Research Paper on U.S. Shoppers Passionately Bargain For Low Prices

Introduction

The United States is filled with very passionate shoppers. American shoppers love bargaining, and their main goal is to obtain a bargain that they feel they will benefit from the amount they have spent. For instance, the shoppers love to rush during festive seasons as they are aware that the shops have holiday offers that are cheaper than the regular price. For the average American, low prices are music to their ears. In the United States, investments in people, technology, and stores are essential for growth. The popularity of Walmart has reported an increase in sales as well as membership. The products displayed on the counters of Walmart further help to entice the numerous customers who come flocking to the stores. Furthermore, the customers always aim at saving money while at the same time achieving value for the money they spend on products. The company is also aiming at reflecting the society's vision as well as the benefits for the customer.

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Rationale

Walmart stores s an American Corporation that began in the 1950s as a single store, founded by Sam Walton in Arkansas. Since then, the company has advanced from an only store into a chain store that has numerous branches all across the world. Also, the corporation has also been identified as the biggest retailer in the world in terms of revenue. This growth is associated with Walton's branding strategy of treating the customer as a king. Furthermore, the popularity of Walmart among its customers is identified as global and is not only attributed to the United States. The reasons for this popularity is attributed to customer price sensitivity, stocking of a broad range of products as well as the close location to customers. This feature facilitates the company providing a one roof shopping experience. Therefore, it is imperative to study the strategies that Walmart brand has employed and still applies to persuade customers to buy more and ensure that the company makes return purchases.

Research

I conducted interviews to identify how the customers perceive Walmart Corporation in terms of prices. The meetings included employees, management as well as the customers. The analysis also incorporates studies from researchers to identify the various persuasion principles that apply to the strategy used by Walmart. To determine the proper persuasion strategy, Walmart has to recognize the impression that they want to to create among its customers. This impression will be the source of their approach and can be effective on the customer on both conscious and subconscious level. According to Rhoads & Cialdini (2016), seven principles affect the influence of persuasion at both conscious and unconscious levels. These principles include contrast principle, social proof, commitment and consistency, reciprocity, likability, authority as well as scarcity. The strategy applied by Walmart aimed at achieving customer satisfaction and loyalty while at the same time ensuring the revenue of the stores are consistent or increasing.

The principle of reciprocity implies that human beings tend to return favors and therefore advocates for repaying good deeds with other good deeds (Rhoads & Cialdini, 2016). The social proof, on the other hand, implies that a person is likely to purchase a product only because other people are buying the same product thus advocating the notion that the people feel safe in numbers. The commitment and consistency support the idea that individuals like consistency in their obligations as a way of establishing self-image as well as identity (Cialdini, 2018). The principle of authority advocates that people follow authority simply because they are an authority while the principle of likability indicates that people have a habit of being influenced by the attractiveness of a product to like the product. The principle of scarcity advocates that a product will be more attractive if it is scarce and in short supply (Rhoads & Cialdini, 2016). The final principle of contrast promotes that people make decisions through comparison of one event with another.

Identifying the principle applied by Walmart will be essential in determining the persuasion theory that the corporation has incorporated into its persuasion strategy. There are three categories of persuasion appeals; basic and advance persuasion appeals. The necessary persuasion appeals include the application of pathos, logos, and ethos. On the other hand, advanced persuasion appeals include classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and message factors.

Findings

The findings from this study identify the persuasion strategy that Walmart uses to persuade its customers to shop more form their stores. From the interview with the management, it was clear that the corporation uses a Low-Cost Strategy to attract more customers. This strategy employs almost all persuasion principles. From the interviews, customers often like to compare prices of products from different shops as well as varying times before they make a decision. This comparison helps the customers to attain the same value product for a lower price. The low-cost strategy works remarkably for Walmart as they can maintain commitment and consistency in low prices while at the same time staying ahead of the competition as it is not easy to achieve the same low prices that Walmart offers the customers. The company also applies the principle of likability in such a way that they display attractive products near the windows, or mirrors thus attracting the customers that are passing. Furthermore, using catchy music as well as decorations during holidays as well as when giving offers further serves to attract the customers.

Treating the customers well is imperative to the success of the organization. This notion applies to Walmart. Since they aim at attracting more customers, from the interview with the management, proper treatment and satisfaction of the employees will increase in a number of the customers as potential customers are more likely to recommend the Walmart to their friends who will purchase from the store because it was recommended to them. Aside from treating the customers with respect, strategically placing the cash register has helped to ease the customer's work further making Walmart more effective. Reciprocity principle, however, has failed Walmart as multiple customers complained that the employees at Walmart were rude to them and therefore discouraged the customers from coming back to purchase from the store. Also, the scarcity principle has further failed the company strategy as stocking a few items on the shelves has left the customers wondering why the shelves are not as full as expected. This inquisition may result in the customer going to another store and purchasing items that were not available on the shelves at Walmart.

From the persuasion principles applied at Walmart, it was clear that Walmart employs both basic and advanced persuasion appeals. The necessary appeals that are most successful with the company include ethos and logos as Walmart is credible and logical in term of low prices. The company, however, fails to effectively apply the pathos appeal as the majority of the customers are not happy with the treatment from Walmart employees. For the advanced appeals, the company tried to use classical conditioning as they attempt to associate their company with positive features such as well decorated stores that are full of attractive products at lower prices. Also, the action of placing price tags that have indicated the rates which are noticeable by the customer further helps to make the company a preference as the majority of the customers are likely to remember the prices and compare it to other stores. This comparison often works in favor of Walmart as their prices are usually lower as compared to the other stores.

Action-Plan

Walmart is a very successful organization that has numerous customers. However, the company needs to train the staff on best practices that will help to improve customer satisfaction. Even though the company's strategy is effective in attracting customers, a workforce that is well trained on the etiquette when dealing with customers is essential in maintain customer loyalty. Training for the employees may include actions such as seminars as training sessions that the management can organize in an attempt to provide education to the employees. Training the employees on customer service will help the organization educate staff who will be able to treat the customers well and make them feel comfortable enough to return and shop at Walmart.

Conclusion

Walmart is a successful corporation and is popular among the customers due to the Low-Cost Strategy that the company utilizes. The company has made lasting impressions on their customers. These impressions are both positive and negative. The positive impact on customers includes low costs that help the company to stay ahead of the competition. The negative impression consists of the employees being rude to customers. This action results in negative attitudes from the customers towards the corporation. To prevent this attitude, managers should train their employees to boost customer service which in turn will boost customer relations between Walmart and its customers.

References

Cialdini, R. (2018). Speaking of psychology: The power of persuasion (Episode 55). PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2(2), 22-35. Accessed from: https://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/persuasion

Rhoads, K. V., & Cialdini, R. B. (2016). The Business of Influence: Principles That Lead to Success in Commercial Settings. The Persuasion Handbook: Developments in Theory and Practice, 3(2), 513-542. Accessed from: https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/hdbk_persuasion/n26.xml