Walmart Inc. is a multinational retail company that is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, USA. This retail company operates several department stores, hypermarkets. Again, Walmart boasts of over 11,000 stores in over 27 nations of the world. Arguably, Walmart is the world’s largest company by its revenue. Statistics show that Walmart is the world’s largest employer of labor, as it can boast of over 2.2million employees. Therefore, it is important to outline the strategies employed by this company to achieve this great feat. It will then help company owners to understand how to grow a company significantly.
Over the years, Walmart has stayed true to its purpose. Walmart’s purpose is explained in this slogan: “We save people’s money so that they can live better”. For over 50 years of operation, Walmart has consistently worked hard to offer low prices to its customers. This is why Walmart has built a wide, strong, and loyal customer base. Customers are constantly assured that they can procure quality products at low prices.
Furthermore, Walmart has been very successful because of its ability to take advantage of technology. Walmart leverages technology to increase efficiency at its counters by using the barcode system. Walmart was one of the foremost companies that adopted the use of the barcode system. Their early move has put them at a significant advantage over rival companies.
T barcode system helps the company to track the movement of goods in and outside its stores. Barcode also provides valuable information on point-of-sale information, customer behavior, needs, and demands. Interestingly, Walmart also adopts the radio-frequency identification technology (RFID). This technology requires that manufacturers or suppliers provide microchips that will contain the requisite products’ information.
Again, Walmart engages in advanced supply chain management. This method has helped Walmart to remain highly competitive in the price wars against rival companies. Walmart employs the cross-docking strategy for its supply chain management. Cross-docking is the movement of goods from the supplier or manufacturer directly to the retailer with little or no storage. In other words, goods picked up from the supplier are directly loaded to Walmart stores. In other words, they have reduced the cost of storage. Hence, there is less operating cost and high profits for Walmart.
In conclusion, Walmart is very intentional about motivating its employees. They are often referred to as “associates.” This gives the employees a consciousness that they are all in business together. It will also go a long way to stir them up to work hard and see the company grow significantly. It is greatly encouraged that emerging businesses should learn these proven strategies to achieve their desired goals.