Market report: Wal-Mart in China
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc is an American international chain. In terms of annual turnover, it is the largest company in the world. Its headquarters is located in Bentonville, Arkansas. Its main business is in retailing and it boasts the largest number of employees in the world. In 2010, the company employed 2.1 million and the turnover was 408.2 billion dollars. It has taken the top spot in the Fortune 500 list of the largest global companies for three consecutive years.
Now there are over 8,000 Wal-Mart supermarkets in over 15 countries all over the world. It has 53 brands and has over 200 million customers visiting its stores every week.
Wal-Mart: secret to success
Wal-Mart three core company principles are: Respect individuals; serve the customers; chase for excellence.
Wal-Mart also has ten rules of operation for its employees: control the cost; make good plans to share the profits; inspire your co-workers; learn from anybody possible; thank your colleagues for their contribution to the firm; allow for failures; listen to the advice of everyone in the company; do better than what customers had expected and they will come again; make administration costs lower than your competitors; do not follow the tradition.
Wal-Mart’s development in China
The opening of Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam’s Club in Shenzhen(深圳) in 1996 marked the entry of Wal-Mart into the Chinese market. After over ten years of development, the company had 235 shops in China’s 101 cities in 20 provinces by August, 2010. It also holds 35% of Trust-mart’s shares and owns 104 Trust-mart shops. It has created over 100,000 job opportunities in China.
Wal-Mart employs the same strategy in China as it does in the rest of the world. It offers good service for low prices. With every super-center that opens, Wal-Mart introduces advanced retailing technologies and innovative retailing methods. While it inspires competition, it raises the level of overall service of the local retailing industry. It pushes smaller supermarket chains to increase its standards to compete and thus, contributes to the prosperity of the local economy.
Wal-Mart has stuck to local sourcing in China. Currently, local products comprise 95% of the goods that are sold in Wal-Mart in China. Wal-Mart has established cooperation with about 20 thousand suppliers. In a survey held by an authority in Shanghai(上海) in 2006, Wal-Mart became the chain enterprise with the highest customer satisfaction. Wal-Mart also directly exports about 9 billion dollars worth of Chinese products every year.
Recently, Wal-Mart began developing its online retailing services in China. Since Wal-Mart shops in China are mainly distributed in first and second tier cities, there is great market potential in third tier cities and even smaller cities through online retail. The development of an online purchasing system will greatly increase Walmart’s popularity.
Daxue Consultant China
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Picture Source：Nipic
