Sears Vs. Wal-Mart Stores

Sears and Wal-Mart are both nationwide retailers, but their similarities are only skin deep. Sears started to lose its dominance in the early 1980s. In an attempt to boost the dwindling market share, Sears started to issue proprietary Sears Card, which gave customers payment flexibilities. A new slogan focusing on the "softer side of Sears", and a revised product mix, were created to appeal to the middle-class female shoppers.

Online Grocery stores: Over the last two decades, rising internet and mobile phone penetration has changed the way we communicate and do business. E-commerce is relatively a novel concept. It is, at present, heavily leaning on the internet and mobile phone revolution to fundamentally alter the way businesses reach their

The auditor must remember that all information collected during the audit needs to be sufficient enough to further the audit process. The information must not only possess the two qualities, relevance and reliability, but it should also test various assertions. For instance, in the audit of Walmart, the auditor should make an attempt to acquire information such as financial statements from the company’s bank, as opposed to acquiring the statements from Walmart’s management. Taking such crucial information from Walmart’s management will put the reliability of that information into question. It is possible that management may manipulate the financial statements, so that they are more appealing to the public and investors. Management may do things

The evolution of Wal-mart from the early 1960s to the present day has set a benchmark that few can achieve. Wal-mart executives have been successful nationally as well as globally. The knowledge and expertise in economics have made Wal-mart a global giant. The research completed is the final recommendations by the members of research team C and will address questions regarding global competition and issues of the organizations ability to expand or reduce current operations.

has no statistically significant impact on the overall size of the small business sector in the

Costco is the world’s largest warehouse club operator, active in 8 countries with hundreds of warehouse locations around the world. In 2014, Costco was ranked 2nd largest retailer in the United States after Walmart. The company was founded by Jeffrey Brotman and James Sinegal with its headquarters in Issaquah, Washington. Mission: Continually provide members with quality goods and services at the lowest prices possible.

With the exception of ROE, most financial ratios and even absolute values bear testimony to Wal-Mart’s recognition as the leader in the retailing industry. The reason behind Sears’s higher ROE can be explained by a comparison of the 3 ratios that constitute the ratio known as DuPont identity that is profit margin, asset turnover and equity multiplier. While both firms had similar profit margins, Wal-Mart’s asset turnover was 2.8 compared to Sears’ 1.1 due to the firm’s effective utilization of assets and lease agreements to facilitate revenue generation.

The rise of e-commerce and online retail has altered the general trends in this industry. Grocers such as Whole Foods Market, Kroger Co., Safeway Inc., and Fresh Market have adapted to this new technology of customers ordering groceries online and then picking it up without having to walk around the store to do so. The trend is also adopted by

“A megacorporation with sales that consistently rank it as the number-one or number-two publicly traded company in the United States and in the world, Wal-Mart has impacted wage rates, prices, and economies on a local, national, and global scale. It is arguably the world 's most important privately controlled economic institution. It not only has no rivals, it actually influences the prices set by its suppliers and has often seemed impervious to challenge, let alone accountability” (Fishman 6).

This paper addresses the parallels between of Amazon. Com, Inc and Sears Holdings Corporation. It will examine how the historical, cultural and market opportunities that each company took advantage of, evolved them into the companies they became. Key being the ability to take advantage of a growing and cheap communications to distribute their offerings. Amazon.com opened for business in 1995, with just a few people packing and shipping books from garage in Bellevue, Wash. Sears was founded in 1888, with Richard Sears using a printed mailer to advertise watches and jewelry.

This report is intended analyze and compare the operating profitability of Sears, Roebuck and Co. (SRC), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WM) for the accounting periods of 1996 and 1997.

1. What ratios are MOST important in assessing current and predicting future value creation for Sears? For Wal-Mart?

Wal-Mart’s position from the competitive forces model competition among rivals is fairly weak. The market is crowded but Wal-Mart has the lowest costs, prices, profits, and market share. Wal-Mart exerts a great deal of effort in making sure they are innovative and meeting customer requests. The bargaining power of suppliers is weak as well. For most producers, Wal-Mart would be their largest account. The bargaining power of buyers is also weak. There is a very broad base of customers and a meaningful demand for low prices. The threat of new entrants is weak. Wal-Mart has a scale of operation that is very important, it would take years, maybe even decades, for a new company to be on the same level. Even prominent companies today would have really difficult time matching the costs and prices Wal-Mart provides.

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

Based on Marcilla (2014), owing to Wal-Mart size, it can profit or harm suppliers, namely the small ones as these companies are very relents on Walmart to sell its merchandises. From one viewpoint,