Wal-Mart: Good for American Cities and Towns

1354 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: history of walmart case study

Wal-Mart has been a staple of America since July 2, 1962, when Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City store. Within a few years, Wal-Mart Discount City stores began to spread across the country. In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma. Sam Walton found success in offering consumers options and variety. Since that first store opened, Wal-Mart has now entered the grocery business and now the company controls about 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business. This says a lot about a man who began his retail career after working just 18 months at J.C Penny. Sam Walton found success early on with offering variety, and options when no one else was.

Consumers want more for their dollar and Wal-Mart has centered their focus on this idea, and has not apologized for that fact. In fact, Wal-Mart’s sole existence relies on the consumers search for the lowest priced goods.

Wal-Mart has transferred itself from a simple variety store into Wal-Mart Supercenter and has other chains which include Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market and Sam’s Club. Wal-Mart Inc. has found a way to offer options to the consumer not classically offered in grocery. By offering options such as an optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, Tire & Lube Express, and even in some cases hair and nail salons, pet shops, and pharmacies, Wal-Mart has taken steps to break the mold and offer consumers options that other stores cannot and has done a good job at that. With these types of options you could be in a Wal-Mart Superstore for hours and complete all of your afternoon shopping.

This idea isn’t lost on Wal-Mart Inc., now offering the ability to get a money order from the ATM shows also why Wa...

... middle of paper ...

...s prices gasoline cheaper then local competitors.

Wal-Mart also has donated more than $1.5 million national BackPack Program, The Nation’s Food Bank Network will deliver backpacks filled with nutritious, protein-rich food to school children in need. With the money raised thousands of backpacks filled with much needed food for school children to take home. It has helped to rasie funds and build awarness it the problem of hunger, with a “Be A Part Of The Solution To End Hunger” campaign.

Wal-Mart Inc has done a great job at bringing together what is local to the area and what isn’t and bringing to many small towns. So when a Wal-Mart stands up, it isn’t just Wal-Mart Inc who benefit, but the community.

REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wal-Mart

http://walmartwatch.com/

www.walmartfacts.com/

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

Show More
Related

  • Is Wal-Mart Bad For America?

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wal-Mart was conceived and founded by Sam Walton in 1962, at Rogers, Arkansas. Sam Walton started with just a few small variety stores, funded with borrowed money. His goal was to provide affordable products to the public to make life easier. After his success with the first few stores, Sam Walton borrowed more money to build more stores, creating the Wal-Mart empire as we see it today. The retail giant proves its stoic presence in our lives with its $401 billion sales for fiscal year 2009.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Wal-Mart

    573 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wal-Mart has been praised for providing cheap diverse products close to home, while providing hundreds of jobs. The leading discount retail store got its title by selling its items at a lower cost than other competing stores. Whereas competing grocery store Winn Dixie sells a steak for twenty dollars, Wal-Mart sells it for seventeen dollars. This price difference may not seem like much, but when Wal-Mart’s overall prices average differs from Winn Dixie’s by a few dollars, it begins to add up. Wal-Mart has allowed for low income families to buy products for a reasonable price. Along with its low prices, Wal-Mart has been known to sell wide variety of products. While some stores such as Winn Dixie, Kroger, and Publix only sell food items, Wal-Mart sells food items along with electronics, clothes, and toys.

    Read More

  • Is Walmart Good For America

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    But Wal-Mart’s care for us goes beyond that simple relationship. As many of us have seen if we have been to a Wal-Mart, they hire people who normally would not be able to get a job. The company knows that by broadcasting itself as positive and helpful in nature it can increase its revenue and in turn increase the amount of assistance it provides to us the consumer. “In 2004 Wal-Mart donated over $170 million. More than 90 percent of these donations went to charities in the communities served by Wal-Mart stores.’ Even more heartfelt than this, Wal-Mart was the leader in goods based relief efforts for victims of hurricane Katrina. “Walmart’s response to the hurricane was lauded even by its critics: it donated more than $20 million worth of merchandise, including food for 100,000 meals, and it promised jobs for all of its displaced workers.” And the first supply truck to arrive at the superdome was a Wal-Mart truck.

    Read More

  • Wal-Mart's Role in the Community

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wal-Mart is, to some extent, a values-based corporation. The Wal-Mart Corporation takes a strong, direct stance on many issues. This can be seen in many items in which they refuse to sell, such as; music and games with explicit content, adult magazines, and the morning after pill. This shows character in the company because they are foregoing potential profits in order to enforce values that they believe in. Wal-Mart is probably making some people very happy by this moral stance that they have undertaken, and it gives a message to the public that Wal-Mart is not a heartless corporation like many others.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Target And Walmart

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wal-Mart as we know it today evolved from Sam Walton’s goals for great value and great customer service. Mr. Walton’s competitors thought his idea that a successful business could be built around offering lower prices and great service would never work. Mr. Walton also credited the rapid growth of Wal-Mart not just to the low costs that attracted his customers, but also to his associates. He relied on them to give customers the great shopping experience that would keep them coming back. Sam shared his vision for the company with associates in a way that was nearly unheard of in the industry. He made them partners in the success of the company, and firmly believed that this partnership was what made Walmart great.

    Read More

  • Walmart Benefits the Community

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...be purchased at discount prices, saving people money they can choose to spend elsewhere or even save. While saving customers time and money, Wal-Mart also contributes to the local economy by adding countless employment opportunities to the communities where they are established. Wal-Mart is also there to help local, national, and worldwide charitable organizations through its philanthropic foundations and partnerships. Aside from these benefits, who can argue with the sheer fun of the come as you are atmosphere of the store and its diverse employment standards? Nowhere else can you go shopping and people watch then at your local Wal-Mart store.

    Read More

  • The Economic Impact of Wal-Mart on Americans

    1689 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wal-Mart has become a household name with many positive attributes but they have been riddled with a large amount of negatives. Their motto of “Always low prices, always” have created soaring profits at the expense of their employees. Most Americans loves the convenience and low prices offered by Wal-Mart. Do Americans know what it actually costs for Wal-Mart to keep prices so low? With thousands of lawsuits filed each year it is a wonder why Wal-Mart refuses to change its practices. It is fairly safe to say that Sam Walton would not approve of how his company has been completely changed from its original intent by such a large margin. Employees are no longer happy working at Wal-Mart and to make matters worse the employees can no longer afford to work there. The average Wal-Mart associate earns about $1000 less t...

    Read More

  • Is Walmart Good Or Bad For Health And Social Care?

    1724 Words  | 4 Pages

    and 2000 for a spokesperson had publicly mentioned that more than two thirds of our people are not trying to support a family that 's why our jobs are designed for, and yet it seems that they 're low wages and 2000 for a spokesperson had publicly mentioned that more than two thirds of our people are not trying to support a family that 's why our jobs are designed for, and yet it seems that they 're low wages don 't even support those who aren 't trying to support a family. So who do they help? Walmart doesn 't provide adequate healthcare, the healthcare isn 't just for the family it is for everyone who would like good health. But while Walmart has its downs it also has a few pros, like their genius inventions such as the Telon, And their ingenuity have helped make and bring Walmart to the top. They have intelligently used their barcodes on products to bring about information, such as how many our soul, how many are expected to be sold, prices and even discounts. Then Walmart brilliantly patented the idea so if other competitors want to stay in the game, they have to buy this idea from Walmart just to keep up with Walmart. It 's pretty brilliant when you think about it. They also use a open price system where you are drawn into a department by the low prices they stick in front and you stay because you assume that other products in this department will have similar low prices, when in reality they might be more expensive than other

    Read More

  • WalMart

    366 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sam Walton was the shrewd businessman behind the world's largest retailer. After working his way through the University of Missouri as a newspaper delivery boy, he got a job in Des Moines, Iowa as a management trainee for J.C. Penny at a salary of $75 a month. Walton borrowed some money from his father-in-law and opened a variety store after serving as an Army captain in World War II. A chain of drugstores followed. He went into business with his brother Bud, and by 1960, the Waltons' 15 stores were taking in $1.4 million a year. But Walton soon saw a challenging new competitor arise in the discount store. The Walton brothers opened their first Wal-Mart in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Specializing in name brands at low prices, the chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America.

    Read More

  • The Impact of Wal-mart

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wal-Mart is beneficial to many types of people. Wal-Mart is good for the economy and good to it workers. Wal-Mart hires many people from different walks of life and offers their workers many benefits that others retailers don’t offer. Wal-Mart with their low prices benefits consumers and help consumers to save. Wal-Mart is a positive to local economies and improves profits of local businesses. Wal-Mart is not a monster as critics’ states and all these attacks by critics are incorrect. Wal-Mart is not perfect but it is better than most of the other corporations.

    Read More

  • Wal-Mart is Bad For America

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1962, Wal-Mart opened their first store in Rogers, Arkansas. In 1970, Wal-Mart's first distribution center and home office in Bentonville, Ark. open and Wal-Mart went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Just nine years from that, Wal-Mart's annual sales exceeded one billion dollars. In 1988, Wal-Mart super centers opened across the country. In a merely three years from that, Wal-Mart opened their own store in Mexico City, Mexico; making Wal-Mart an international corporation. Not even sixty years has past, and yet, Wal-Mart is over-powering our country.

    Read More

  • Wal Mart and Target Case Study

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wal-Mart was established in 1962 by Sam Walton. The first Wal-Mart store was built in Rogers, Arkansas. Wal-Mart's were gradually put up around the United States and then moving to other countries such as Japan.

    Read More

  • Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices

    1949 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices." Top Documentary Films. Web. 8 Aug 2011. .

    Read More

  • Wal-Mart Dominating Global Retail

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Wal-mart is the largest retail chain in United States and in the world. The wal-mart was founded in the year 1962 by Mr Sam Walton. It was originally named as Wal-Mart discount city in Rogers, Arkansas. At the time when the Wal-Mart stores started in the year 1962 it was focused only in small rural cites and town which had a population of 5000 to 25000. It was soon increased to 18 stores in 1969. In the next 30 years it had more than 4750 stores across 50 states in USA and 9 countries with $245 billion sales. It started its international operations in Mexico in the year 1991 and then it expanded it to different countries across Europe and Asia.

    Read More

  • Operational Planning For Wal-Mart

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wal-mart has a reputation for caring for its customers, of course their employees, and for the prospective public. So Wal-Mart can be an industrial leader for the world of shoppers with an eye for lower affordable prices, company decision makers would continue it's systematic strategies that it's founder and president established years ago. Sam Walton believed in three guiding principles in his strategy planning they were to provide the customer with good value and service, to have a good relationship with its associates, and to be involved with the community.

    Read More

More about Wal-Mart: Good for American Cities and Towns

Open Document