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December 4, 2016
Introduction to Business
Walmart Corporation
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Introduction
The company traces its success to the ideals of its founder, Sam Walton. These
ideals are emphasized in Walmart’s vision statement: “To be the best retailer in the hearts
and minds of consumers and employees.” The company aims to achieve a top position in
the retail industry. Based on its current situation, the firm has already fulfilled the best
retailer part of the vision. Walmart’s vision statement also points to the minds and hearts
of the people that matter most to the business, i.e. consumers and employees. The
company has realistically influenced the minds of consumers and employees on the basis
of financial benefits. Employees earn wages, while consumers save money through
Walmart’s low prices. However, the heart component of the vision statement remains to
be proven.
History of the Company
Sam Walton was born in 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. In 1942, at the age of 24, he
joined the military. He married Helen Robson in 1943. When his military service ended
in 1945, Sam and Helen moved to Iowa and then to Newport, Arkansas. During this time,
Sam gained early retail experience, eventually operating his own variety store. In 1950,
the Walton’s left Newport for Bentonville, where Sam opened Walton’s 5&10 on the
downtown square. They chose Bentonville because Helen wanted small-town living, and
Sam could take advantage of the different hunting seasons that living at the corner of four
states had to offer. Inspired by the early success of his dime store, and driven to bring
even greater opportunity and value to his customers, Sam opened the first Walmart in
1962 at the age of 44 in Rogers, Arkansas.
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Product Lines
Walmart is a multinational retailer; in short it has every product or a brand which
a person could see in his day to day life. The broad range of product categories include
movies, crafts, gifts, college essentials, Electronic items, home appliance, jewelry, photo
center, toys, outdoor living, funeral, grocery, video games etc.
Marketing Strategy
Walmart is one of the biggest companies in the world that has over 8,500 stores in 15
different countries with 55 different company names. They are also considered the
biggest retailer in the world and the largest grocery retailer in the United States. It is
incredible to think of exactly how big this company is, but they couldn’t have gotten this
big without the proper marketing strategies. The first thing anyone notices when going
into a Walmart is the incredibly low prices they offer their products for. This in itself
helps with their marketing strategy because everyone is always looking for the lowest
price and it can usually be found at Walmart. Once someone sees an advertisement about
the low prices and actually visits a store or their website, they will become a loyal
customer since they will be able to find the best deals all year long. One of the main
things about Walmart is that they are extremely accessible, they have thousands of stores
all around the world and if you don’t live near one, you could always use their internet
store and buy from there. Being this accessible makes marketing to people much easier
since the customer doesn’t need to work hard to do business with them. Customers are
also able to contact them 24 hours a day, which helps with the customer satisfaction
aspect of the whole business.
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E-Business Strategy
Walmart uses the B2C strategy by building its brand to customers predominantly
over the Internet. Every Day Low Price (EDLP) is the cornerstone of our strategy, and
our price focus has never been stronger. Today's customer seeks the convenience of one-
stop shopping that we offer. From grocery and entertainment to sporting goods and crafts,
we provide the deep assortment that our customers appreciate whether they're shopping
online at Walmart.com, through one of our mobile apps or shopping in a store. We
currently operate three primary store formats in the U.S., each custom tailored to its
neighborhood. Greg Furan is Walmart U.S. President & CEO. Based in San Francisco,
California, Walmart's Global e-commerce division provides online retailing for Walmart,
Sam's Club, ASDA and all other international brands. There are several locations in the
