WALMART CASE STUDY

A1:
Strength

• Product - Walmart is one of the biggest stores in the world and a "one-stop shop." You
may find whatever you require there in nice taste, with a wide selection, and with high-
quality goods at consistently reasonable costs.
• Margins - Due to the high margins placed on fashion items, it becomes more profitable as
a result of its great focus on Walmart fashion.
• Price: According to the maxim "Price is low. Price it high." Millions of low-income
Americans are familiar with Wal-Mart Mart thanks to its inexpensive prices on
necessities.
• Promotion includes self-promotion in the media and ongoing sales.
• Distribution - Middle-class families were acclimated to shopping at Wal-Mart, which
opened about one new location every day, due to the convenience of the newest locations
and the stagnant economy.
• Experience: One of the biggest merchants in the world for more than 70 years is Walmart.
• Value: The business was able to get goods from the factory loading dock to the retail cash
register faster and more affordably than rivals thanks to its mastery of back-end
operations and cutting-edge distribution technology.
• Flexibility: To better meet customer needs, Walmart has diversified from big supercentres
to neighbourhood and mall-based locations.

Weakness

 High Employee Attrition: The majority of Walmart employees are underpaid or do not
receive essential benefits. Walmart's employees are not loyal.
 Bad press: In recent years, attacked for its dubious methods, such as buying off officials
or having subpar working conditions.
 Minimal distinction: Walmart is currently just one of many large merchants that sell the
same goods. Walmart must now contend with retailers like Target, Amazon, Kmart, and
others.
 In-store assortment - Walmart decided to add an extra two feet of space between its
garment racks since its clothes display needed more racks. However, this decision made it
more difficult to browse because of the area's congestion and the racks' proximity to one
another.
 Contextualization: Wal-Mart lacks the tools necessary to inform shoppers about new floor
brands.
 Positioning: Wal-Mart intends to concentrate more on things related to fashion, which is
risky and might damage the retailer's reputation. The brand(s) - Due to poor
merchandising and advertising support, the new brands failed to leave a lasting impact on
consumers.
 Price points – Consumers receive discounts on pricey items that are already well-known
elsewhere.
 Displays - Wal-Mart set up all of its inventory in displays on the store's floors.
A2:
The following reasons can be considered to understand effective marketing communication
programs for its brands:

 Confusing customers with a disjointed content strategy – Getting people to buy

requires more than just linking social media to commerce and community. Once there,
you need to persuade them that they are in the right place.
 Lack of endorsement - Visitors may question whether they were seeking in the right
place because there isn't a single mention or endorsement of the campaign on the
search results page.
 Poor website design – There are no connections to the products' purchase pages or
even announcements on the website. Additionally, you might use the YouTube
channel. or participated in the Twitter campaign, but it is still absent, confusing
customers.
 A lacklustre or ineffective call to action – The first call to action is very ineffective.
However, this advertising is slick, attractive, and contains just the proper amount of
emotional touch to evoke a favourable response in terms of raising awareness.
 Social networking is without a doubt problematic for shops. The "big three" of social
media—Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter—are still quite inexperienced as channels
for customer service. The aggressiveness with which businesses market their products
is another facet of the issue. The time between a retailer's call to action and the
customer's actual action, which might range from "here's a discount" to "I bought it,"
is often quite short.
 First-hand reports claiming that it offers European-designed George suits for under
$100 initially caused a setback in the US due to its poor handling of promotion and
products.

A3:
With some tweaking to its communication strategies to lure more customers, Walmart will
become a credible arbiter of fashion.
Following reasons shall support the statement:

 • The clothes sector contributes just 10% of Walmart's revenue. However, the
stockpile has grown over the previous year by 10.3%. The unsold merchandise will
eventually hurt the business.
 For its clothing lines, Walmart might have devised a novel strategy to increase sales
and reduce inventory and storage costs. They ought to focus on the George brand,
which introduced customers to the Walmart fashion line, rather than the other well-
known names.
 The adage "price it low, stack it high, and watch it fly" has long been a slogan of Wal-
Mart. It places a focus on providing consumer expectations at the lowest possible
cost. Furthermore, Walmart might be able to move common low-cost items from the
 inventory warehouse to the cashier faster and for less money in storage. As one of
their price-control measures, they routinely reject price hikes from wholesalers and
hunt for lower pricing from suppliers.
 The target market for the retailer's pricing strategy is the middle class, who frequent
Wal-Cheap Mart mostly for food and personal care products. They failed to capture
consumers' attention by launching the season's clothing line too early in the year.
Until the fall and winter seasons arrive and they become necessary, people may think
that popular items are out of style because they last saw them months ago.
 A higher amount of the marketing budget needs to go toward television and magazine
advertising. It is necessary to refresh the signage for the company and the entrance to
make it more stylish. Rival shops Target and Kmart have started providing reasonably
priced contemporary items under their designer labels.
 Walmart decided to join the low-cost fashion sector through George, a UK-based
clothing firm they had purchased, to uphold their low-cost brand recognition and
compete with their rivals. George's low prices have little impact on Walmart, on the
other hand, and their sales are insufficient as a result of subpar merchandising and
advertising support.
 Walmart decided to create Metro 7, its fashion line, with female customers between
the ages of 25 and 45 in mind. For their clientele, they think launching their fashion
line would be great. Walmart works hard to raise brand recognition among customers.
 In addition to appointing John Fleming as Walmart's first marketing director, they
also hired a team to forecast upcoming fashion trends. Walmart and fashion designer
Mark Eisen collaborated to create a line of sportswear for ladies.