Let us choose Walmart for our analysis

WALMART

• Once touted as the world’s largest offline retailer is now making inroads and transforming itself to become the world’s largest online and offline retailer.
• Walmart engages in the business of Retail and wholesale runs on the strategy of “Everyday low price” to penetrate the market at a low price.
• Headquarters =  Bentonville, Arkansas

PART 1

1. a) Competitors analysis:

• Amazon :
  • The first in the list of competitors of Walmart is Amazon. In the last 25 years, Amazon has grown from an unknown online bookseller to one of the most valuable and powerful corporations in the modern world.
  • Amazon has married technology with retail and is giving the traditional retail chains like Walmart a run for their money and forcing them to make the technological shift.
  • Amazon has some pretty cool plans for its retail expansion, and Walmart should be worried about those. For this reason, we think Amazon is one of the perfect Walmart competitors.
• Alibaba:
  • The tech giant is all set to revolutionise the retail industry and has no plans of going slow. For this reason, Alibaba stands second in the list of Walmart competitors.

b) Suppliers & Digital market intermediaries

• Digital marketing intermediaries:  Walmart is shifting to a digital marketing platform where authorised strategic partners will optimise your brand's digital campaign. It is also employing a new social strategy to be more reactive in real-time with a unique, more conversational brand voice.
• Suppliers: Walmart is also known for reducing costs by working directly with manufacturers which cuts out the opportunity for confusion and human error. Walmart was the first to implement a companywide Universal Product Code for barcodes where store level information was then collected and analysed to help improve operations.

c) Customers persona :

• More than half of Walmart Marketplace buyers are from medium-to-high income households as opposed to predominantly lower-income.
• The average in-store Walmart shopper is 46 years old and lives in a rural area. Meanwhile, Walmart reports that over a third of its online shoppers are between the ages 23 and 38, and more than half are married or partnered with kids.
• The average in-store Walmart shopper earns ~$76,000 per year in household income. By contrast, more than half of Walmart.com buyers are homeowners of medium-to-high household incomes, according to Walmart.
• Walmart's 2019 list of top-selling items is household items.
• They may have even higher expectations in terms of the quality and assortment of brands offered by Walmart, given its roots as a big-box retailer.

2.

a) technological factors: Walmart has adopted automation and robotics. With a brand as big as Walmart, automation is an expected step for the business to take. By allowing robots to handle menial tasks, employees can focus on selling products without distraction.

b) legal factors: Walmart must abide by the laws and regulations of the world. The most common of these laws include employment regulations, data protection laws, labour laws, and health and safety laws. Despite needing to abide by these rules, Walmart has failed in California.

c) economic forces: Walmart needs to be aware of the economic landscape in each location where stores operate. Some locations may have higher interest rates or taxes, which will also affect potential revenue.

d) political forces: Policies can directly influence Walmart’s manufacturers and suppliers. If Walmart doesn’t operate in politically stable locations, any interruption could impede operations. Additionally, governments can pass bills that threaten the revenue of corporations.

e) Social forces: Global brands can only be successful if they understand how to supply specific products to customers. For instance, Germany’s lack of interest cost Walmart over $1 billion. This was more an issue from Walmart, as they failed to market to the German audience properly. Walmart is an American brand. Still, by not adjusting its marketing to fit the German market, it led to heavy revenue loss.