Introduction to Wal

Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (formerly branded as Wal-Mart, branded as Walmart since 2008) is an
American multinational corporation that runs a chain of large discount department stores and a
chain of warehouse stores. In 2010 it was the world's largest public corporation by revenue,
according to the Forbes Global 2000 for that year. The company was founded in 1962 by Sam
Walton incorporated on October 31, 1969 and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange
Exc
in 1972. Wal-Mart,
Mart, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas,, is the largest majority private
employer and the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, it generated 51% of its
US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from groc
grocery
ery business. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club
retail warehouses in North America.

Wal-Mart has 8,500

500 stores in 15 countries, with 55 different names. The company operates
under its own name in the United States, including the 50 states. It also operates under its own
name in Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart
Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex,, in the United Kingdom as Asda
("Asda Wal-Mart"
Mart" in some branches), in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price.
Price It has wholly
owned operations in Argentina
Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Wal-Mart's
Mart's investments outside North
America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America and
China are highly successful,l, while it was forced to pull out of Germany and South Korea when
ventures there were unsuccessful.

Stages in Wal-Mart
Mart Growth Story

• On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Wal

Wal-Mart
Mart Discount City store located at 719
Walnut Ave. in Rogers, Arkansas
Arkansas.. Within five years, the company expanded to 24 stores
across Arkansas and reached $12.6 million in sales. In 1968, it opened its first stores
outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.

• The company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31, 1969. In 1970, it
opened its home office and first distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Arkansas It had 38
stores operating with 1,500 employees and sales of $44.2 million
million.

• The Company began trading stock as a publicly held company on October 1, 1970, and
was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Exchange. By this time, Wal-Mart
Mart was operating
in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma; it entered
 Tennessee in 1973 and Kentucky and Mississippi in 1974. As it moved into Texas in
1975, there were 125 stores with 7,500 employees and total sales of $340.3 million.

• In the 1980s, Walmart continued to grow rapidly, and by its 25th anniversary in 1987
there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates.

• In the 1980s, Walmart continued to grow rapidly, and by its 25th anniversary in 1987
there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates.

• In 1998, Walmart introduced the "Neighborhood Market" concept with three stores in
Arkansas. By 2005, estimates indicate that the company controlled about 20% of the
retail grocery and consumables business.

• In 2000, H. Lee Scott became President and CEO, and Walmart's sales increased to $165
billion. In 2002, it was listed for the first time as America's largest corporation on the
Fortune 500 list, with revenues of $219.8 billion and profits of $6.7 billion. It has
remained there every year, except for 2006.

• In 2005, Walmart had $312.4 billion in sales, more than 6,200 facilities around the
world—including 3,800 stores in the United States and 2,800 elsewhere, employing more
than 1.6 million "associates" worldwide. Its U.S. presence grew so rapidly that only small
pockets of the country remained further than 60 miles (100 km) from the nearest Wal-
Mart.

• In March 2006, Walmart sought to appeal to a more affluent demographic. The company
launched a new Supercenter concept in Plano, Texas, intended to compete against stores
seen as more upscale and appealing, such as Target.

• On September 12, 2007, Walmart introduced new advertising with the slogan, "Save
Money Live Better," replacing the "Always Low Prices, Always" slogan, which it had used
for the previous 19 years.

• On June 30, 2008, Walmart unveiled a new company logo, featuring the non-hyphenated
name "Walmart" and in place of the star, a symbol that resembles a sunburst or flower.

• On March 20, 2009, Wal-Mart announced that it is paying a combined $933.6 million in
bonuses to every full and part time hourly worker of the company.

• On July 16, 2009, Wal-Mart announced plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product
index.

• On February 22, 2010, the company confirming it was acquiring video streaming
company Vudu, Inc. for an estimated $100 million.
Wal-Mart’s operating structure.
Wal-Mart's operations are organized into three divisions: Wal-Mart Stores U.S., Sam's Club, and
Wal-Mart International.[44] 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 $258 billion, or 63.8% of
total sales for financial year 2010. 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.

Wal-Mart stores US runs following type of stores format which are:

a) Walmart Discount Stores

b) Walmart Supercenter
c) Neighborhood Market by Walmart
d) Supermercado de Wal-Mart
e) Marketside

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. The first Sam's Club opened in 1983 in Midwest City, Oklahoma under the name
"Sam's Wholesale Club".

Wal-Mart International

Wal-Mart's international operations currently comprise 4,263 stores and 660,000 workers in 15
countries outside the United States. There are wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil,
Canada,and the UK. With 2.1 million employees worldwide, the company is the largest private
employer in the US and Mexico, and one of the largest in Canada. In the financial year 2010,
Wal-Mart's international division sales were $100 billion, or 24.7% of total sales.
What makes Wal-Mart Different?
Wal-Mart is a company which is shaped by its supply chain and the efficiency of its supply chain
has made it a market leader in the markets it serves. The passion of its founder to provide
customer satisfaction and Wal-Mart Moto of everyday low prices have made Wal-Mart’s
Supply-chain one the best and low cost, high efficiency model in the business community.

The supply chain setup of Wal-Mart has been structured to lower its cost and to increase
productivity, so that it can pass these saving to its customer in the form of low prices. The
concept introduced by Wal-Mart are now industry standard some of them are:

a. The strategy of expanding around distribution centers (DCs).

It is central to the way Wal-Mart enters a new geographical market. The company looks for areas
that can support a group of new stores, not just a single new store. It then bui lds a new DC at a
central location in the area and opens its first store at the same time. The DC is the supply chain
bridgehead into the new territory. It supports the opening of more new stores in the area at a
very low additional cost. Those savings are passed along to the customers

b. Using electronic data interchange (EDI) with suppliers.

Use of EDI with suppliers provi des the company two substantial benefits. First of all this cuts the
transaction costs associated wi th the ordering of products and the paying of invoices. Ordering
products and paying invoices are, for the most part, well defined and routine processes that can
be made very productive and efficient through EDI. The second benefit is that these electronic
links with suppliers allow Wal-Mart a high degree of control and coordination in the scheduling
and receiving of product deliveries. This helps to ensure a steady flow of the right products at
the right time, delivered to the right DCs, by all Wal-Mart

c. The “big box” store format.

The Big Box Store Format store format allows Wal-Mart to, in effect, combine a store and a
warehouse in a single facility and get great operating efficiencies from doing so. The big box i s
big enough to hold large amounts of inventory like a warehouse. And since this inventory is
being held at the same location where the customer buys it, there is no delay or cost that would
otherwise be associated with moving products from warehouse to store. Again, these savings
are passed along to the customer.

d. “Everyday low prices”

Everyday low prices are a way of doing two things. The first thing is to tell its price-conscious
customers that they will always get the best price. They need not look elsewhere or wait for
special sales. The effect of this message to customers helps Wal-Mart do the second thing, which
is to accurately forecast product sales. By eliminating special sales and assuring customers of low
prices. Wal-Mart smoothes out demand swings making demand more steady and predictable.
This way stores are more likely to have what customers want when they want it.
Global Insight, which conducted the research that supported the ads, found that Walmart's
price level reduction resulted in savings for consumers of $287 billion in 2006, which equated to
$957 per person or $2,500 per household (up 7.3% from the 2004 savings estimate of $2,329).

Other Wal-Mart Differentiators:

Some of the other incidents which make Wal-Mart so successful are:

1) Respect to employees and customers. The company refers to its employees as

"associates". All Wal-Mart stores in the US and Canada also have designated "greeters",
who welcome shoppers at the store entrance.
2) Support to environment: In October 2005, Wal-Mart announced it would implement
several environmental measures to increase energy efficiency. Wal-Mart is the biggest
seller of organic milk and the biggest buyer of organic cotton in the world, as well as
reducing packaging and energy costs.
3) Help to needful: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, Wal-Mart
was able to use its logistical efficiency in organizing a rapid response to the disaster,
donating $20 million in cash, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000
meals, as well as the promise of a job for every one of its displaced workers.
4) Each week, about 100 million customers, nearly one-third of the U.S. population, visit
Wal-Mart's U.S. stores.