Wal Mart

Wal-Mart Retail Store

Submitted to- Prof. Pravin Patil PRANJAL KUMAR DAS 08BS0002282 5/9/2009

Contents Wal-Mart ............................................................................ 3 Company mission ...................................................................... 4 Saving People Money So They Can Live Better .................................. 4 Save Money ........................................................................ 4 Live Better.......................................................................... 5 Three Basic Beliefs & Values (in their own words) ................................... 5 Operating Divisions ................................................................... 6 Wal-Mart Stores, U.S............................................................ 6 Wal-Mart Discount Stores ......................................................... 6 Wal-Mart Supercenter ............................................................. 7 Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market .................................................... 7 Marketside ......................................................................... 8 Sam's Club......................................................................... 8 Wal-Mart International ............................................................ 9 Private label brands .................................................................. 10 Sam's Choice, ..................................................................... 10 Great Value .........................................................................11 Other brands ........................................................................11 Apparel.............................................................................11 Homelines .......................................................................... 12 Hardlines .......................................................................... 12 Departments- ........................................................................ 13

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Fig- Beauty product Classification and SKUs ...................................... 17 Store Design at Wal-Mart .......................................................... 18 Store Designed to Improve Customer Experience .................................... 19 Lighting ........................................................................... 19 Store layout of Wal-Mart ...........................................................20 Planogram ........................................................................... 24 SWOT Analysis Wal-Mart. ........................................................ 25

Wal-Mart Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,000 retail units under 55 different banners in 15 countries. With fiscal year 2009 sales of $401 billion, Wal-Mart employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide. A leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity, WalMart ranked first among retailers in Fortune Magazine’s 2009 Most Admired Companies survey. Wal-Mart was founded in 1962, with the opening of the first Wal-Mart discount store in Rogers, Ark. The company incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on Oct. 31, 1969. The company's shares began trading on OTC markets in 1970, and were listed on the New York Stock Exchange two years later. With the infusion of investor capital, the company grew to 276 stores in 11 states by the end of the decade. In 1983, the company opened its first Sam’s Club membership warehouse, and in 1988 opened the first supercenter -- now the company’s dominant format -- featuring a complete grocery in addition to general merchandise. Wal-Mart became an international company in 1991 when it opened its first Sam's Club near Mexico City. 3|P age

Wal-Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, and in Japan as Seiyu. It has wholly-owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in South America and China are highly successful, while it was forced to pull out of Germany and South Korea when ventures there were unsuccessful.

Company mission Sam Walton said “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone…we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” Saving People Money So They Can Live Better Saving people money to help them live better was the goal that Sam Walton envisioned when he opened the doors to the first Wal-Mart. Today, more than 40 years later with operations in 16 markets worldwide, we continue to deliver that promise to families around the globe. It’s the focus that underlies everything we do at Wal-Mart. And for the millions of customers who shop in our stores and clubs around the world each week, it means a lot. Save Money We know that price matters to our customers, whether they live in the United States, the United Kingdom, Argentina or Japan. That's why we offer the best quality merchandise at the lowest prices in all our stores, from school supplies, to household items and top quality groceries. We also look at savings that go beyond the prices you see in our stores. For example, we are working with our suppliers to introduce more energy efficient products that can save customers money for years to come. And because every store or club is designed to reflect the local community, our customers know they will find the lowest prices around on the products that match their lifestyle.

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Live Better Saving money is a means to helping our customers live better. By offering the best possible prices on the products our customers need, we can help them afford something a little extra. Whether it's a grandmother who can buy her grandchildren a special gift because she saved money on her prescriptions, or a young family saving money to buy their first home, we see our mission come to life every day. Three Basic Beliefs & Values (in their own words) Three simple things that make us great: Our unique culture has helped make Wal-Mart one of the world’s most admired companies. Since Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart in 1962, our culture has rested on three basic beliefs. We live out these beliefs every day in the way we serve our customers and each other. 1. Respect for the Individual We’re hardworking, ordinary people who’ve teamed up to accomplish extraordinary things. While our backgrounds and personal beliefs are very different, we never take each other for granted. We encourage those around us to express their thoughts and ideas. We treat each other with dignity. This is the most basic way we show respect. 2. Service to our Customers Our customers are the reason we’re in business, so we should treat them that way. We offer quality merchandise at the lowest prices, and we do it with the best customer service possible. We look for every opportunity where we can exceed our customers’ expectations. That’s when we’re at our very best. 3. Striving for Excellence We’re proud of our accomplishments but never satisfied. We constantly reach further to bring new ideas and goals to life. We model ourselves after Sam Walton, who was never satisfied until prices were as low as they could be. Or that a product’s quality was as high as customers deserved and expected. We always ask: Is this the best I can do? This demonstrates the passion we have for our business, for our customers, and for our communities. 5|P age

Operating Divisions Wal-Mart's operations are organized into three divisions: Wal-Mart Stores U.S., Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart International. The company does business in nine different retail formats: supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, bodegas (small markets), cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants Wal-Mart Stores, U.S. Wal-Mart Stores U.S. is Wal-Mart's largest division, accounting for 67.2% of net sales for financial year 2006. [39] It consists of three retail formats that have become commonplace in the United States: Discount Stores, Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets. The retail department stores sell a variety of mostly non-grocery products, though emphasis has now shifted towards supercenters, which include more grocery items. This division also includes Wal-Mart's online retailer, walmart.com. On February 6, 2007, the company launched a "beta" version of its new movie download service, mediadownloads.walmart.com, which sells 3,000 films and television episodes from all major studios and television networks. [41] This service was discontinued on December 21, 2007 Wal-Mart Discount Stores Wal-Mart Discount Stores are discount department stores with size varying from 51,000 square feet (4,738.1 m2) to 224,000 square feet (20,810.3 m2), with an average store covering about 102,000 square feet (9,476.1 m2). They carry general merchandise and a selection of food. Many of these stores also have a garden center, a pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait 6|P age

studio, a bank branch, a cell phone store and a fast food outlet. Some also have gasoline stations.[43] The first Wal-Mart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962. As of July 2009, there were 883 Wal-Mart Discount Stores in the United States. In 2006, the busiest in the world was one in Rapid City, South Dakota. Wal-Mart Supercenter Wal-Mart Supercenters are hypermarkets with size varying from 98,000 square feet (9,104.5 m2) to 261,000 square feet (24,247.7 m2), with an average of about 197,000 square feet (18,301.9 m2).[39] These stock everything a Wal-Mart Discount Store does, and also include a full-service supermarket, including meat and poultry, baked goods, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Many Wal-Mart Supercenters also have a garden center, pet shop, pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, and numerous alcove shops, such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, video rental stores, local bank branches, and fast food outlets (usually Subway; several Supercenter and discount locations have also had McDonald's locations, usually with reduced menus, beginning in the early 1990s). Some Dunkin' Donuts or Blimpie restaurants can be found inside Walmart Supercenters. Some also sell gasoline distributed by Murphy Oil Corporation (whose Wal-Mart stations are branded as "Murphy USA"), Sunoco, Inc. ("Optima"), or Tesoro Corporation ("Mirastar").[43] As of July 2009, there were 2,630 Wal-Mart Supercenters in the United States. [45] The largest Supercenter in the United States, covering 260,000 square feet (24,000 m2) and two floors, is located in Crossgates Commons in Albany, New York.[46] Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market

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Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets are grocery stores that average about 42,000 square feet (3,901.9 m2).[39] They offer a variety of products, which include full lines of groceries, pharmaceuticals, health and beauty aids, photo developing services, and a limited selection of general merchandise. Neighborhood Markets are used to fill the gap between Discount Stores and Supercenters. The first Neighborhood Market opened in 1998 in Bentonville, Arkansas. As of July 2009, there were 150 of them in the United States. [45] Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market now has the same logo as Wal-Mart does. Marketside Marketside is a new chain of grocery stores opened in October 2008, the stores are said to be less than half the size of a conventional supermarket, as stated in the backgrounder found on Wal-Mart's official homepage. Each of their stores is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sam's Club Sam's Club is a chain of warehouse clubs which sell groceries and general merchandise, often in large quantities. Sam's Club stores are "membership" stores and most customers buy annual memberships. However, non-members can make purchases either by buying a one-day membership or paying a surcharge based on the price of the purchase. Some locations also sell gasoline.[43] The first Sam's Club opened in 1983 in Midwest City, Oklahoma under the name "Sam's Wholesale Club". Sam's has found a niche market in recent years as a supplier to small businesses. All Sam's Club stores are open early hours exclusively for business members and their slogan is "We're in Business for Small Business." In March 2009, the company announced that it plans to enter the electronic medical records business by offering a software package to physicians in small practices 8|P age

for $25,000. Wal-Mart is partnering with Dell and eClinicalWorks.com in this new venture. According to Wal-Mart's 2007 Annual Report, Sam's Club's sales during 2007 were $42 billion, or 12.1% of Wal-Mart's total 2007 sales.[49] As of January 31, 2008, there were 591 Sam's Clubs in the United States. [45] Wal-Mart International Wal-Mart's international operations currently comprise 2,980 stores in 14 countries outside the United States.[50] According to Wal-Mart's 2006 Annual Report, the International division accounted for about 20.1% of sales.[39] There are wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico (although PR is part of the US, the company's operations there are managed through its international division, and the UK. With 1.8 million employees worldwide, the company is the largest private employer in the US and Mexico, and one of the largest in Canada. Wal-Mart has operated in Canada since its acquisition of 122 stores comprising the Woolco division of Woolworth Canada, Inc in 1994. As of October 31, 2008, it operates 310 locations. Sales in 2006 for Wal-Mart's UK subsidiary, Asda (which retains the name it had before acquisition by Wal-Mart), accounted for 42.7% of sales of Wal-Mart's international division. In contrast to Wal-Mart's US operations, Asda was originally and still remains primarily a grocery chain, but with a stronger focus on non-food items than most UK supermarket chains other than Tesco. At the end of 2007, Asda had 340 stores, some of which are branded Asda Wal-Mart Supercentres, as well as Asda Supermarkets, Asda Living, George High Street and Asda Essentials stores. In addition to its wholly-owned international operations, Wal-Mart has joint ventures in China and several majorityowned subsidiaries. Wal-Mart's majority-owned subsidiary in Mexico is Walmex. In Japan, Wal-Mart owns about 53% of Seiyu. Additionally, Wal-Mart owns 51% of the 9|P age

Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), consisting of more than 360 supermarkets and other stores in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. In July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal from Germany due to sustained losses in a highly competitive market. The stores were sold to the German company Metro during Wal-Mart's fiscal third quarter. In November 2006, Wal-Mart announced a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to open retail stores in India. As foreign corporations are not allowed to directly enter the retail sector in India, Wal-Mart will operate through franchises and handle the wholesale end. The partnership will involve two joint ventures; Bharti will manage the front end involving opening of retail outlets, while Wal-Mart will take care of the back end, such as cold chains and logistics. In January 2009, the company acquired a controlling interest in the largest grocer in Chile, Distribucion y Servicio D&S SA Private label brands About 40% of products sold in Wal-Mart are private label store brands, or products offered by Wal-Mart and produced through contracts with manufacturers. Wal-Mart began offering private label brands in 1991 with the launch of Sam's Choice, a brand of drinks produced by Cott Beverages exclusively for Wal-Mart. Sam's Choice quickly became popular, and by 1993 was the third beverage brand in the United States. Other Wal-Mart brands include Great Value and Equate in the US and Canada, and Smart Price in Britain. Sam's Choice, Originally introduced as Sam's American Choice in 1991, is premium retail brand in food and selected hard goods. Named for Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, Sam's Choice forms the premium tier of Wal-Mart's two-tiered core corporate grocery branding strategy that also includes the larger Great Value brand of discount-priced staple items. 10 | P a g e

Compared to Great Value products and to other national brands, Sam's Choice is positioned as a premium retail brand and is offered at a price competitive with standard national brands. It typically offers either superior quality or unique products in a given product category, or items in categories where the market leader is an "icon" (for example Coca-Cola in soft drinks). Great Value Great Value was launched in 1993 and forms the second tier, or national brand equivalent of Wal-Mart’s grocery branding strategy. Products offered at Wal-Mart through the Great Value brand are claimed to be as good as national brand offerings, but are typically sold at a lower price because of minimal marketing and advertising expense. As a house or generic brand, the Great Value line does not consist of goods produced by Walmart, but is a labeling system for items manufactured and packaged by a number of agricultural and food corporations, such as ConAgra, which, in addition to releasing products under its own brands and for Wal-Mart, also manufactures and brands foodstuffs for a variety of other supermarket chains. Other brands Apparel Athletic Works is a brand for athletic clothing, such as gym shorts. The brand is also used for sports equipment. Faded Glory is a brand for classic Americana clothing and shoes. Kid Connection is a brand used for a variety of products targeted for children, including toys and clothing. Life is a brand of men's underwear styled by Jockey. The range includes briefs, boxers, boxer-briefs, trunks, thongs, and undershirts. Metro 7 is Wal-Mart's newest brand of women's apparel No Boundaries, abbreviated on its labels as NoBo, is a line of apparel and home furnishings targeted at teenagers and young college students. 11 | P a g e

Puritan is a brand for basic clothing including tee shirts, undergarments, socks, and others. Simply Basic features family-oriented and Beauty department. These products to some extent correspond to products already under the Equate brand, but are priced lower. Lei is a brand consisting of mostly girls' jeans. Homelines Get It Together products include furniture and house wares items. Home Trends products include large and small furniture, small appliances, and home office products. Mainstays products include curtains, bedding, some small home furnishings, and various other products, including office supplies. Canopy is a new home product line that debuted in 2008 that features "timeless" coordinated solutions for rooms - living, dining, bed, bath, home office, and other domestic goods. Hardlines Color Place is the brand used for paint. Durabrand is the name used for home electronics such as televisions, CD players, surround sound systems Equate is a brand used for consumable pharmacy and health and beauty items, such as shaving cream, skin lotion, over-the-counter medications, and pregnancy tests. EverStart is the brand for automotive and lawn mower batteries. The brand is also used for battery related accessories, such as jumper cables. Holiday Time is used for Christmas items such as Christmas tree decorations, wrapping paper, and cards. Ilo is another brand used for electronics. It is used for LCD TVs, LCD monitors, DVD players/recorders, and MP3 players. Kid Connection is used for toys. 12 | P a g e

Ol' Roy is a brand of dog food Ozark Trail is a brand used for outdoor equipment. ReliOn It consists chiefly of medical equipment in the following categories: blood pressure monitoring, diabetes monitoring, and cough and cold-related products Spring Valley is the brand for vitamins and other nutritional supplements. Special Kitty is a brand of cat food and litter. SuperTech is Wal-Mart's brand of motor oil that is found in the automotive departments. DepartmentsAll the wall-mart products are placed in 20 different departmentsApparel Accessories Baby Bags Boys Girls Juniors Maternity Men Men's Big & Tall Shoes Women Women's Plus Baby Baby Registry Bedding & Decor Car Seats Clothing Diapering &

Potty Feeding Furniture Gear Gifts for Baby Health & Safety Maternity Nursery Strollers Toddler Room Toys Travel Solutions Books Coming Soon New Releases Top 50 Sellers Clearance Electronics

Audio Auto Cameras & Camcorders Cell Phones Computers DVD & Blue-ray Players GPS & Navigation Home Office Home Theater iPods & MP3 Players TVs Video Games For the Home Appliances Bath Bedding 13 | P a g e

Crafts Decor Furniture Gifts & Celebrations Heating & Cooling Home Improvement Kids' & Teen Rooms Kitchen & Dining Luggage Massage & Spa Mattresses Outdoor Living Personal Care Pets Storage & Organization Gifts & Celebrations Crafts Gift Baskets Gift Cards Gifts by Recipient Gifts for Baby Greeting Cards & Invitations Party Supplies Personalized Gifts Plants &

Artificial Flowers Wedding Grocery BETA Bakery & Bread Baking Beer, Wine & Spirits Beverages Canned Goods & Soups Cereal & Breakfast Foods Condiments, Oils & Salad Dressing Cookies & Snacks Dairy, Eggs & Cheese Deli Frozen Foods Grains, Pasta & Sides Home Care Infant & Childcare Meat, Seafood & Poultry Produce Sauces, Spices & Herbs Health & Beauty BETA

Beauty, Cosmetics & Skin Care Diet & Nutrition Home Medical Infant & Childcare Massage & Spa Medicine Cabinet Personal Care Pharmacy Vitamins & Herbs In Stores Now Ahorra Mas, Vive Major Auto Care Baby & Me Beauty Center Food & Recipes Center FREE Samples Health & Wellness In-Store Events In-Store Rollbacks New In Stores Pets Center Save & Live Green Jewelry 14 | P a g e

Bracelets Earrings Jewelry Storage Pendants & Necklaces Rings Watches

Birds Cats Dogs Fish Horse Supplies Livestock Feed Small Animals

Movies Blu-ray Coming Soon DVD Store New Releases TV Shows

Photo Center Calendars Exclusive Card Designs Memory Books Prints

Music CD Store Coming Soon MP3 Music Downloads New Releases Top 100 CDs Outdoor Living Grills & Outdoor Cooking Hot Tubs & Saunas Lawn & Garden Gardening Outdoor Decor Patio Furniture

Rollbacks Sports & Fitness Bikes, Scooters & Skates Camping Exercise & Fitness Fishing & Boating Game Room Golf GPS & Navigation Hunting Optics Outdoor Play Sport Fan Shop Team Sports Tennis & Racquet

Pets

Toys Action Figures Bikes, Scooters & Skates Dolls & Stuffed Toys Games & Game Room Kids' Electronics Learning Toys Outdoor Play Party Supplies Preschool Pretend Play Riding Toys Vehicles & Radio Control Video Games Video Games Game Boy Advance GameCube Nintendo DS / DSi Nintendo Wii Other Consoles PC Gaming PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 PlayStation Portable Xbox 360 15 | P a g e

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Department beauty products

Classification hair care

skin care products

moisturiser

body oil

sunscreen

medical

regular

Categories

herbal

lakme

brand X

SKU

body lotion

with SP-15

without SP-15

blue lizard

lietus

equate (private label)

100 ml

150 ml

body cream

200 ml

Fig- Beauty product Classification and SKUs

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Classificatio n

Apparel

Categories Menswear

t shirt

formal shirt

trouser

Gym Kit

Accessories

womenswear

womens gift hamper

womens money purse

SKU

Fig- classification of Apparels

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Store Design at Wal-Mart Store Designed to Improve Customer Experience In recent months, Wal-Mart has taken major steps to refresh its stores, merchandising and customer experience. The improvements have all come together in the company’s newest stores, such as the Madill Wal-Mart. The new Wal-Mart features wide aisles, enhanced service and a layout designed to make the shopping experience more convenient for customers. Wal-Mart aligned the departments that customers shop most frequently. The pharmacy, for example, is located at the front of the store making it easier for customers to pick up their prescriptions. The layout of the store is easy to navigate, which will save the customers time as they shop for everyday necessities. By grouping the products that customers most often purchase including health and beauty and pet supplies, they are making one-stop shopping even easier. A bright interior color palette creates an inviting shopping experience and helps define the store’s merchandise areas. Lower shelving creates an improved sightline and directional signage on every aisle helps customers find what they are looking for quickly. Wal-Mart also combined the customer service desk, site to store pick-up location in one area near the entrance. Customers now have easy access to these services, as well as associates on hand to help meet their needs. All the typical wal-mart stores have a well planned exterior. In all the centers they have a large parking area outside the store. The entry to the store is through multiple gates at different sizes of the store. Lighting Wal-Mart basically use attractive colors for different part of the stores. This is aimed at attracting the customers to that part of the store. For the parts presenting the products for 19 | P a g e

the youths and the child they basically use bright and strong color and the sa me type of color is also used for the grocery and other fmcg products. The lighting of the Wal-Mart stores are also very bright. Recently they have planned to change the lighting systems of 500 of their stores. For that they have selected the LED lights instead of the conventional lights. Again in many stores they use transparent or semi transparent roof for the natural light to come inside the stores.

Store layout of Wal-Mart A well-planned retail store layout allows a retailer to maximize the sales for each square foot of the allocated selling space within the store. Store layouts generally show the size and location of each department, any permanent structures, fixture locations and customer traffic patterns. Each floor plan and store layout will depend on the type of products sold, the building location and how much the business can afford to put into the overall store design. The Wal-Mart store are of different layouts depending upon the local needs and the type of the retail format. These are basically the combination of both the grid as well as the race track layout depending upon the products on display and the part of the store. For example some of the layouts of the stores are given-

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Fig- A standard store layout of Wal-Mart supermarket

In Wal-Mart they apply different store layout for the different departments. For the vegetables and the fmcg products they apply the grid layout.

Fig- vegetable on display 21 | P a g e

In the selection of the layout special stress on the visibility of the products is given and also at the movement of the customers though the grids. For that special grid systems are arranged.

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For the apparels and the electronic products they basically apply the free form layout where the products are arranged in a spacious and relaxing environment.

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Planogram The planogram is a visual diagram, or drawing, that provides in detail where every product in a retail store should be placed. These schematics not only present a flow chart for the particular merchandise departments within a store layout but also show on which aisle and on what shelf an item is located. A planogram should also illustrate how many facings are allocated for each SKU. Some of the planogram of Wal-Mart available in the net are provided here

Fig- Planogram of fmcg products

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Fig- Actual arrangement in the shelves

SWOT Analysis Wal-Mart. Strengths Wal-Mart is a powerful retail brand. It has a reputation for value for money, convenience and a wide range of products all in one store. Wal-Mart has grown substantially over recent years, and has experienced global expansion (for example its purchase of the United Kingdom based retailer ASDA) The company has a core competence involving its use of information technology to support its international logistics system. For example, it can see how individual products are performing country-wide, store-by-store at a glance. IT also supports Wal-Mart's efficient procurement A focused strategy is in place for human resource management and development. People are key to Wal-Mart's business and it invests time and money in training people, and retaining a developing them Weaknesses 25 | P a g e

Wal-Mart is the World's largest grocery retailer and control of its empire, despite its IT advantages, could leave it weak in some areas due to the huge span of control Since Wal-Mart sell products across many sectors (such as clothing, food, or stationary), it may not have the flexibility of some of its more focused competitors The company is global, but has a presence in relatively few countries Worldwide Opportunities To take over, merge with, or form strategic alliances with other global retailers, focusing on specific markets such as Europe or the Greater China Region The stores are currently only trade in a relatively small number of countries. Therefore there are tremendous opportunities for future business in expanding consumer markets, such as China and India New locations and store types offer Wal-Mart opportunities to exploit market development. They diversified from large super centres, to local and mall-based sites Opportunities exist for Wal-Mart to continue with its current strategy of large, super centers Threats Being number one means that you are the target of competition, locally and globally Being a global retailer means that you are exposed to political problems in the countries that you operate in The cost of producing many consumer products tends to have fallen because of lower manufacturing costs. Manufacturing cost have fallen due to outsourcing to low-cost regions of the World. This has lead to price competition, resulting in price deflation in some ranges. Intense price competition is a threat.

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Analysis Wal-mart is the biggest retailer in the world with thousands of retail shops in different formats. This retail giants has got to this position because of the cheap process and the locations and the quality of the service and the ambience at the Wal-Mart stores.

Wal- Mart contains low priced goods. As a result, people can save their money because they can find many items cheaper in Wal-Mart than other supermarkets, especially; the basic needs for families such a sugar, soda, vegetables and fruit. For example, the box of Coca-Cola in Wal-Mart is 6.00 dollars but in other supermarkets are almost 7.00 dollars. In addition, because it is cheap, Wal-Mart is good for a big family. People can buy more quantities of their basic’s needs. For example, 2 bags of bread cost 2.00 dollars but in other supermarkets 1 bag of bread cost almost $ 1.49. So by these ways people can save a lot of money when they decide to buy from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is convenient. People can find everything for their needs in Wal-Mart. Actually, American’s can find most of their basic needs such as milk, bread, fruit and vegetables or their secondary needs such as perfumes and watches in Wal-Mart because the branches of Wal-Mart are usually big. Also, they can find Wal-Mart in many cities and towns in America. That means Wal-Mart is available in big cities like New York, middle cities like Kansas City and small cities like Carbondale. As a result, people when move to another city because their change their work or their university, they can find big supermarket that contains their needs. 27 | P a g e

Wal-Mart has good services. For example, people can return any item that they bought. So if someone bought a vacuum and it was not appropriate for him or for her, he or she can return it. Also, Wal-Mart has enough parking. For Example, if people come to the Wal–Mart in the afternoon on Sunday, at time which a lot of people go shopping, people can find easily parking for their cars. Also, the employers spread in many situations in Wal-Mart, so if people have any questions, they can ask them and the employers will help them. As a result, when people visit Wal-Mart, they do not worry about finding parking or about returning inappropriate products or about finding employers to ask them.

In addition to these features Wal-Mart stores are centrally located to attract everyone and in fact the retail chain has presence in almost all the US cities and towns . The ambience of the stores is also so that they most use of the store space is possible in terms of the display of the products and the continence of the customers at the stores. Wal-Mart gives special attention on the display of the products. It applies the different layouts to different products. Like for the fmcg and the grocery products the grid layout is applied so as to display more and more items to the customers at the given space. But for the apparels or the electronic products they apply the free form layout. Overall the wall mart stores apply both the grid and the free form layouts to their stores. The layouts of the Wal-Mart supermarkets are basically of the race trace where the different parts have different layouts according to the products. The lighting of the stores are also bright and

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there is always mild music on the background. Wal-Mart hypermarkets use natural light as much as possible in the stores. Recently they have applied the LED in their stores. Wal-Mart plays a huge role in the lives of millions of Americans. For some of them, Wal-Mart is the source of grocery and every day supplies, for others a saver during hard time and disasters. Certainly, Wal-Mart brings a lot of benefits to all those people. By shopping in big Wal-Mart stores, people get more than they expect: wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction with what they bought; friendly knowledgeable service and confidence in the bright future of those people, who are and will be supported by Wal-Mart until the constant loyal customers keep on doing big or quick stop shopping in Wal-Mart stores as often as possible.

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Reference http://vmsd.com/content/walmart-s-sales-decline http://www.walmart.com/ http://www.economywatch.com/credit-card/company/walmart.html http://www.oppapers.com/subjects/store-design-in-wal-mart-page1.html http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/13172558/WalMart-posts-flat-Q2profit.html Retail management Indian retail sector(2007)

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