Walmart: Sam Walton's Vision for Customer Satisfaction - Essay Sample

Introduction

Walmart, as known today, started from the goal of Sam Walton for excellent customer satisfaction. He promoted leadership that entailed service, and this principle guides the decisions of the company for the past five decades. Sam Walton gained early retail experience after his retirement from the military in 1945. He eventually opened and operated his retail store. He started Walton's 5&10 in Bentonville, and the different hunting seasons in the region foresaw the success of this. The success of the store inspired him to open his first Walmart store in 1962, with the aim brings more opportunities and satisfaction to his customers. The first store was opened in Rogers, Arkansas. He used the method of low pricing and customer service in his operation at Walmart, and this significantly contributed to the success of Walmart. He made his associates partners of success in the company and partnered with associates to contribute to the massive growth of Walmart (Wells & Ellsworth, 2016).

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Walmart offers a variety of retail services and is the largest in the world. It operates 4300 stores in the United States. Walmart offers retail products like electronic products and grocery items. It also offers photo services where a photo lab is used by customers to upload or print photos. Pharmaceutical services in Walmart are provided at a fee. Walmart also provides commercial facilities that include money transferals, cashing of cheques, and printing. Its partnership with t mobile offers customers phone services that are wireless. Walmart aims at saving the money of its customers so that they can live healthier. The vision of Walmart is to be the place for buyers to save money no matter their shopping sprees (Wells & Ellsworth, 2016).

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Global Brand Acknowledgment

Walmart has lots of consumers shopping in stores all over the world to purchase various goods and services. Its brand has made it the most important retail business in the world. Walmart offers a variety of services, including selling retail goods, pharmaceutical services, pet services, financial services, and wireless phone services. It enables customers to have a variety to choose from when purchasing products and services (Shabbir, 2015).

Everyday Low Prices Strategy

Walmart uses economies of scale to allow customers to enjoy low prices. It provides fixed rates to a variety of goods in the stores, thus making it the cheapest buying centers in the world. Walmart offers low pricing all year-round instead of only during significant sales. The strategy increases both company sales and customer loyalty. It also ensures that low costs are incurred for advertising as thee stores advertise daily. Customer demand is too predictable as prices do not change frequently (Martinez, Galvan& Alam, 2017). Walmart uses the principle of having a large scale and minimizing operating costs. The method creates a broad customer base for Walmart.

Threats

Employee Handling and Working Surroundings

Walmart has low salaries, inadequate health care, and unhealthy working conditions and has received a lot of public criticisms and charges regarding its labor force. Walmart has received criticisms of having gender discrimination in the job opportunities it offers. There is female employee discrimination regarding raises and salaries as per a complaint against Walmart in 2007(Spicer & Hyatt, 2017).

Low profits. Walmart concentrates on cost leadership and customer satisfaction strategies resulting in low-profit for Walmart. Walmart had a gross profit margin amounting to 24.5%in the year 2019(Spicer & Hyatt, 2017). Walmart is focused on low costs, as stated in its mission, which leads to low profit margins. Walmart relies more on sales volume rather than profit margins. This cost leadership strategy could also make Walmart easy to copy as it does not own competitive advantage over its competitors.

Opportunities

Extension to Other Markets

Walmart can gain a chance for more growth by expanding its businesses to other ventures that have not exploited, including China and Middle East Countries. Walmart has never been successful in large cities, and by finding methods to integrate into the markets, Walmart stores will have made a massive step to expanding their business.

Strategic Alliances

Walmart can create partnerships by merging with other retailers in the world. By acquisition of minor retail businesses, Walmart can increase its profit. Historically Walmart has been reluctant to partner with others having a preference of keeping benefits to itself. some of the previous alliance with China and India were eventually abandoned (Joseph & Kuby,2015). Walmart should put in place strategies to incorporate its business into such markets hence more growth and expansion.

Threats

A Prime Aim by Competitors

Walmart, the global biggest retailer, is a prime target for other companies competing with it. The competitors target Walmart directly by offering similar goods that are of higher quality. Such companies also have a reputation for handling workers exceptionally in comparison to Walmart. Some competitors allow consumers to purchase products in bulk while Walmart does not. Examples of these companies are Target and Costco, which are widely supported by people in the areas, unlike Walmart which receives alt of criticism (Hwang& Park, 2015).

Technical Issues on Walmart’s Website

There have been concerns about the technical issues on Walmart's site. The complaints include the slow running of the website and the disorganized manner of listing products on the website. Amazon, on the other hand, is known for an operational and systematized platform; hence, it is an exceptional shopping experience for consumers. An example is a black Friday where customers waited until midnight for deals only to experience emptied shopping carts, causing the items to go out of stock before people could purchase them. The incident caused mass frustration and ill will about Walmart (Joseph & Kuby, 2015).

Strategic Recommendations for Creating Competitive Advantage

While Walmart is an established retail store around the world, there is a need for Walmart to explore other global markets and opportunities in developing markets to increase its market share and strengthen its position. In its press release, chief executive Doug McMillian stated it plans to explore the Indian market for future purposes. There is a need for the company to focus on investment and generating new products. There has been a drop in the international sales of Walmart by 12%in the years (Harsoor & Patil, 2015). There is a need for Walmart to research the markets in different countries. Since Walmart operates across the globe, it is necessary to assess the consumer preferences and needs in various countries as they vary. By exploring other global markets, Walmart can increase its market base and profit margins.

Walmart should focus on addressing controversial issues. The methods include strategies to enhance the operation of its website and incorporate only genuine products to avert further public condemnations. Walmart needs to redesign its website to more organized and modern. There is a need to focus on large visuals and content that should reach consumers. It should find a way to connect te grocery website and the waoamrt.com site to avoid the process of having to jump from onThis eases the work for customers hence ensuring an enjoyable shopping experience for customers. Walmart should focus on increasing marketing activities that will help it enhance its image and appeal to more customers. By advancing its online e-commerce platforms that hinder the website's progress, customers can enjoy satisfying shopping experience.

References

Harsoor, A. S., & Patil, A. (2015). Forecast of sales of Walmart store using big data applications. International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology, 4(6), 51-59.

Hwang, M., & Park, S. (2015). The impact of walmart supercenter conversion on consumer shopping behavior. Management Science, 62(3), 817-828.

Joseph, L., & Kuby, M. (2015). Modeling retail chain expansion and maturity through wave analysis: Theory and application to Walmart and Target. International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research (IJAGR), 6(4), 1-26.

Martinez, A. B., Galvan, R. S., & Alam, S. (2017). Financial analysis of retail business organization: a case of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Nile Journal of Business and Economics, 3(5), 67-89.

Shabbir, M. S. (2015). Why manufacturers are less powerful than retailers in trade circles? A case study of Wal-Mart retailing business. Business and Economics Journal, 6(4), 1.

Spicer, A., & Hyatt, D. (2017). Walmart's emergent low-cost sustainable product strategy. California Management Review, 59(2), 116-141.

Wells, J. R., & Ellsworth, G. (2016). The Inexorable Rise of Walmart? 1988-2016.