| Walmart is now the world’s largest retail organization. |
| Walmart employs around 1.2 million people worldwide. |
| In 2000, Walmart had sales of more than $191 billion with profits of $6.3 billion. |
| Profits increased 16% from the previous year. |
| People have come to expect that Walmart’s profits will increase substantially every year. |
| Each year more stores are opened, and Walmart expands into new countries. |
| Walmart also enters new areas of business nearly every year. |
| Few people know that Walmart is also a major real estate company. |
| Sam Walton opened his Walton’s Five and Dime in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 1950. |
| Twelve years later he opened the first Walmart in Bentonville. |
| His business philosophy was simple |
| good prices, great selection and a friendly greeting. |
| Walton was known for the “Ten Foot Attitude”. |
| This means that any employee should greet any customer who is within ten feet of them. |
| He emphasized that it is important to speak to people before they speak to you. |
| Walton also believed that good deals from suppliers should be passed along to customers. |
| The combination of low prices and friendly service is basic to Walmart’s success. |
| That one store in Bentonville has become 4,203 stores in the U.S.A, |
| plus another 1,000 outside the United States. |
| Walton died in 1992, |
| but his business philosophy continues to be preached at Walmarts. |
| Each store has greeters who meet the customers at the door, and deal with any special needs they have. |
| Having greeters gives the effect of having more service clerks than Walmart really has. |
| Compared to some other department stores, Walmart has relatively fewer employees. |
| Walmart also has the Walmart Foundation, which sponsors numerous good causes. |
| Among their programs are high school scholarships, fundraising for local hospitals and sick children, |
| environmental concerns and community “matching grant” outreach. |
| So, what’s not to like about Walmart? |
| The main complaint is that their business style is extremely aggressive. |
| Walmart’s attitudes towards manufacturers and suppliers are: |
| “You do it our way, or we won’t do business with you”. |
| This puts Walmart at an advantage over smaller retails who don’t have the same retailing power. |
| Walmart has been known to demand that its suppliers provide products at discount for Walmart store openings; |
| levy fines for shipment errors; |
| tell manufacturers what products, styles and colors to make, etc. |
| Walmart expects product delivery in two days, and expects manufacturers to cooperate with its promotional and retailing strategies. |
| In effect any company that works with Walmart becomes one of their employees |
| Any company, which so dominates one area of the market, will have a lot of power. |
| So far, Walmart has been successful in getting what it wants, |
| and providing customers with what they want. |
