Wal-Mart Retail Store

Submitted to- Prof. Pravin Patil

PRANJAL KUMAR DAS
08BS0002282
5/9/2009
Contents
Wal-Mart ............................................................................ 3
Company mission ...................................................................... 4
Saving People Money So They Can Live Better .................................. 4
Save Money ........................................................................ 4
Live Better.......................................................................... 5
Three Basic Beliefs & Values (in their own words) ................................... 5
Operating Divisions ................................................................... 6
Wal-Mart Stores, U.S............................................................ 6
Wal-Mart Discount Stores ......................................................... 6
Wal-Mart Supercenter ............................................................. 7
Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market .................................................... 7
Marketside ......................................................................... 8
Sam's Club......................................................................... 8
Wal-Mart International ............................................................ 9
Private label brands .................................................................. 10
Sam's Choice, ..................................................................... 10
Great Value .........................................................................11
Other brands ........................................................................11
Apparel.............................................................................11
Homelines .......................................................................... 12
Hardlines .......................................................................... 12
Departments- ........................................................................ 13

2|P age
Fig- Beauty product Classification and SKUs ...................................... 17
Store Design at Wal-Mart .......................................................... 18
Store Designed to Improve Customer Experience .................................... 19
Lighting ........................................................................... 19
Store layout of Wal-Mart ...........................................................20
Planogram ........................................................................... 24
SWOT Analysis Wal-Mart. ........................................................ 25

Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) serves customers and members more than 200
million times per week at more than 8,000 retail units under 55 different banners in 15
countries. With fiscal year 2009 sales of $401 billion, Wal-Mart employs more than 2.1
million associates worldwide.

A leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity, Wal-

Mart ranked first among retailers in Fortune Magazine’s 2009 Most Admired
Companies survey.

Wal-Mart was founded in 1962, with the opening of the first Wal-Mart discount store
in Rogers, Ark. The company incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on Oct. 31,
1969. The company's shares began trading on OTC markets in 1970, and were listed on
the New York Stock Exchange two years later.

With the infusion of investor capital, the company grew to 276 stores in 11 states by the
end of the decade. In 1983, the company opened its first Sam’s Club membership
warehouse, and in 1988 opened the first supercenter -- now the company’s dominant
format -- featuring a complete grocery in addition to general merchandise. Wal-Mart
became an international company in 1991 when it opened its first Sam's Club near Mexico
City.

3|P age
Wal-Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, and in
Japan as Seiyu. It has wholly-owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and
Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its
operations in South America and China are highly successful, while it was forced to pull
out of Germany and South Korea when ventures there were unsuccessful.

Company mission
Sam Walton said
“If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone…we’ll give the world an
opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.”

Saving People Money So They Can Live Better

Saving people money to help them live better was the goal that Sam Walton envisioned
when he opened the doors to the first Wal-Mart. Today, more than 40 years later with
operations in 16 markets worldwide, we continue to deliver that promise to families around
the globe. It’s the focus that underlies everything we do at Wal-Mart. And for the
millions of customers who shop in our stores and clubs around the world each week, it
means a lot.

Save Money
We know that price matters to our customers, whether they live in the United States, the
United Kingdom, Argentina or Japan. That's why we offer the best quality merchandise
at the lowest prices in all our stores, from school supplies, to household items and top
quality groceries. We also look at savings that go beyond the prices you see in our stores.
For example, we are working with our suppliers to introduce more energy efficient products
that can save customers money for years to come. And because every store or club is
designed to reflect the local community, our customers know they will find the lowest prices
around on the products that match their lifestyle.

4|P age
Live Better
Saving money is a means to helping our customers live better. By offering the best possible
prices on the products our customers need, we can help them afford something a little
extra. Whether it's a grandmother who can buy her grandchildren a special gift because
she saved money on her prescriptions, or a young family saving money to buy their first
home, we see our mission come to life every day.

Three Basic Beliefs & Values (in their own words)

Three simple things that make us great:
Our unique culture has helped make Wal-Mart one of the world’s most admired
companies. Since Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart in 1962, our culture has
rested on three basic beliefs. We live out these beliefs every day in the way we serve our
customers and each other.

1. Respect for the Individual

We’re hardworking, ordinary people who’ve teamed up to accomplish extraordinary things.
While our backgrounds and personal beliefs are very different, we never take each other for
granted. We encourage those around us to express their thoughts and ideas. We treat each
other with dignity. This is the most basic way we show respect.

2. Service to our Customers

Our customers are the reason we’re in business, so we should treat them that way. We
offer quality merchandise at the lowest prices, and we do it with the best customer service
possible. We look for every opportunity where we can exceed our customers’ expectations.
That’s when we’re at our very best.

3. Striving for Excellence

We’re proud of our accomplishments but never satisfied. We constantly reach further to
bring new ideas and goals to life. We model ourselves after Sam Walton, who was never
satisfied until prices were as low as they could be. Or that a product’s quality was as
high as customers deserved and expected. We always ask: Is this the best I can do? This
demonstrates the passion we have for our business, for our customers, and for our
communities.

5|P age
Operating Divisions
Wal-Mart's operations are organized into three divisions: Wal-Mart Stores U.S.,
Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart International. The company does business in nine different
retail formats: supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, bodegas (small
markets), cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft
discount stores and restaurants

Wal-Mart Stores, U.S.

Wal-Mart Stores U.S. is Wal-Mart's largest division, accounting for 67.2% of net
sales for financial year 2006. [39] It consists of three retail formats that have become
commonplace in the United States: Discount Stores,
Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets. The retail
department stores sell a variety of mostly non-grocery
products, though emphasis has now shifted towards
supercenters, which include more grocery items. This division
also includes Wal-Mart's online retailer, walmart.com.

On February 6, 2007, the company launched a "beta" version of its new movie download
service, mediadownloads.walmart.com, which sells 3,000 films and television episodes
from all major studios and television networks. [41] This service was discontinued on
December 21, 2007

Wal-Mart Discount Stores

Wal-Mart Discount Stores are discount department stores with size varying from
51,000 square feet (4,738.1 m2) to 224,000 square feet (20,810.3 m2), with an
average store covering about 102,000 square feet (9,476.1 m2). They carry general
merchandise and a selection of food. Many of these stores also have a garden center, a
pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait

6|P age
studio, a bank branch, a cell phone store and a fast food outlet. Some also have gasoline
stations.[43]

The first Wal-Mart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962.

As of July 2009, there were 883 Wal-Mart Discount Stores in the United States. In
2006, the busiest in the world was one in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Wal-Mart Supercenter

Wal-Mart Supercenters are hypermarkets with size varying from 98,000 square feet
(9,104.5 m2) to 261,000 square feet (24,247.7 m2), with an average of about
197,000 square feet (18,301.9 m2).[39] These stock everything a Wal-Mart Discount
Store does, and also include a full-service supermarket, including meat and poultry,
baked goods, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products,
garden produce, and fresh seafood. Many Wal-Mart
Supercenters also have a garden center, pet shop, pharmacy,
Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo
processing lab, portrait studio, and numerous alcove shops,
such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, video
rental stores, local bank branches, and fast food outlets
(usually Subway; several Supercenter and discount locations have also had McDonald's
locations, usually with reduced menus, beginning in the early 1990s). Some Dunkin'
Donuts or Blimpie restaurants can be found inside Walmart Supercenters. Some also sell
gasoline distributed by Murphy Oil Corporation (whose Wal-Mart stations are branded
as "Murphy USA"), Sunoco, Inc. ("Optima"), or Tesoro Corporation ("Mirastar").[43]

As of July 2009, there were 2,630 Wal-Mart Supercenters in the United States. [45]
The largest Supercenter in the United States, covering 260,000 square feet
(24,000 m2) and two floors, is located in Crossgates Commons in Albany, New York.[46]

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market

7|P age
Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets are grocery stores that average about 42,000 square
feet (3,901.9 m2).[39] They offer a variety of products, which include full lines of
groceries, pharmaceuticals, health and beauty aids, photo developing services, and a
limited selection of general merchandise.

Neighborhood Markets are used to fill the gap between Discount Stores and Supercenters.

The first Neighborhood Market opened in 1998 in Bentonville, Arkansas. As of July

2009, there were 150 of them in the United States. [45]

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market now has the same logo as Wal-Mart does.

Marketside

Marketside is a new chain of grocery stores opened in October

2008, the stores are said to be less than half the size of a
conventional supermarket, as stated in the backgrounder found
on Wal-Mart's official homepage. Each of their stores is
open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Sam's Club
Sam's Club is a chain of warehouse clubs which sell groceries and general merchandise,
often in large quantities. Sam's Club stores are "membership" stores and most customers
buy annual memberships. However, non-members can make purchases either by buying a
one-day membership or paying a surcharge based on the price of the purchase. Some
locations also sell gasoline.[43] The first Sam's Club opened in 1983 in Midwest City,
Oklahoma under the name "Sam's Wholesale Club".

Sam's has found a niche market in recent years as a supplier to small businesses. All
Sam's Club stores are open early hours exclusively for
business members and their slogan is "We're in Business for
Small Business." In March 2009, the company announced
that it plans to enter the electronic medical records business by
offering a software package to physicians in small practices

8|P age
for $25,000. Wal-Mart is partnering with Dell and eClinicalWorks.com in this new
venture.

According to Wal-Mart's 2007 Annual Report, Sam's Club's sales during 2007 were
$42 billion, or 12.1% of Wal-Mart's total 2007 sales.[49] As of January 31, 2008,
there were 591 Sam's Clubs in the United States. [45]

Wal-Mart International

Wal-Mart's international operations currently comprise 2,980 stores in 14 countries

outside the United States.[50] According to Wal-Mart's 2006 Annual Report, the
International division accounted for about 20.1% of sales.[39] There are wholly owned
operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico (although PR is part of the US,
the company's operations there are managed through its international division, and the
UK. With 1.8 million employees worldwide, the company is the largest private employer
in the US and Mexico, and one of the largest in Canada.

Wal-Mart has operated in Canada since its acquisition of 122 stores comprising the
Woolco division of Woolworth Canada, Inc in 1994. As of October 31, 2008, it operates
310 locations.

Sales in 2006 for Wal-Mart's UK subsidiary, Asda (which retains the name it had
before acquisition by Wal-Mart), accounted for 42.7% of sales of Wal-Mart's
international division. In contrast to Wal-Mart's US operations, Asda was originally
and still remains primarily a grocery chain, but with a stronger focus on non-food items
than most UK supermarket chains other than Tesco. At the end of 2007, Asda had 340
stores, some of which are branded Asda Wal-Mart Supercentres, as well as Asda
Supermarkets, Asda Living, George High Street and Asda Essentials stores.

In addition to its wholly-owned international operations,

Wal-Mart has joint ventures in China and several majority-
owned subsidiaries. Wal-Mart's majority-owned subsidiary
in Mexico is Walmex. In Japan, Wal-Mart owns about
53% of Seiyu. Additionally, Wal-Mart owns 51% of the

9|P age
Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), consisting of more than 360
supermarkets and other stores in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and
Costa Rica.

In July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal from Germany due to sustained
losses in a highly competitive market. The stores were sold to the German company Metro
during Wal-Mart's fiscal third quarter.

In November 2006, Wal-Mart announced a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to open
retail stores in India. As foreign corporations are not allowed to directly enter the retail
sector in India, Wal-Mart will operate through franchises and handle the wholesale end.
The partnership will involve two joint ventures; Bharti will manage the front end involving
opening of retail outlets, while Wal-Mart will take care of the back end, such as cold
chains and logistics.

In January 2009, the company acquired a controlling interest in the largest grocer in
Chile, Distribucion y Servicio D&S SA

Private label brands

About 40% of products sold in Wal-Mart are private label store brands, or products
offered by Wal-Mart and produced through contracts with manufacturers. Wal-Mart
began offering private label brands in 1991 with the launch of Sam's Choice, a brand of
drinks produced by Cott Beverages exclusively for Wal-Mart. Sam's Choice quickly
became popular, and by 1993 was the third beverage brand in the United States. Other
Wal-Mart brands include Great Value and Equate in the US and Canada, and Smart
Price in Britain.

Sam's Choice,

Originally introduced as Sam's American Choice in 1991, is premium retail brand in

food and selected hard goods. Named for Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, Sam's
Choice forms the premium tier of Wal-Mart's two-tiered core corporate grocery branding
strategy that also includes the larger Great Value brand of discount-priced staple items.
10 | P a g e
Compared to Great Value products and to other national brands, Sam's Choice is
positioned as a premium retail brand and is offered at a price competitive with standard
national brands. It typically offers either superior quality or unique products in a given
product category, or items in categories where the market leader is an "icon" (for example
Coca-Cola in soft drinks).

Great Value

Great Value was launched in 1993 and forms the second tier, or national brand equivalent
of Wal-Mart’s grocery branding strategy.

Products offered at Wal-Mart through the Great Value brand are claimed to be as good
as national brand offerings, but are typically sold at a lower price because of minimal
marketing and advertising expense. As a house or generic brand, the Great Value line does
not consist of goods produced by Walmart, but is a labeling system for items manufactured
and packaged by a number of agricultural and food corporations, such as ConAgra,
which, in addition to releasing products under its own brands and for Wal-Mart, also
manufactures and brands foodstuffs for a variety of other supermarket chains.

Other brands

Apparel

Athletic Works is a brand for athletic clothing, such as gym shorts. The brand is
also used for sports equipment.
Faded Glory is a brand for classic Americana clothing and shoes.
Kid Connection is a brand used for a variety of products targeted for children,
including toys and clothing.
Life is a brand of men's underwear styled by Jockey. The range includes briefs,
boxers, boxer-briefs, trunks, thongs, and undershirts.
Metro 7 is Wal-Mart's newest brand of women's apparel
No Boundaries, abbreviated on its labels as NoBo, is a line of apparel and home
furnishings targeted at teenagers and young college students.

11 | P a g e
 Puritan is a brand for basic clothing including tee shirts, undergarments, socks,
and others.
Simply Basic features family-oriented and Beauty department. These products to
some extent correspond to products already under the Equate brand, but are priced
lower.
Lei is a brand consisting of mostly girls' jeans.

Homelines

Get It Together products include furniture and house wares items.

Home Trends products include large and small furniture, small appliances, and
home office products.
Mainstays products include curtains, bedding, some small home furnishings, and
various other products, including office supplies.
Canopy is a new home product line that debuted in 2008 that features "timeless"
coordinated solutions for rooms - living, dining, bed, bath, home office, and other
domestic goods.

Hardlines

Color Place is the brand used for paint.

Durabrand is the name used for home electronics such as televisions, CD players,
surround sound systems
Equate is a brand used for consumable pharmacy and health and beauty items,
such as shaving cream, skin lotion, over-the-counter medications, and pregnancy
tests.
EverStart is the brand for automotive and lawn mower batteries. The brand is also
used for battery related accessories, such as jumper cables.
Holiday Time is used for Christmas items such as Christmas tree decorations,
wrapping paper, and cards.
Ilo is another brand used for electronics. It is used for LCD TVs, LCD
monitors, DVD players/recorders, and MP3 players.
Kid Connection is used for toys.

12 | P a g e
 Ol' Roy is a brand of dog food
Ozark Trail is a brand used for outdoor equipment.
ReliOn It consists chiefly of medical equipment in the following categories: blood
pressure monitoring, diabetes monitoring, and cough and cold-related products
Spring Valley is the brand for vitamins and other nutritional supplements.
Special Kitty is a brand of cat food and litter.
SuperTech is Wal-Mart's brand of motor oil that is found in the automotive
departments.

Departments-
All the wall-mart products are placed in 20 different departments-
Apparel Potty Audio
Feeding Auto
Accessories
Furniture Cameras &
Baby
Gear Camcorders
Bags
Gifts for Baby Cell Phones
Boys
Health & Safety Computers
Girls
Maternity DVD & Blue-ray
Juniors
Nursery Players
Maternity
Strollers GPS &
Men
Toddler Room Navigation
Men's Big & Tall
Toys Home Office
Shoes
Travel Solutions Home Theater
Women
iPods & MP3
Women's Plus
Books Players
Coming Soon TVs
Baby
New Releases Video Games
Baby Registry
Top 50 Sellers
Bedding & Decor
For the Home
Car Seats
Clearance Appliances
Clothing
Electronics Bath
Diapering &
Bedding
13 | P a g e
Crafts Artificial Flowers Beauty,
Decor Wedding Cosmetics & Skin
Furniture Care
Gifts & Grocery BETA Diet & Nutrition
Celebrations Bakery & Bread Home Medical
Heating & Baking Infant &
Cooling Beer, Wine & Childcare
Home Spirits Massage & Spa
Improvement Beverages Medicine Cabinet
Kids' & Teen Canned Goods & Personal Care
Rooms Soups Pharmacy
Kitchen & Dining Cereal & Vitamins & Herbs
Luggage Breakfast Foods
Massage & Spa Condiments, Oils In Stores Now
Mattresses & Salad Dressing Ahorra Mas,
Outdoor Living Cookies & Snacks Vive Major
Personal Care Dairy, Eggs & Auto Care
Pets Cheese Baby & Me
Storage & Deli Beauty Center
Organization Frozen Foods Food & Recipes
Grains, Pasta & Center
Gifts & Sides FREE Samples
Celebrations Home Care Health & Wellness
Crafts Infant & In-Store Events
Gift Baskets Childcare In-Store
Gift Cards Meat, Seafood & Rollbacks
Gifts by Recipient Poultry New In Stores
Gifts for Baby Produce Pets Center
Greeting Cards & Sauces, Spices & Save & Live
Invitations Herbs Green
Party Supplies Health & Beauty
BETA
Personalized Gifts Jewelry
Plants &
14 | P a g e
Bracelets Birds Toys
Earrings Cats Action Figures
Jewelry Storage Dogs Bikes, Scooters &
Pendants & Fish Skates
Necklaces Horse Supplies Dolls & Stuffed
Rings Livestock Feed Toys
Watches Small Animals Games & Game
Room
Movies Photo Center Kids' Electronics
Blu-ray Calendars Learning Toys
Coming Soon Exclusive Card Outdoor Play
DVD Store Designs Party Supplies
New Releases Memory Books Preschool
TV Shows Prints Pretend Play
Riding Toys
Music Rollbacks Vehicles & Radio
CD Store Sports & Fitness Control
Coming Soon Bikes, Scooters & Video Games
MP3 Music Skates
Downloads Camping Video Games
New Releases Exercise & Fitness Game Boy
Top 100 CDs Fishing & Boating Advance
Outdoor Living Game Room GameCube
Grills & Outdoor Golf Nintendo DS /
Cooking GPS & DSi
Hot Tubs & Navigation Nintendo Wii
Saunas Hunting Other Consoles
Lawn & Garden Optics PC Gaming
Gardening Outdoor Play PlayStation 2
Outdoor Decor Sport Fan Shop PlayStation 3
Patio Furniture Team Sports PlayStation
Tennis & Racquet Portable
Pets Xbox 360
15 | P a g e
16 | P a g e
 Department
beauty
products

Classification

skin care
hair care products

Categories

moisturiser body oil sunscreen body lotion body cream

herbal medical regular

with SP-15 without SP-15

equate
lakme brand X blue lizard lietus
(private label)

SKU
100 ml 150 ml 200 ml

Fig- Beauty product Classification and SKUs

17 | P a g e
 Classificatio
Apparel
n

Categories
Menswear Accessories womenswear

womens gift womens

t shirt formal shirt trouser Gym Kit hamper money purse

SKU

Fig- classification of Apparels

18 | P a g e
Store Design at Wal-Mart

Store Designed to Improve Customer Experience

In recent months, Wal-Mart has taken major steps to refresh its stores, merchandising
and customer experience. The improvements have all come together in the company’s newest
stores, such as the Madill Wal-Mart.
The new Wal-Mart features wide aisles, enhanced service and a layout designed to make
the shopping experience more convenient for customers. Wal-Mart aligned the departments
that customers shop most frequently. The pharmacy, for example, is located at the front of
the store making it easier for customers to pick up their prescriptions.
The layout of the store is easy to navigate, which will save the customers time as they
shop for everyday necessities. By grouping the products that customers most often purchase
including health and beauty and pet supplies, they are making one-stop shopping even
easier.
A bright interior color palette creates an inviting shopping experience and helps define the
store’s merchandise areas. Lower shelving creates an improved
sightline and directional signage on every aisle helps customers find
what they are looking for quickly. Wal-Mart also combined the
customer service desk, site to store pick-up location in one area
near the entrance. Customers now have easy access to these
services, as well as associates on hand to help meet their needs.
All the typical wal-mart stores have a well planned exterior. In
all the centers they have a large parking area outside the store. The entry to the store is
through multiple gates at different sizes of the store.
Lighting
Wal-Mart basically use attractive colors for different part of the stores. This is aimed at
attracting the customers to that part of the store. For the parts presenting the products for

19 | P a g e
the youths and the child they basically use bright and strong color and the sa me type of
color is also used for the grocery and other fmcg products.
The lighting of the Wal-Mart stores are also very bright. Recently they have planned to
change the lighting systems of 500 of their stores. For that they have selected the LED
lights instead of the conventional lights. Again in many stores they use transparent or
semi transparent roof for the natural light to come inside the stores.

Store layout of Wal-Mart

A well-planned retail store layout allows a retailer to maximize the sales for each square
foot of the allocated selling space within the store.

Store layouts generally show the size and location of each department, any permanent
structures, fixture locations and customer traffic patterns.

Each floor plan and store layout will depend on the type of products sold, the building
location and how much the business can afford to put into the overall store design.

The Wal-Mart store are of different layouts depending upon the local needs and the type
of the retail format. These are basically the combination of both the grid as well as the
race track layout depending upon the products on display and the part of the store. For
example some of the layouts of the stores are given-

20 | P a g e
Fig- A standard store layout of Wal-Mart supermarket

In Wal-Mart they apply different store layout for the different departments.

For the vegetables and the fmcg products they apply the grid layout.

Fig- vegetable on display

21 | P a g e
In the selection of the layout special stress on the visibility of the products is given and
also at the movement of the customers though the grids. For that special grid systems are
arranged.

22 | P a g e
For the apparels and the electronic products they basically apply the free form layout
where the products are arranged in a spacious and
relaxing environment.

23 | P a g e
Planogram
The planogram is a visual diagram, or drawing, that provides in detail where every
product in a retail store should be placed. These schematics not only present a flow chart
for the particular merchandise departments within a store layout but also show on which
aisle and on what shelf an item is located. A planogram should also illustrate how many
facings are allocated for each SKU.
Some of the planogram of Wal-Mart available in the net are provided here

Fig- Planogram of fmcg products

24 | P a g e
Fig- Actual arrangement in the shelves

SWOT Analysis Wal-Mart.

Strengths
Wal-Mart is a powerful retail brand. It has a reputation for value for money,
convenience and a wide range of products all in one store.
Wal-Mart has grown substantially over recent years, and has experienced global
expansion (for example its purchase of the United Kingdom based retailer ASDA)
The company has a core competence involving its use of information technology to
support its international logistics system. For example, it can see how individual
products are performing country-wide, store-by-store at a glance. IT also
supports Wal-Mart's efficient procurement
A focused strategy is in place for human resource management and development.
People are key to Wal-Mart's business and it invests time and money in training
people, and retaining a developing them
Weaknesses

25 | P a g e
 Wal-Mart is the World's largest grocery retailer and control of its empire, despite
its IT advantages, could leave it weak in some areas due to the huge span of
control
Since Wal-Mart sell products across many sectors (such as clothing, food, or
stationary), it may not have the flexibility of some of its more focused competitors
The company is global, but has a presence in relatively few countries Worldwide
Opportunities
To take over, merge with, or form strategic alliances with other global retailers,
focusing on specific markets such as Europe or the Greater China Region
The stores are currently only trade in a relatively small number of countries.
Therefore there are tremendous opportunities for future business in expanding
consumer markets, such as China and India
New locations and store types offer Wal-Mart opportunities to exploit market
development. They diversified from large super centres, to local and mall-based
sites
Opportunities exist for Wal-Mart to continue with its current strategy of large,
super centers
Threats
Being number one means that you are the target of competition, locally and
globally
Being a global retailer means that you are exposed to political problems in the
countries that you operate in
The cost of producing many consumer products tends to have fallen because of
lower manufacturing costs. Manufacturing cost have fallen due to outsourcing to
low-cost regions of the World. This has lead to price competition, resulting in
price deflation in some ranges. Intense price competition is a threat.

26 | P a g e
Analysis
Wal-mart is the biggest retailer in the world with thousands of retail shops in different
formats. This retail giants has got to this position because of the cheap process and the
locations and the quality of the service and the ambience at the Wal-Mart stores.

Wal- Mart contains low priced goods. As a result, people can save their money because
they can find many items cheaper in Wal-Mart than other supermarkets, especially; the
basic needs for families such a sugar, soda, vegetables and fruit. For example, the box of
Coca-Cola in Wal-Mart is 6.00 dollars but in other supermarkets are almost 7.00
dollars. In addition, because it is cheap, Wal-Mart is good for a big family. People
can buy more quantities of their basic’s needs. For example, 2 bags of bread cost 2.00
dollars but in other supermarkets 1 bag of bread cost almost $ 1.49. So by these ways
people can save a lot of money when they decide to buy from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is convenient. People can find everything for their needs in Wal-Mart.
Actually, American’s can find most of their basic needs such as milk, bread, fruit and
vegetables or their secondary needs such as perfumes and watches in Wal-Mart because
the branches of Wal-Mart are usually big. Also, they can find Wal-Mart in many cities
and towns in America. That means Wal-Mart is available in big cities like New York,
middle cities like Kansas City and small cities like Carbondale. As a result, people when
move to another city because their change their work or their university, they can find big
supermarket that contains their needs.

27 | P a g e
Wal-Mart has good services. For example, people can return any item that they bought.
So if someone bought a vacuum and it was not appropriate for him or for her, he or she
can return it. Also, Wal-Mart has enough parking. For Example, if people come to the
Wal–Mart in the afternoon on Sunday, at time which a lot of people go shopping, people
can find easily parking for their cars. Also, the employers spread in many situations in
Wal-Mart, so if people have any questions, they can ask them and the employers will
help them. As a result, when people visit Wal-Mart, they do not worry about finding
parking or about returning inappropriate products or about finding employers to ask them.

In addition to these features Wal-Mart stores are centrally located to attract everyone
and in fact the retail chain has presence in almost all the US cities and towns . The
ambience of the stores is also so that they most use of the store space is possible in terms of
the display of the products and the continence of the customers at the stores.
Wal-Mart gives special attention on the display of the products. It applies the different
layouts to different products. Like for the fmcg and the grocery products the grid layout is
applied so as to display more and more items to the customers at the given space. But for
the apparels or the electronic products they apply the free form layout. Overall the wall
mart stores apply both the grid and the free form layouts to their stores. The layouts of
the Wal-Mart supermarkets are basically of the race trace where the different parts have
different layouts according to the products. The lighting of the stores are also bright and

28 | P a g e
there is always mild music on the background. Wal-Mart hypermarkets use natural light
as much as possible in the stores. Recently they have applied the LED in their stores.

Wal-Mart plays a huge role in the lives of millions of Americans. For

some of them, Wal-Mart is the source of grocery and every day supplies, for others a
saver during hard time and disasters. Certainly, Wal-Mart brings a lot of benefits to all
those people. By shopping in big Wal-Mart stores, people get more than they expect:
wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed
satisfaction with what they bought; friendly knowledgeable service and confidence in the
bright future of those people, who are and will be supported by Wal-Mart until the
constant loyal customers keep on doing big or quick stop shopping in Wal-Mart stores as
often as possible.

29 | P a g e
Reference
http://vmsd.com/content/walmart-s-sales-decline
http://www.walmart.com/
http://www.economywatch.com/credit-card/company/walmart.html
http://www.oppapers.com/subjects/store-design-in-wal-mart-page1.html
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/13172558/WalMart-posts-flat-Q2-
profit.html
Retail management
Indian retail sector(2007)

30 | P a g e