Whether you love it or hate it, like most of the U.S. and a growing portion
of the world population, you are starting to shop at Walmart for one reason or
another. Walmart has introduced many towns and cities to the concept of the
modern superstore, providing convenient one-stop
shopping and 24-hour service. It has incited profound changes in the way many
businesses are run, and it has influenced the availability and cost of goods
across many markets. The changes Walmart has made as far as the sale of consumer
goods affects your lifestyle, whether you are an avid Walmart shopper or you
intentionally choose to shop
elsewhere. Walmart has became a household name not only in the U.S. but also
internationally. Behind its familiarity is a very complex corporation with intricate workings,
record annual profits, and a long evolutionary history.
Walmart started as a small regional chain and from its humble beginnings, Walmart has grown into the retail powerhouse that it is today.
15) It’s a Top Destination
Walmart is the most frequently requested
destination on the Telenav GPS device. If you’re a parent moving your child into
their dorm or a traveler whose forgotten
toiletries, you’ve probably at one time or another asked, "Where is the nearest
Walmart?" When you move
to a new town, even before asking about the local school district or nightlife, you’ll
probably end up asking where the closest Walmart is located. Like many other national chains, Walmart
has become a brand that consumers have come to rely on. There are regional
variations, but Walmart's core inventory is determined and distributed by a centrally
controlled hub. What this means for consumers is that they can walk into any Walmart
and find their favorite brand of toothpaste or preferred brand of paper towels.
Jeff Gearhart - General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc.
Walmart superstores attract recent arrivals to an area by offering programs like four-dollar prescriptions and discounted automotive
services.
Finding a good drugstore and pharmacist takes time, and finding a good mechanic
can even take a lifetime of trial and error. Walmart’s commitment to their own
corporate standards and many convenient locations, help to provide a friendly
and predictable experience for those who have just moved to a new area. There’s
a certain piece of mind in finding no surprises and just good service. Walmart
takes pride in their ability to provide a consistent experience for their
customers, regardless of a certain store's location.
14) It Has Secret Aliases
These aliases are actually not secretive at all. Many Walmart stores in
foreign countries—The Winston-Salem Journal cites that 8,500 of the chain’s overseas
outlets—are conducting business under
completely different names. Around 55 different names, in fact. The most
well-known are Walmex in Mexico, Best Price in India, Asda in the United
Kingdom, and Seiyu in Japan. The superstore has also bought out operations in a
few different countries, including Woolworth’s in Canada.
Walmart India Associates
Walmart first ventured into the international market back in 1991, and opened
its first store in Mexico. Since that time, the retail giant has taken on the
world and expanded their operations as far away as Asia. Some of its
ventures—such as those in Germany and Korea—failed miserably, but namely their Asda
chain in the U.K. is performing quite well. Their Seiyu brand in Japan is also
showing some promising growth.
While they’re Russian operations are struggling, Walmart
hasn’t given up just yet. The corruptive nature of doing business in Russian is
the major obstacle for the chain store, and it remains to be seen what will come
out of Walmart's activities in the fallen Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the Best
Price brand in India has had some difficulty as well,
but is slowly showing some promising future profits.
Global Walmart Locations (Current in Blue - Former in Red)
By Andershalden
via Wikimedia Commons
Success in India will be up
to winning over shoppers by following the
U.S. model of buying directly from local farmers, and by doing so dictating
local agricultural
markets by cutting out middlemen.
13) It’s Always Had Unstoppable Growth
When Sam Walton built his first 5&10 store, he had no idea the global phenomenon he
was setting into motion. Simply looking to make a living in a place that would
give his family the small-town atmosphere they desired, his own drive to save
money and still have a strong quality of life created a vision that would last
long past his lifetime.
Anyone who doubted the possibility of being profitable by offering
more for less, soon had to change their mind. Sam’s first Walmart brand store
opened in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962. Just five years later in 1967, his chain of
stores had grown to 24 stores with 12.7 million dollars in annual sales.
Image of Sam Walton Welcoming Visitors to a Newly Opened
Sam's Club in Shanghai
The five-year mark is usually considered a good indicator of whether a
business is destined for success or failure. Many entrepreneurs and business
managers stipulate that if a businesses is going to succeed, it
should start at least breaking even within five years. Under ideal
circumstances, the business in question should become profitable by the end of this
five year litmus test. Sam Walton's Walmart surpassed many business analysts'
expectations, and laid an excellent foundation for further expansion and
Walmart's domination
of the consumer goods market.
12) Their
Relationship with China Runs Deep
You probably already know that alongside many of the Made in U.S.A. products
that the discount chain brags they stock their shelves with, a lot of goods in
Walmart stores are made overseas and are
imported in an attempt to lower their overall per unit cost. Exports
made from China to Walmart account for 11 percent of all annual U.S. trade with
the Chinese. This is a large chunk of the ever growing trade deficit the U.S.
has been experiencing since the 1980s.
Chinese Walmart Employee
What is unusual about China is that it has a federal union for all its
workers. Walmart carries a historically heavy anti-union stance, particularly
for their U.S. stores. What has led to preserving Walmart's historically
anti-union stance even in countries like China where unions are guaranteed for
all workers, is the sheer amount of money that Walmart generates through annual
sales and foreign imports. By being a buying powerhouse, Walmart is able to
circumvent many foreign regulations that have led many around the world to look
down on Walmart in this respect. Concerns over how Walmart treats its foreign workers have
been raised, but at the same time, these worries haven’t made much of an impact
on Walmart's market share or bottom line. Whatever its business
practices, a lot of consumers are approving of Walmart's actions by continuing
to purchase goods from Walmart. By purchasing large quantities of goods from
around the world, Walmart has gained quite a deal of geopolitical leverage that
is almost equivalent to that of a sovereign nation.
11) Walmart is Serious about Infrastructure
In 2010, Walmart poured 12 billion dollars into expansions and maintenance of
its retail facilities, as well as into other capital expenditures. This is more
than the entire budget of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and is more than was
spent by the state of California in 2010 on infrastructure and education. The
retail giant has the world’s largest truck fleet at its disposal, and its
operations require the use of the world’s largest computer system. Walmart's
truck fleet and computer system even dwarf the defense and operations network
available to the Pentagon.
Old Logo on Cart Rack and New Logo on Store Exterior
By Daniel Case,
via Wikimedia Commons
Walmart’s continuing success is now reliant on keeping its brand fresh in the
eyes of consumers, and maintaining competitive prices and the easy shopping experience
it advertises. Since the initial success of the superstore model for the chain,
it has expanded and renovated many of its basic discount outlets to offer new
shopping experiences—you may remember getting a “new” Walmart in your town back
in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. If your local outlet was one of the early
adopters, you may also remember the switch from the inclusion of a McDonald’s
restaurant to a Subway when concerns about health issues were raised. Walmart
isn’t afraid to make changes in infrastructure to rise to the challenge of
maintaining retail success.
10) Walmart Chains Cover Enough Space to be Their Own City—And Then Some
Walmart stores parking lots alone cover an
area that together is roughly the size of Tampa, Florida. Its retail space
within outlets totals 900 million square feet, and if all the stores were
combined, they would make up somewhere around 34 square miles of space. The
total area of the island of Manhattan, including land and water, comes out to
33.77 square miles.
Walmart Supercenter in São Paulo, Brazil
By Eugeni Dodonov from São Paulo, Brazil,
via Wikimedia Commons
Does time seem to speed magically ahead when you’re in Walmart? Ever notice
that you go in for just a few items but somehow you don’t come out until an hour later?
Particularly the supercenter’s supersized retail floor factors directly
contribute to Walmart’s business success. This leaves room for lots
of inventory, assuring that they have exactly what you want in stock and on
display. Walmart's big
box model relies on store designs that lead you through the aisles and across
departments to complete your purchase, boosting the chance you’ll see something
else you need and make an impulsive purchase. Special displays and end caps
serve the same purpose, slowing down your travel across the store, grabbing your
attention and hopefully grabbing some more money out of your wallet.
9) It Has an Economy Bigger Than Many Countries
Walmart’s land grab and continuing expansion of retail space is paying off,
resulting in sales figures that, if it represented the GDP of a nation of a
similar size, would put much of the world to shame. In 2012, the Dayton Daily News
reported that the corporate enterprise pulled in $444 billon, outdoing the entire
country of Denmark. This would make the “country” of Walmart 26th in the global economy. Maybe alongside its many other products and
services, Walmart should offer classes in international business for economic
leaders concerned about their nation’s wealth.
Opponents of the chain often claim that Walmart improves its sales by causing
the shutdown of local businesses with strategic competition. It’s important to
remember that Walmart also installs satellite stores in rural areas
and because of its national inventory, is able to locally provide a wider
selection of goods and services to people living in remote areas. In many places, Walmart
may be the only store handling needed merchandise. In other cases, the extra
benefits of the superstore—salon, optometrist, photography studio, and bank—grab
a higher percentage of spending from busy families like yours, because it
reduces the time and gas costs of running errands to multiple stores.
8) Walmart Holds a Quarter of the Grocery Market
Before implementing its superstore model, Walmart had a limited selection of
groceries that grabbed customer attention, but did little against the full-service supermarkets elsewhere in town. With the arrival of supercenters
came stiff competition within those markets, as Walmart began offering the same
bakery services, fresh meat, seafood, and produce, as well as a selection of
perishables that many customers had come to expect from their local grocers. With their
direct buys from producers and central distribution structure, Walmart was able
to offer these same goods to you at a generally lower price than many grocery
chains, as even larger regional or national chains still didn't have the same
wholesale buying power to lower their own costs.
Because of this, Walmart holds one quarter of the
grocery market in the U.S.—that’s one out of every four dollars spent.
While that doesn’t seem significant out of context, keep in mind no other single
chain—including Target, Costco, or Kroger—has been able to command nearly this
large a share.
7) It’s a Litigation Magnet
Walmart has deep pockets and has made some controversial administration
moves. No matter what its policy practices, a store system this big is bound to
draw legal complaints, and Walmart certainly has its share. Numbers have been
improving on this front—supposedly—but a peak in 2000 saw 4,851 suits against
the giant over the course of 12 months. This
comes out to about one suit every two hours.
The suits range in content, with the most high profile being gender and
racial discrimination among its employees. Individual Walmart stores have been
accused of racist management, and of keeping in place policies designed to
create a glass ceiling for female employees in many outlets. It’s true that most
of the women in Walmart’s labor force are cashiers, and many fewer are
executives. Several class-action suits have been filed against the chain over
this and other labor issues, each tending to surface in the news for a short
span and then disappearing again. While this litigation is the most concerning,
it isn’t the most common. The majority of Walmart’s time in court is spent
handling individual suits by those injured on the vast properties held by the
retailer often caused by slip-and-fall accidents, falling merchandise, or other
unsafe conditions that occur at many large stores because of natural human
oversight.
6) It Pays to be King
Coming in as vice-chairman of Walmart’s International Division, the current
CEO of Walmart, Michael T. Duke, makes roughly 35 million dollars every year.
When this salary figure is broken down into a regular
hourly wage it means that at just under $17,000, the company head makes in one
hour what the majority of his employees make in an entire year.
Is the pay fair? Some say no, others say yes, pointing out his nearly 25
years of experience with the company and Walmart’s continued success under his
delegation. Michael Duke also holds a Bachelor of Science in industrial
engineering. Just for
reference, the current median salary for an industrial engineer
as about 70,000 dollars a year in the U.S., with a B.S. and two to five years of
experience. It’s unquestionable that Mr. Duke has at least achieved some notable
success with his move to a business career.
5) Walmart’s Inventory is Really Bananas
Walmart’s success lies in giving you as a customer exactly what you want. In
2009, that was apparently bananas, which lists them as the most sold item during
that year. Fresh produce is a huge draw for the
retailer, who has direct buyers able to lower purchasing costs in negotiations,
making fresh fruit and vegetables more accessible to many populations who might
not be able to afford them otherwise.
Locally Grown Produce at Walmart
Besides more common merchandise, though, Walmart goes above and beyond in the
idea of being a one-stop shop that truly fulfills all of your needs as a
customer in a way that lowers your cost of life—and death. The retailer offers a
line of discounted coffins, pet caskets, and cremation urns that it will ship
directly to your home. If you factor in Walmart’s extensive baby and toddler
department, at least you can truly say this store is dedicated to your
requirements from start to finish.
4) Walmart Offers Video Streaming
Moving away from morbid subjects, Walmart started breaking into the new media
market in 2010. Its content delivery is not direct in the sense that it comes
from the corporate brand itself, but it acquired the video service Vudu in March
of that year. Walmart continues to hold it, offering pay-as-you-go rentals and
purchases for both TVs and browsers. Walmart considers itself to be competitive with the subscription
models of other streaming companies by combining their service with the pricing
structure of a traditional video rental service.
The emerging Walmart Entertainment department has recently started offering a
“Disc to Digital” program that allows you to purchase a digital copy of older
movies you own at your local participating Walmart store so that you can store
them on the cloud, and stream them on mobile devices or through a browser. While
some people have already found their own software for ripping DVDs, this is a
safe, legal way to obtain digital copies, especially if you lack the
technological know-how to do it yourself.
3) Walmart Employs 2.2 Million People
If you were to turn the enormous retail space of Walmart into its own city, it
would be able to populate it with its employees. This figure points out that this is just over the population figure
for Houston, Texas. If Walmart were to militarize, it would become the world’s
second largest army and could only be surpassed by the Chinese.
Walmart creates jobs—300 per new store by its own count—and while many of
these are minimum wage for their state and often now are part-time, the
retailer heavily emphasizes promotion from within as a policy. According to its own
corporate stats, Walmart boasts that it promotes about 160,000 employees a year
to positions with higher wages with greater responsibilities. Towns still court the
store over much of the country, and 90 percent of the U.S. population lives
within 15 minutes of a Walmart. Further, USA
Today notes that Walmart will soon begin offering benefits for its employees’
domestic partners with no proof required of relationship, for those who do have
the company’s insurance plan. This includes same-sex couples, and with the sway Walmart has as a retailer, it is a sound vote for equal rights.
2) Its Employees are Passionate and Dedicated
Fact number three may help explain this one. 300,000 employees have greater than 10 years of service at the retail chain. One
associate in particular has been with Store 14 in Missouri for 50 years.
Whatever they may lack, Walmart jobs represent stable employment often for sectors of
the workforce that may have difficulty obtaining and holding jobs. For example, single mothers
and those re-entering the workforce with long gaps in employment history have
found successful employment with Walmart. For
those with the aspiration, Walmart encourages long-term employees into more
ambitious positions, taking advantage of their experience to build a management
team that understands this retail business from the ground up.
Walmart Team Members
Some employees choose memorable ways of expressing their gratitude to their
employer. The labor force at one store in Shenzen, China, has developed its own fight song that includes the lyrics “My
heart is filled with pride” and “I long to tell you how deep my love for Walmart
is.” Maybe most employees wouldn’t go to these extremes, but clearly this
corporation has been a benefit to many.
1) Even Its Name is Frugal
Walmart has come to mean low prices and careful spending through its cost
saving reputation, but even the history of this retailers name itself reveals
the depth of Sam Walton’s values when it comes to money. The Week UK explains
that the name Walmart, was the idea of Walton’s shop assistant Bob Bogle. Bogle
discussed with Walton the fact that it would be cheaper than Walton’s Mart
because the 7 letters of Wal-mart would be cheaper not just in the cost of the
needed neon signage, but in maintaining the sign as well. This was largely due
to the set-up of
neon displays used on storefronts at the time. Walton bought into the idea
immediately, as
it exemplified the philosophy he wanted to implement in the entire company. That
philosophy was saving money wherever they could as a company in order pass those
savings on to their customers in the form of lower prices.
Walmart's Ad-Match Guarantee
The same article chronicling this piece of Walmart history was written in
honor of Walmart once again not just making, but topping, the Forbes Fortune 500
list. Sam Walton's commitment to efficiency and cost cutting went far beyond
simple factors like signage, but to all aspects of his business. This commitment
to efficiency made his company one of the most profitable and successful retail
goliaths of all time.
Final Words
Walmart occupies strange places in the minds of consumers, popping up in a variety of modern world
issues from distribution to trade, from labor to gender and marriage equality.
For some, Walmart is the epitome of all that is evil, and stands as a symbol of
corporate greed and poor labor practices. For others, Walmart is a means to
maintain a comfortable lifestyle in a shrinking middle class, standing as a
retailer that supports families by keeping prices as low as possible to maximize
a family's purchasing power. Walmart is a large, world-wide employer, and not
only provides employment, but is a huge player in the demand for many
agricultural products, electronics, and other goods. The retail giant’s
influence is inescapable, and its influence on modern American life is
undisputed in its myriad of effects. Walmart still serves as a major business model in learning
cost-saving practices for any enterprise, and its practices are highly enviable by many other retail chains. What makes Walmart
unsettling for its detractors may very well be their market dominance. Walmart
is not a faceless corporation plagued with greed and ruthless business
practices. Walmart is a true story of one man's American Dream coming to
fruition, that would lead to a multibillion dollar, multinational retail
success.
References: 15) It’s a Top Destination
dailyfinance.com
14) It Has Secret Aliases
Bussinessweek.com
13) It’s Always Had Unstoppable Growth
Walmart’s online history timeline
12) Their Relationship to China Goes Deeper Than You Thought
dailyfinance.com
International Trade Union Confederation
11) Walmart is Serious about Infrastructure
Dailyfinance.com
pbs.org’s archive for Store Wars
10) Walmart Chains Cover Enough Space to be Their Own City—And Then
Some
dailyfinance.com
9) It Has an Economy Bigger Than Many Countries
Businessinsider.com
8) Walmart Holds a Quarter of the Grocery Market
dailyfinance.com
7) It’s a Litigation Magnet
dailyfinance.com
6) It Pays to be King
ABC News
Michael Duke's profile at Walmart’s corporate site
salary.com
5) Walmart’s Inventory is Really Bananas
businessinsider.com
3) Walmart Employs 2.2 Million People
dailyfinance.com
businessinsider.com
2) Its Employees are Passionate and Dedicated
Walmartcommunity.com
businessinsider.com
