Essay Sample on Strategic Management Comparison Between Walmart and Nordstrom Company

Introduction

Walmart stores is a worldwide retail company that is located in America, and it is one of the biggest retailer shops in the world due to its total revenue collection and the number of workers. Moreover, it is the leading private employer and one of the renowned firms in the world. It was established in 1962 by Sam Walton, and it is still under the management of the Walton family. The objective of Walmart corporate strategy entails directing its energy on marketing and selling the most gratifying products and services at a low cost (Munoz, 2018). In that, the company uses multiple advanced storage and electronic technologies in a manner that it has managed to maintain consistency through its approach on low-cost.

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Nordstrom Company is one of the largest fashion retailers providing striking outfits, shoes, and accessories for both male and female. After it was established in 1901 by John Nordstrom and Carl Wallin, it focused on providing clients with excellent customer services, quality, variety and price. It has been managed through two segments of credit and retail score (Beasty, 2005). The retail sector provides a high number of private label commodities and brands through its multiple channels such as online storage. Notably, it has 122 full-line supplies in America and Canada, and it also operates 200 clearance store Nordstrom Racks, 2 Jeffrey boutiques among many other areas of operation. The credit sector allows the customers to access different goods and services, for instance, Nordstrom brand identification cards and the provision of Nordstrom Visa debit and credit card.

The Mission Statement of Walmart and Nordstrom

The mission statement is typically used to illustrate the company's purpose of its establishment. Thus, Walmart's purpose of being is "Saving people's money so they can live better". This implies that it is a customer-oriented mission statement which is also in line with the company's slogan of saving for a better life. It is appealing to the customers that they can indeed save money by buying goods and services at their stores (Hwang & Park, 2016). After many years of shopping at Walmart, my shopping experience is per my expectation to Walmart since it has developed the idea of being cheap in all commodities. Therefore, the minds of customers like me have made the store the first choice when one wants to go shopping.

Subsequently, Nordstrom's purpose of the operation is based on providing customers with the most attractive shopping experience possible by providing the best customer service, value, selection, and quality. My initial impression of Nordstrom's mission statement is that they are concerned about their clients hence the need to provide them with the best services and experience. Unlike other organizations, Nordstrom uses customer service as an essential element of attaining calculated competitive gain. Therefore, through the various customer experiences, it appears that customer service is present in the culture of Nordstrom hence building customer loyalty.

The positioning of Walmart and Nordstrom

Strategic positioning is believed to be an added advantage over its competitors, and it is also an essential element of a successful business plan. Walmart plans to become a low-cost leader amongst its competitors (Munoz, 2018). It is evident that Walmart has successfully designed an impression that has convinced customers that through shopping in Walmart you can actually save more since they have low prices for their goods. Conversely, Walmart's brand promise does not include the aspect of customer service to its customers. This denotes that, clients are not likely to expect exceptional services from Walmart as they would anticipate in other companies such as Nordstrom. In my view, the experience would not be significantly influenced by its customer service.

Nordstrom ranks itself as the leading fashion retailer and a candidate who provides outstanding customer services through different reviews and offers. Contrary to Walmart's pricing element, the store is believed to be heavily convoluted with extravagant goods and services. The store is globally known for its excellent customer service (Harris, 2014). Its multichannel enhances the salesperson to develop the ability to assist a customer in locating a certain commodity which is not available in any other store. Thus, the strategic operation of Walmart and Nordstrom is contrasting based on the pricing and positioning approaches outlined in this section.

Competitive Strategies

Walmart's primary competitive strategy involves its focus on low-cost and medium quality goods that helps the company to attain its competitive advantage over its opponents since it sells at a lower cost. Thus, it has to uphold high sales volume, great-scale operations and reduced operating expenses. Additionally, the differentiated strategy helps the company to offer customers with goods that has warranty and prices that none of its competitors can provide. Walmart has developed to become an international company; thus, it understands the business challenges faced by the retailers hence making it easier to address them (Pioch et al., 2009). Other than that, Walmart provides vendor partnership. In that, the company strategically offers resources to its suppliers that distribute high products and meeting the orders placed. Thus, developing a partnership with suppliers who provide long-term acquisitions and in large portions.

Nordstrom's competitive plan entails the provision of excellent customer service, quality products and regular advancements in its services and goods being sold. In that, they have compelling merchandise and full dedication to customer service which attracts retailer's customers than its competitors (PR Newswire, 2018). It has custom sale clients who study customers and assist them with their purchases. This means that the moment a buyer arrives the store, the sales agent will know what style of outfit they will pick hence guiding them to a section that matches their look. Moreover, their goods are among the finest offered and are displayed in an eye-catching way for their clients. To develop a better advantage, Nordstrom is supposed to keep track of the current fashion and current technological advancements.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is an essential strategic planning device that can be applied by Walmart and Nordstrom management team to conduct a situational breakdown of the company hence, discovering the vital internal elements.

Strengths

International organization size that provides the company with deep pockets to cater for their expansion and development.

Effective supply chain. Walmart has a high-efficiency supply chain which aids the movement of goods from the distributors to its stores through the use of technology.

Global supply chain. This offers business resilience from certain market risks.

Weaknesses

High employee turnover hence poor motivation among the workers.

Some goods are of inferior quality hence damaging the brand.

Opportunities

Opportunity to extend its operations in developing nations since it has a significant development economic condition.

Upgrading the quality standards of products that will address consumers' concerns.

Introduction of special goods such as healthier eating diets which are gluten-free and organic.

Threats

Competition from other global retailer's such as Amazon and Carrefour.

High commodity product prices caused by high labour expenses in manufacturing.

Nordstrom SWOT Analysis

Strengths

It has around 110 Nordstrom racks and 120 full-line stores (Nordstrom, 2018)

Operates bedding, clothing, beauty commodities, and furniture among many others.

It has a steady revenue generation and an excellent market reputation among its clients.

Nordstrom provides free shipment to buyers.

Weaknesses

Availability of several similar stores

The establishment of Nordstrom in other parts of the world is very low.

Opportunities

Tapping the global markets in the developing economies.

A strong base of reliable suppliers of raw materials.

High degrees of customer satisfaction

Threats

Strong opponents and economic conditions affecting operations.

Decreasing sales may lower brand equity.

The active customer care service might decline.

Growth and Sustainability

Guided by the intention to open more community-based supercenters, Walmart has been shutting down some of its less popular outlets. Walmart has a significant competitive advantage among other retailers and a broad scale of operation. However, it also has the flaw of being tangled to high goods recall rate, multiple legal issues among other problems (Harris, 2014). Therefore, Walmart should consider slowing down its expansion rate and instead focus more on its challenges which will help in developing a positive brand image.

On the other hand, Nordstrom is has recorded significant revenue growth on its expansion plans. However, it has majorly focused on the US market as opposed to its competitors who have stores in different continents such as the Saks Fifth Avenue. In 2014, it started opening new markets in Canada as well as improving its online retailing prescience (PR Newswire, 2018). Thus, in my view, for Nordstrom to co continue growing, it has to keep tapping new clients and open more stores around the world. By being an international department store, it can also provide a wide variety of goods with its global supply chain.

Conclusion

This work has successfully provided a strategic analysis of Walmart and Nordstrom company which are two leading business in the retail department. Both companies have been noted to use their competitive advantages to control and continue advancing in the retail industry. Therefore, both retail companies have an attractive cost and better chances of growing in both online and global markets. Their weaknesses and threats should be viewed as the secondary priorities so that they can enhance financial opportunities and survive in the growing foreign markets.

References

Beasty, C. (2005). Nordstrom's Class of Service. CRM Magazine, 9(5), 18-19.

Harris, E. A. (2014, February 21). Profits Fall for Walmart and Nordstrom, and They Forecast Weakness Ahead. New York Times, p. B3.

Hwang, M., & Park, S. (2016). The impact of Walmart supercenter conversion on consumer shopping behavior. Management Science, 62(3), 817-828. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2014.2143

Munoz, C. B. (2018). The Flexible Militancy of Walmart Retail Workers. Cornell University Press. doi:10.7591/Cornell/9781501712883.003.0005.

Nordstrom, Inc. SWOT Analysis. (2018). Nordstrom, Inc. SWOT Analysis, 1-7.

Pioch, E., Gerhard, U., Fernie, J., & Arnold, S. J. (2009). Consumer acceptance and market success: Wal-Mart in the UK and Germany. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 37(3), 205-225.PR Newswire. (2018, July 9). Nordstrom Deepens Growth Strategy Through Local Market Focus. PR Newswire US.