Wal-Mart
Type: Discount department store/Public (NYSE: WMT)Founded: Rogers, Arkansas, USA (1962)
Headquarters: Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
Key people: Sam Walton (1918–1992), Founder
H. Lee Scott, CEO
S. Robson Walton, Chairman
Tom Schowe, CFO
Industry: Retail
Products: Discount stores, grocery stores, and hypermarkets Optical, Pharmacy, Portrait Studio
Website: www.walmart.com
General Information
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is an American public corporation, currently one of the world's largest corporations (by revenues) according to the 2007 Fortune 500. It was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is the largest private employer in the world and world's fourth largest utility or commercial employer, only trailing the People's Liberation Army of China, the National Health Service of the United Kingdom and the Indian Railways. Wal-Mart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business, and the largest toy seller in the U.S., with an estimated 45% of the retail toy business, having surpassed Toys 'R' Us in the late 1990s.Wal-Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as ASDA, and in Japan as The Seiyu Co., Ltd. Wholly owned operations are located in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the UK. Wal-Mart's investments outside North America have produced mixed results. In 2006, Wal-Mart sold its retail operations in South Korea and Germany due to sustained losses and a highly competitive market.
Wal-Mart has been the target of criticism from labor unions and various groups and individuals. Specific criticisms include disapproval of the company's foreign product sourcing, quality of employee health insurance, lack of union representation, claims of sexism, as well as accusations that Wal-Mart 'destroys small business,' among other things.
Business Model
Wal-Mart's business model is based on selling a wide variety of general merchandise and marketing, at 'always low prices.' The company refers to its employees as 'associates.' All Wal-Mart stores in the US and Canada also have designated 'greeters', whose general role is to welcome shoppers at the store entrance, and play a role in loss prevention.Unlike many other retailers, Wal-Mart does not charge a slotting fee to suppliers for their products to appear in the store. Alternatively, they focus on selling more popular products and often pressure store managers to drop unpopular products in favor of more popular ones, as well as manufacturers to supply more popular products. More than 70% of the goods sold in Wal-Mart are manufactured in China.
On September 14, 2006, the company announced that it would be phasing out its layaway program, citing declining use and increased costs. Layaway was offered until November 19, 2006, with merchandise pickup by December 8, 2006. They plan to focus on alternative payment options, such as increased use of 6 and 12 month zero interest financing.