The Secret of Wal-Mart's Success

"Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world's largest retailer, with $285.2 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2005. The company employs 1.6 million associates

Walmart faced strong entrenched competition in Canada and Europe. In these developed countries, they couldn’t gain critical mass through internal growth, so they had to acquire companies that have been in the market already. They acquired Woolco, a money losing operation, applied many of the American business practices, and within a few years, the Canadian operations were successful. They have 317 stores, and they account for more than 35 percent of the Canadian discount and department store market. In Europe, Walmart entered Germany by acquiring the Wertkauf hypermarket chain in 1998 and entered the UK by acquiring the 229-store ASDA group. They the leader and are now losing ground to Tesco. A major problem for Walmart in the European market is overexpansion. Accompanied with the famous “Always low prices” approach, they met large resistance from the competition and regulators. Large price wars began because Walmart was accused of underselling the competition. They struggled to build a strong competitive base in German losing more than $1 billion. They were unable to create a competitive advantage, so they sold their operations to a competitor, Metro. They also faced problems in Korea, so

Walmart is known throughout the entire world as one of the most popular chain department stores. Actually, most have probably visited a Walmart store in the past week. Though Walmart stores seem to be a normal part of life the average person more than likely has little knowledge that pertains to Walmart’s success and business culture. This paper will guide one through the history of the organization, why Walmart is successful, what could threaten or open new opportunities, and how might they hold a competitive advantage.

"Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world's largest retailer, with $285.2 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2005. The company employs 1.6 million associates

Walmart, being the largest retail company in the world (Gensler, 2016) is our main target in the next 2 years. The market entry to Walmart 3,400 stores is what any business would want, thus also, can become a nightmare and not meet the business expectations (Kaye, 2013).

Walmart is one of the biggest companies in the world, but it also has extremely tough competitors. Currently Walmart is the largest retailer in most countries of the world for numerous reasons. For one, they supply a wide variety of items to be purchased that include entertainment, groceries, health and wellness, hardware, furnishing, apparel and many more. Walmart also has over 11,100 stores in over 27 countries according to Market Realist. These two reasons alone give Walmart a huge advantage over its’ competitors. Walmart has both strengths and weaknesses when it comes to its’ competitors not only across the nation, but across the world as well. Some of the main domestic competitors of Wal-mart consist of Target, Costco, Amazon, and the dollar store trinity. Along with that, Walmart has international competition such as Carrefour in France, Metro in Germany, Tesco in the United Kingdom, Loblaw Companies in Canada, and Ahold in the Netherlands. Although Walmart has competitors with all of these companies worldwide, it still remains the “#1 retailer in Canada and Mexico and has operations in Asia (where it owns a 95% stake in Japanese retailer SEIYU ), Africa, Europe, and Latin America”, according to Hoovers. Strangely enough, Walmart is growing more overseas than it is in the United States. Even with all these companies it has to compete with, Wal-mart’s total sales are still almost 5 times its’ competitors. As it generates a net sale of over $483 billion in one year,

Walmart stores Inc., started as a small discount store that grew into about 11,695 stores worldwide (Kamboj, & Kalia, 2011). Currently the store is the world’s largest commercial employer, and the second-largest employer in the world behind the Chinese military (Kamboj, & Kalia, 2011). Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, the company is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas (Kamboj, & Kalia, 2011). In 2014, the firm recorded204.75 billion dollars in total assets and 485.65 billion dollars in revenue (Kamboj, & Kalia,

For better or for worse, Wal-Mart dominates the retail industry. With annual revenue of more than $315 billion, Wal-Mart ranks No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations. Wal-Mart is also the largest corporate employer in the nation, with more than 1.3 million people on its payroll (only the federal government employs more people). On the global front, Wal-Mart operates nearly 3,000 international stores, buys products from 70 countries, and generates about 20% of its sales from abroad. Given Wal-Mart’s aggressive expansion plans, those numbers are only likely to grow.

Wal-Mart began operations in 1962 which quickly dominated the American market and then internationally by 1991 opening Sam’s Club a subsidiary company in Mexico. Within the next 10 years Wal-Mart expanded its global reach to China, Uniting Kingdom and Europe creating its global empire. Wal-Mart currently employs 2.2 million associates around the world and has over 5000 stores in America which is the

Wal-Mart is sitting at number one on the Global Fortune 500 list. Sam Walton would never have thought that his creation of Wal-Mart in 1962 would lead to a global dynasty. By 1972 Wal-Mart went public which gave an infusion of money and capital for Mr. Walton that gave them 276 stores by 1980. In the mid 80's Wal-Mart expanded to having member only warehouse stores, Sam's Club. From there Wal-Mart opened supercenters that included full grocery and 36 departments of regular merchandise. By the end of the 1980's there were 1,402 stores and 123 Sam's Clubs (Wal-Mart corporate 2012).

With around 5000 retail outlets worldwide, operating in more then a dozen countries and with over US$286 billion in annual sales, Wal-Mart is the top retail chain and number one fortune 500 company in the world. Wal-Mart is the top employer in the U.S. with 1.3 million employees, “the company accounts for 9 cents of every US retail dollar and sells around 20 per cent of the nation’s groceries and pharmaceuticals.” (Times News Network).

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

     When you talk about Wal-Mart the first thing that you have to remember is that they are the largest retailer in the world. Wal-Mart employs more people in the United States than any other company and is second only to the federal government in the number of employees that they have on the payroll. These are important facts to consider in that due to their tremendous size, Wal-Mart has an enormous

8. The overall market position of Wal-Mart will also improve as a result of all the above.

The global player Wal-Mart operates in 14 different markets all around the world, serving 176 million customers every week. Today, the second biggest company of the world, concerning turnover which amounts to 312,427 million US-$, categorizes its operational facilities into five divisions. Among those divisions are the Wal-Mart discount stores, offering convenience and low-priced goods. Wal-Mart supercenters are the biggest stores, being open 24/7 hours and employing a workforce of 350 people, selling all kinds of groceries and general merchandise at the lowest possible price. Wal-Mart neighborhood markets are specified in