with the in-store pharmacy makes Walgreens a popular destination for shoppers who have busy lives and need a one-stop-shop for affordable prescriptions and everyday essentials. The Walgreens Black Friday ad is always popular, because the retailer offers great deals on tons of items across all departments in the store. In addition to restocking your pantry and home with the essentials, you can also find great prices on small gifts, including beauty, toys, and electronics.

CVS and Walgreens continue to fight as top competitors in a growing market. CVS has over 7,000 stores nationwide and is expanding, as is Walgreens today with over 8,000 stores. This market isn’t particularly easy to enter as a major player in the market early because of all the work that needs to be put in to install as many brick and mortar stores or get that much of the market share in a short amount of time. It takes many years to be truly established as a pharmacy chain as Walgreens has experienced, being founded in 1901 and CVS being founded in 1963. This is why the barriers to entry are somewhat high because of the high fixed costs with the construction of brick and mortar stores.

Walgreens is a company with many strengths. Their first strength is that they have over 250,000 employees. Having so many employees allows the company to provide maximum support to their users. This is also great because having so many people working reduces the unemployment number. The more people working in the United States, the better the economy will be. Their second strength is that Walgreens covers the US, Columbia and Puerto Rico with over 8,300 stores. Having this many stores allows for them to take up a large percentage of the market share. Being this dominant can also reduce the risk of total failure. Meaning, that if one store fails, the rest of the chain can be sufficient coverage for the loss of revenue. Their third strength is that they have a strong and effective distribution network.

The early years of the Walgreens organization focused on expanding the footprint of the operation. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) To support this expansion Walgreens used a “command and control” strategy as a means of exercising leadership and communicating with employees. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) As the competitive landscape began to change, Walgreens recognized that it too needed a makeover. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) New competition entered the market such as mail order pharmacies, big box retailer pharmacies, and internet options such as Google and Amazon were selling the same products as Walgreens. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) The healthcare industry was changing. Heightened by the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Walgreens recognized that it needed

Walgreens has to have business objectives and they are to be the best pharmacy retail store, walgreens wants to be the first choice when it comes down to either Walgreens or CVS. Walgreens wants to offer many different types of services to cater any need a customer might need. Walgreens wants its employees to give ECC (Extraordinary Customer Care) to every single customer so it feels like a family oriented business. According to the Annual Report of 2015 the main goal for walgreens is “to help people across the world lead a healthier and happier lives”(Annual Report). Now talking about walgreens financial strategy according to Rob is the financial strategy is to try to sell everything for a price, meaning if an item is supposed to be B1G1

Macy's was established by Rowland Hussey Macy, who in the vicinity of 1843 and 1855 opened four retail dry merchandise stores, including the first Macy's store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts, set up in 1851 to serve the factory business workers of the zone. Macy moved to New York City in 1858 and set up another store named "R. H. Macy and Co.". As the business developed, Macy's ventured into neighboring structures, opening an ever increasing number of departments. From the earliest starting point, Macy's logo has incorporated a star, which originates from a tattoo that Macy got as a young person when he took a shot at a Nantucket whaling ship. Macy died in 1877, responsibility for organization

Evidently, Wal-Mart is not doing anything to differentiate itself from rivals. It gives no frills to self-service outlets always providing the cheapest prices. Through a well-built influence with suppliers, the company has gained the power to manipulate prices and amend manufacturing procedures thus wringing out more savings for its customers. All that the company does from the frequent calls to suppliers to doubling up execs in hotel rooms aimed at saving the

By the late 1950s Walton Walton's Five and Dime stores owned by a small network. He managed to get the best value from suppliers to the retail trade also means realizing that I was passing the savings to

Wal-Mart is the number one retailer in the world in both sales and earnings, dwarfing many of its retail competitors. It offers a full assortment of products ranging from clothing to electronics. It currently has 6000 locations predominately within the United States with over $312.4 Billion in net sales during 2006. In addition to its strong domestic presence, Wal-Mart has expanded aggressively to Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico with over 1000 locations within those countries. This expansion can potentially create greater economies of scale for Wal-Mart services and merchandise. The synergies created by expansion will also drive profitability in the future by providing goods and services at even lower costs to consumers. In order to enter foreign markets successful, Wal-Mart engages in both joint ventures and acquisitions. By utilizing this method, Wal-Mart intends to leverage foreign retailer's market knowledge with its own core competencies of merchandising and supply chain management (Stilgoe, 2003).