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Walmart’s Marketing Strategy Explained with Marketing Campaigns

With ‘Anytime, Anywhere ‘ at the brand’s core, Walmart’s digital marketing strategy is rooted in two ‘A’s’–Accessibility and Availability. 

It has 10,622 stores across 24 countries and successfully caters to over 37 million customers daily through its marketplace and offline stores, ticking off both A’s. 

Starting its journey as a small discount retailer today, entails a solid branding story that’s not only backed by a wide and loyal customer base but also by statistics. 

So, what’s that hidden gem in Walmart’s marketing strategy that makes it a know-it-all-done-it-all retailer? 

To get to the answer, we’ll deep dive into Walmart’s digital marketing campaigns from 2020 to 2023 and analyze its digital marketing journey. However, before that, let’s take a look at its marketing mix. 

The 4 P’s of Marketing Mix of Walmart (Product, Price, Place, Promotion)

walmart strategic marketing plan

Any digital marketing campaign falls under a single P of the four P’s or a combination of two. However, understanding all the P’s of the marketing mix of Walmart allows for a comprehensive framework to build a marketing strategy. 

Walmart’s Product Strategy 

Primarily rooted in offering retail service, Walmart has an array of product categories, further divided into subcategories. It covers a wide network of product departments, such as:

  • Electronics
  • Books 
  • Home Improvement

A few key reasons why Walmart offers such a variety of products are:

  • Becomes a one-stop destination shop for its customers,
  • Gives an edge over other retailers, 
  • Serves wide range of customers. 

In addition to this, the brand offers season-specific products such as Halloween party costumes or Christmas-related decor. This wide product category automatically attracts a wide number of people. 

Walmart’s Pricing Strategy 

Walmart’s pricing strategy could be easily summed up in one sentence. 

Best products at least prices. 

Since the company procures products in bulk worldwide, the pricing strategy enjoys economic benefits. 

  • Walmart has a highly efficient supply chain management system, reducing operational costs enabling more competitive pricing. 
  • It invests in store-brand products, giving full control over manufacturing products and eventually reducing costs. 
  • It uses data-driven approach to forecast demands accurately, reducing waste and optimizing inventory management. 

However, the brand prices its products differently at different hours by coining terms such as “Every day, low prices.” Walmart’s low-price policy can also be seen in its tagline, which serves as the brand’s cornerstone: “ Save money. Live better .” The tagline aptly targets people from socio-economic backgrounds, making the pricing strategy effective among other strategies in the marketing mix for Walmart. 

Walmart’s Distribution and Place Strategy 

Walmart uses the hub and spoke method, wherein the goods ordered centrally are distributed to individual stores.

  • Walmart optimizes the distribution process and enables quick replenishment of store inventories. 
  • It collaborates with vendors, ensuring a smooth product flow from suppliers to stores. 
  • It operates various regional distribution centers, ensuring the receipt and distribution of products to specific regions. 

With over 10,000 retail units spread across over 20 countries, it delivers products directly to stores by suppliers or vendors of the stores. By transporting huge volumes of products, their distribution strategy stresses reducing transportation costs and supply chains with greener transportation. 

Walmart’s Promotion Strategies 

Walmart’s “Every Day Low Price” strategy has set a milestone for other retailers, given that the model relies heavily on the idea that customers prefer to buy products at low prices than wait for discount coupons or seasonal sales.

  • Attracts price-conscious customers, 
  • Offers personalized promotions, ensuring customers get offers specifically tailored as per their preferences,
  • Promotes impulse buying with limited-time promotions.

With EDLP, Walmart gains a competitive edge over its budding competitors by opting for smaller margins per product in exchange for increased sales volumes. Walmart’s promotional strategy is similar to one of Costco’s marketing strategies – selling bulk-size, high-quality products with low-profit margins. 

Now that we know the marketing mix of Walmart, let’s start with its digital marketing campaigns. 

Walmart’s “Different Kind of Membership” Campaign (2020)

A campaign that makes you feel more connected to yourself or your loved ones stays a little longer with you. 

The Walmart digital marketing strategy exactly does so with its “Different Kind of Membership” campaign. 

The company rolled out this campaign in 2020 to introduce the Walmart+ program, promoting unlimited free deliveries, special fuel prices, and other tools to make shopping easier for families. 

walmart strategic marketing plan

The campaign video stars 22 cross-sectional families from diverse backgrounds and displays their mundane, chaotic lives. The central theme of these videos is a simple but effective quest–to be able to find and spend more quality time with loved ones. From family dinners to welcoming a newborn baby, the video smartly fits the Walmart+ program and how it enables families to do more of what matters. 

Through the campaign, Walmart’s marketing strategy subtly plugs in its products and services, such as home delivery, leaving families more time to spend with each other. 

Key takeaways from the campaign:

  • Fosters inclusivity, 
  • Adds value to customers,
  • Puts customers at the center.

Walmart’s “Built for Better” Campaign (2021) 

In 2021, Walmart launched this campaign and tactfully up leveled its customers’ trust by imbibing sustainability. 

“Customers have trusted us for our low prices, but they also want to know that the products they buy are good for their families, the planet, and the people who made them, ” said Ewing Walmart, Walmart’s Senior Vice President. 

The company used the icon “Built for Better – For You” for products and “Built for Better – for the Planet” for other items. Products with the former icon met higher nutritional standards, falling under EWG verifications, Standard 100 by Oeko, etc. 

While products carrying the latter icon are confirmed with over 30 independent standards having a primary focus on environmental benefits, such as Rainforest Alliance, Better Cotton Initiative, etc. 

This Walmart marketing strategy puts sustainability and humility at the center while also practicing one of its core values–transparency. It lets its customers know what they’re buying and the effects of the products on the environment. 

walmart strategic marketing plan

If you’re scratching your head over your next campaign idea, observe an ongoing challenge that the masses face and see if you could align your brand value with what aims to solve or at least mitigate the challenge. For example, if you’re a fashion store, use biodegradable or recycled fabrics to seamlessly integrate sustainability. 

So the campaign

  • Promotes sustainability, 
  • Attracts environment-conscious customers,
  • Fosters transparency. 

Walmart’s “Live Better Now” Campaign (2022)

What if a company could help you live a better life?

Like previous campaigns in Walmart’s marketing strategy analysis, Walmart’s “Live Better Now” campaign primarily focuses on this question. 

Walmart took a step further toward bettering its customers’ lives by launching a one-minute-long commercial during the Winter Olympics opening ceremony that ran across digital and linear media in 2022. 

The video’s prime focus was telling the story behind its greater purpose of helping people live better.

The video radiates nothing but wholesomeness. It shows a couple, arm-in-arm, walking through a parking lot with puppy chow, a Walmart employee helping an elderly shopper carry plants into the car’s trunk, and a family sitting down at their dinner table. 

“ At Walmart, we understand how the human connection ignites the potential for a better life, ” said Walmart’s Chief Marketing Office. 

Through this campaign, Walmart not only emphasizes the importance of human connection but positions itself as a crucial node of connectivity within the wide network of huma connection spread across.

Must-knows of the campaign:

  • Highlights Walmart’s tech prowess at the end of the video,
  • Infuses a feeling of safety to certain populations that felt anxious to step up during the pandemic,
  • Debut during the Winter Olympics, making the ad an event.

Walmart’s “Welcome to Your Walmart” Campaign (2023)

Walmart is known to have everything for everyone. However, its new campaign, Welcome to Your Walmart, reinforces that the store has that specific thing for you.

The campaign, launched in 2023, spanned a full spectrum of broadcast and digital channels and focused on showcasing simple stories and moments that Walmart customers experience daily. 

The company tactfully seized the opportunity to engage its customers during the summers. And, the video showcases search queries that customers usually pop up with during the summer, such as “What’s in season” or “Summer family fun trip” on socials. 

It conveys that Walmart isn’t just there for you in-store but is also a few clicks away on Walmart.com or its app as your needs arise. The company states that it has customers at every step of the day.

While many digital marketing agencies will help you personalize campaigns, this one stands out as it’s tailored specifically for customers while also addressing season-specific customer demands. 

Key takeaways for you: 

  • Meets exactly where its customers are,
  • Provides answers to customer queries,
  • Smartly fuses SEO with content marketing by using the most searched keywords in a way relevant to customers,
  • Drives engagement in a customer-centric way, 
  • Leverages influencer marketing. 

In Summary 

On conducting Walmart digital marketing strategy analysis, we observe that it has continued to focus, convey, and practice “making lives better” through each campaign in one way or another. 

When looking at any Walmart marketing strategy closely, whether a campaign from the year 2020 or the year 2023, it has carved creative ways to connect with its customers, keeping the central theme the same. While these campaigns can be an excellent source of inspiration for your upcoming campaigns, don’t hesitate to reach out to retail marketing agencies for well-thought and executed campaigns. 

At the end of the day, it’s about finding a fine balance between your brand’s value and your customers’ needs. So, where’s your brand currently at?

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Demystifying Walmart‘s Winning Marketing Strategies for 2022 and Beyond

Hey there! Looking to unlock the secrets behind Walmart‘s monumental success and continued growth? As the world‘s largest retailer with over $500 billion in annual revenue, Walmart thoroughly dominates the US retail landscape today. But how exactly did they get there? What are the key strategic pillars and marketing plays this retail giant employs to drive its leadership?

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll give you an insider‘s overview of Walmart‘s marketing plan, with plenty of statistics, data, and real-world examples sprinkled in. Whether you‘re a Marketing Student looking to learn, an Entrepreneur seeking inspiration, or a Curious Shopper who wants to think like an industry titan, you‘ll leave with a clear picture of the marketing machine powering this iconic brand into the future.

Let‘s dive in!

Walmart‘s Massive Scale and Reach Creates a Flywheel Effect

To start, it‘s important to understand the sheer scale and reach Walmart has built over nearly 60 years in business. Today, Walmart by the numbers is simply staggering:

  • 11,500+ stores across 27 countries
  • 2.2 million associates worldwide
  • $524 billion in annual revenue globally
  • 265 million customers visiting stores and websites weekly
  • 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart

This massive footprint results in an enviable flywheel effect for Walmart‘s marketing efforts. The company wields unrivaled purchasing power, logistics infrastructure, distribution efficiency, and budgetary resources most brands could only dream of.

With scale comes advantages across pricing negotiations, merchandising, proximity to customers, access to data/insights, and media spending power. Walmart smartly reinvests these spoils across the omni-channel customer journey to ensure everyday low prices, endless aisle selection, frictionless shopping, and omnipresent brand visibility.

The flywheel keeps spinning with no signs of slowing down. Pretty neat, right?

Breaking Down Walmart‘s Marketing Mix

When strategizing how to attract and retain customers at such a vast scale, Walmart leans on the tried and true 4 P‘s marketing framework:

Product – Walmart offers an unmatched assortment breadth and merchandise depth suited to its value-focused positioning.

Across its 4,700 US stores , Walmart stocks ~120,000 items from 88,000 suppliers globally. From everyday essentials to trendy discretionary goods, they strive to be a one-stop shop.

32% of units sold are exclusive store brands or private labels not found elsewhere. These maximize profit margins. Walmart innovates frequently here, recently across apparel, home goods, grocery, etc.

Price – As a discount mass retailer, Walmart is maniacally focused on EDLP (Every Day Low Prices) through numerous cost efficiencies.

Walmart leverages scale to obtain bulk discounts up to 30% from suppliers and buyers direct from manufacturers .

Data analytics optimize pricing in real-time across units, locations, seasons using complex algorithms . Unmatched price optimization.

Various payment options from layaway, mobile checkout, and financing provide flexibility. Walmart sacrifices margin for volume .

Place – Walmart locations are conveniently located close to the 90% of US population. Omnichannel options like delivery and pickup provide modern convenience.

Most customers are within a 5 to 10 mile radius of a Walmart store for accessible shopping trips. From urban to suburban to rural markets.

Robust ecommerce capabilities via Walmart.com, grocery delivery/pickup, and mobile app resulted in $65 billion online sales in 2021.

Advanced logistics network with 150+ distribution centers ensures inventory is available store to shelf in under 48 hours. Impressive!

Promotion – Walmart spends over $3 billion annually on advertising using traditional and digital marketing strategies.

National TV, radio, OOH billboards, newspaper inserts highlight latest deals. Local ads promote community store openings.

Email, website, apps provide personalized and location-based offers. Loyalty programs incentivize purchases.

Strong social media and influencer marketing expands brand reach to younger generations. 34 million+ social followers!

Beyond the 4 P‘s, Walmart differentiates via EDLP commitment, curbside pickup scaling, grocery share, own brands, and accelerating ecommerce. But you get the gist – they‘ve got marketing covered from all angles!

Analyzing Walmart‘s Core Shopper Demographics and Buying Behaviors

Now that we‘ve reviewed Walmart‘s marketing strategies, let‘s explore the customer segments and shopping missions they aim to serve. By looking at demographics and purchase behaviors, we can better understand the bullseye targets for Walmart‘s marketers.

Key Shopper Demographics

Generational: 55% of regular Walmart shoppers are Baby Boomers and Seniors born before 1965. But Millennials and Gen Z also overindex for bargain hunting. Mass appeal!

Urban vs. Suburban vs. Rural: Walmart spans shopper geographies, with urban locations focused on convenience, suburban on one-stop shop, rural on assortment.

Gender: Even split of 50% male, 50% female shoppers seeking everyday low prices.

Income: Skews towards middle- and low-income shoppers, with 40% of shoppers making <$40k annually and 21% at >$100k. Value is universal!

Frequency: Over half of US consumers shop Walmart at least once monthly . 19% visit 1-2X weekly for routine needs.

Shopping Missions and Purchase Drivers

Stock-Up Trips: Bulk basics across grocery, household essentials, pantry loading, etc. One-stop efficiency.

Immediate Consumption: Quick in-and-out for a meal, snack, drink, prescription refill, money transfer.

Planned Purchases: Birthdays, holidays, parties, projects, or events. Walmart likely has it in-stock ready to go.

Weekly Grocery Shop: Produce, meat, dairy, packaged goods, household supplies all in one place.

Self-Gifting: Treating oneself to an item like apparel, electronics, home goods, hobby items.

Budget-Friendly: Reliance on EDLP and price matching guarantees across national brands and store brands.

As you can see, Walmart customers span demographics and needs states – all unified by seek value. The marketing team keeps this diversity top of mind.

Crunching the Numbers on Walmart‘s Immense Marketing Budget

Now, let‘s explore the dollars and cents behind Walmart‘s marketing prowess. For context, Walmart spent over $3 billion on advertising alone in the US during 2021. That‘s right – with a ‘B‘!

To put their marketing budget power into perspective, here‘s how Walmart‘s investment stacks up:

  • 5X more than Target‘s $530 million ad spending
  • 7X greater than Best Buy‘s $440 million
  • 70% higher than fast food giant McDonald‘s $1.8 billion

With this much monetary muscle, Walmart makes power moves across advertising channels and marketing initiatives:

Additionally, Walmart employs thousands of marketing professionals across advertising, creative services, media planning, digital marketing, brand management, and communications teams to bring these investments to life.

Simply put, big budgets mean big brand building. Walmart‘s marketing machine has all cylinders firing.

Contrasting Walmart‘s Approach with Competitors‘ Strategies

For additional context around Walmart‘s marketing strategy, it‘s useful to contrast against close competitors‘ approaches. While no single retailer can match Walmart‘s scale, others make up ground through strategic differentiation.

Let‘s explore a few examples:

Leverages data analytics, personalization, and loyalty program (Prime) to cultivate relationship with shoppers. Walmart recently ramped up efforts here to compete.

Wide assortment of marketplace sellers and digital entertainment/content offerings make Amazon a broader ecosystem.

Delivery speed and convenience are clear advantages. Walmart has accelerated options but still catching up.

Differentiates on owned brand portfolio (Cat & Jack, Hearth and Home, Goodfellow, etc.). Higher perceived quality than Walmart‘s.

Advertising and in-store experience projects trendy, contemporary identity. Walmart vibes more traditional and mass appeal.

Omnichannel front-runners with popular app, loyalty program, order pickup, and same-day delivery options.

Destination treasure hunt layout in warehouses entices discovery. Walmart more convenient but less exploring.

Majority of merchandise is club packs, bundles, and bulk sizes. Great for large families and small businesses.

Member loyalty is unmatched. Over 90% of Costco operating income is membership fees.

As you can see, competitors position differently across product, experience, and service dimensions. But Walmart holds strong on price, assortment, and proximity pillars that serve the mass market.

Adapting Walmart‘s Blueprint for Your Own Marketing Needs

Hopefully by this point, you‘ve got a clear perspective of Walmart‘s strategic marketing advantage and approach. While every brand has its own unique needs, there are several universal best practices you can derive from Walmart‘s plan:

Know your customers deeply. Study demographics, psychographics, and purchase behavior. What jobs are they hiring you to do? Deliver on those jobs.

Choose strengths to lean into. Identify capabilities that differentiate from competitors and amplify those. For Walmart it‘s EDLP, assortment, proximity.

Invest in customer experience. People have more choice than ever. Reduce their effort and delight at every touchpoint.

Build loyalty and community. Develop emotional connection through values, culture, and belonging. Don‘t be transactional.

Advertise relentlessly. When you have the scale, get your brand everywhere through all channels. But also be targeted.

Innovate continuously. Disrupt yourself and improve the model before others do. Complacency is the enemy.

Focus on your flywheel. Use strengths to unlock more advantages. Feed the positive momentum loop.

I hope these lessons provide a blueprint to inject marketing magic into your business! Feel free to reach out anytime if you need a specifics on bringing similar processes to your brand and customers.

Have an amazing rest of your day!

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Walmart Marketing Strategy: How Walmart became the biggest retailer in the world!

Let's learn about the marketing strategies that walmart used to become one of the biggest retailers in the world..

  • overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="brief">A brief overview
  • overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="mix">Walmart's marketing mix?
  • overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="international">Walmart's international markets strategy
  • overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="takeaways">Key takeaways for your retail business

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Walmart is one of the biggest retailers and among go-to retail stores for one's household shopping. Known for its lowest prices and cost savings across product categories , a visit to its physical stores is an experience in itself.

While a lot of its success is attributed to its intensive distribution strategy, its marketing mix also plays a key role in making it an everyday store for everyone.

In this marketing strategy case study, we will study Walmart marketing strategy that made it a retail business that generates USD 567 billion worth sales volume.

Walmart Inc. store highlighting its logo

A brief overview of Walmart's retail business

Sam Walton, founded the first store in 1945, and since then, 10,593   Walmart stores have flourished across the world. Even today, Walmart is majorly controlled and run as a Walton family business. Walmart employs 2,300,000 US workers alone, making it the largest employer in United States .

Its retail stores house a huge variety of product categories at very low prices ranging from office supplies, cell phones, music videos, or even cooling equipment.

gray metal shopping cart during night time in front of the store backyard

Today, it successfully delivers an omni-channel experience for Walmart customers via its intensive distribution channel design.

Some of its major business model channels include:

Physical store sales - makes up to 9.26% of net sales across its 10,500 Walmart stores.

e-Commerce store sales - Sam's club, a membership-only warehouse club, and other channels like Walmart International and Walmart US helps Walmart keep a digital presence and attract customers who prefer online shopping.

Subscription - Walmart+ subscription services started in response to the pandemic that includes unlimited free shipping and direct deliveries from any Walmart store. There are around 11 million Walmart subscribers as of 2022.

Advertising - Walmart Connect helps retail the business reach out to both online and Walmart store customers.

The entire Walmart marketing mix revolves around these bulk sales enabled business model.

Let's explore Walmart's marketing strategy in detail.

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What is Walmart's marketing mix?

Strategy of Walmart is to enable its customers to save money across product categories via high sales volume approach. To ensure higher sales and maintain lowest price, Walmart uses tons of sales promotions tactics at large scale.

The design of Walmart marketing mix is influenced by its cost leadership strategy.

Here's how it works.

Walmart's pricing strategy to become the lowest price store

Inventory management with efficient supply chain and a highly customer centric approach helps Walmart sell its products at lower prices. For the same, it uses the following pricing strategy:

Everyday Low Prices (EDLP) - control the sale price of the goods sold to maintain low prices on a consistent basis

Everyday low cost (EDLC) - control the expenses such that you can pass on the savings to the Walmart customer

Wal-Mart's US chief takes aim at urgent item: Theft

Image Source - CNBC

These tactics enable Walmart to maintain low prices in the hope that the bulk sales volume and high ticket products would make it beyond breakeven. A diversified product strategy also helps Walmart offer everyday low price such that complimentary products are bundled for higher sales.

This is further supported by an efficient supply chain management system that comprises of barcodes, Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) system and implementation of modern distribution strategy.

Walmart's Placement or Distribution strategy

Walmart outlet selects its store location such that its central for people to access. Their 150+ distribution centers are also strategically placed for easier procurement and logistics management.

Walmart also has heavy physical evidence. They have 3 types of stores namely - Walmart Supercenters, Walmart Discount Stores and Walmart Express Stores that cater to locations based on population density and typical purchase intent of customers. Their physical evidence is also characterised by multiple offices across the world for any corporate or customer support.

Walmart also uses state-of-the-art IT systems to track shipments and deliveries. They also deploy strong logistics facilities via its fleet of trucks to ensure timely delivery of goods.

Apart from an intensive supply chain management for in-store experience, Walmart also taps into the online shopping space via its powerful e-commerce platform.

Image screenshot of the Walmart's online eCommerce store

It's e-commerce store is well integrated with its distribution centers that helps customers avail the Walmart experience without visiting the physical store.

Walmart's Sales Promotions marketing strategy

Walmart marketing is extensive and uses tons of Point of Purchase ( POP Marketing Strategy ) and Point of Sale (POS Marketing Strategy) tactics to ensure customers add more purchases to their shopping carts.

Otherwise, usual marketing strategies like TV commercials, billboard advertisements, press releases or public relations form a significant part of Walmart marketing mix budget.

Walmart offers many promotions across the year via package deals, discounts and freebies. They adopt personal selling techniques in their stores like guiding customers, offering product samples, trial options, etc to provide a better buying experience.

Walmart bags with logo and their tagline

Image Source - Yahoo Finance

Usage of slogans, with their iconic tagline 'save money, live better' also helps with the brand strategy of Walmart. Banners and displays that convey 'low prices' sentiments motivate the customers further into impulsive purchases.

Walmart's Product strategy

While Walmart cannot control much about the products sold via its online and physical stores, what it can truly control is the customer experience. The Walmart employees in the stores are well trained to ensure they can guide the customers to what they are looking for and might require.

They are selective about the products allowed in their store and ensure every product category has multiple options for customers to choose from. They need to comply with their pricing strategies and quality assessments. Walmart purchases these products in bulk rates, thus leveraging economies of scale.

Just like Amazon, they too sell their own Walmart branded products to improve revenue margins.

A Wal-Mart Brand For The Ages products

Image Source - Branding Strategy Insider

Walmart's target audience

Walmart's target audience comprises general lower to upper middle class families and individuals looking to save money on their grocery shopping expenses. This customer segment is price sensitive, and hence requires an extensive marketing strategy that builds trust and consistency in store experience. One of the ways to build this trust is via its strong replacement policies, reliable warranties and even personal selling.

Walmart's business strategy to adapt to international markets

Walmart expanded to the international markets by various combination of localisation, digital marketing campaigns and adaptive mindset.

Some noteworthy Walmart marketing strategy and business tactics used in international waters include:

Going local

China is a big market for retail companies because it is the most populous nation in the world. But merely replicating Walmart's American DNA would be ineffective in expanding to international markets with heavy local influence.

Walmart in China - man purchasing pig meat

Image Source - Business Insider

To capture the Chinese market, Walmart reduced their product bundle portions, moving away from the bulk buying behaviour. Walmart marketing strategy in China included digital marketing campaigns in local languages influenced by local pop culture to become more relevant to the Chinese customers.

Acquisitions of local players

The USD 16 billion worth acquisition of Flipkart, a local e-commerce giant in India, was heavily celebrated and discussed in the Indian business ecosystem. To enter the Indian market, Walmart chose to acquire a leading local player rather than competing in unknown territories.

Buying 77 per cent of Flipkart for $16 billion, Walmart enters growing  India bazaar | Business News,The Indian Express

Image Source - The Indian Express

Flipkart has already built a brand via its various digital marketing campaigns and promotional strategies. Today, Walmart simply has to plug their own experience of running a retail business and scale its efforts to dominate Indian retail market.

Walmart used a similar strategy in Germany, where it acquired the retail chain Wertkauf hypermarket, a leading family business run by the Mann family.

Replicating Walmart's corporate DNA

A good aspect about Walmart's marketing strategy is how its core value of keeping prices low is replicable across nations. Of course, one has to localise and adapt to culture. But one can buildd systems around Walmart marketing strategy and business operations to enter new markets.

Key takeaways and marketing strategies for your retail business

Walmart's marketing strategy gives great lessons for entrepreneurs building businesses that are heavily banking on innovative pricing strategies.

Here are some key lessons you can adopt from Walmart marketing mix.

Adapt when required

Walmart was an offline-store business for a long time. Due to the pandemic, they had to focus on their online e-commerce store due to lockdowns. In international markets too, they adapted to local markets and customer behaviour as required.

Make your company values visible

Walmart marketing mix ensures that customers (who always expect lower prices) are shown necessary promotions to save money. Their slogans are repeated across the stores to maintain this brand identity of being a low cost retail store.

Ensure a strong backend

A key strategy of Walmart includes investing heavily on its distribution network and logistics. A lot of resources are deployed to find the most efficient routes, keeping goods intact and ensuring timely deliveries.

Ensure supply quality

Walmart is very strict with their supplier entry and products showcased in their stores. They invest to ensure their customers get the right products in the right condition.

Explore different business models

Walmart has implemented various possible revenue models that a business can adopt. This include subscription, advertising, running clubs, bulk selling, etc. They are not shy to experiment.

Enjoyed reading Walmart's marketing mix? Check out other marketing mix case studies for brands like Red Bull , Zomato , Tesla and many more.

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Walmart's target audience, importance of price in competitive retail business, product marketing , store location        , want to become a digital marketer , walmart marketing strategy.

Walmart Marketing Strategy

Walmart is a multinational giant corporation that operates retail stores in the form of hypermarkets. It was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. Today the company has more than 10,000 stores and clubs in 24 countries. The Walton family controls the company. The billionaires of the Walton family include Jim Walton, Alice Walton, S. Robson Walton, Lukas Walton, Ann Walton Kroenke, Nancy Walton Laurie and Christy Walton. 

Walmart's Marketing strategy makes it successful in the competitive retail business. The competition in the retail business is immense, and many companies have failed to survive in this business. Walmart's marketing strategy has also helped the company to face the onslaught of the e-commerce giant Amazon. The way Walmart is run is stable because of its management procedures. The Walmart Marketing Mix is why the big store has been so successful.

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The target audience of Walmart is low to middle-class rural families. These people want to shop conveniently in a single location. The price and discounts are something they look for while shopping. Walmart has been able to understand the target audience and created its stores as per the demand trends.

Overall, we'll look at Walmart's 4Ps marketing mix to discover its unique and interesting ways to market its business in this time of stiff competition.

Price determines how successful and long-lasting a product will be in the future. It tells how much money will be made from the sale and how competitive the product will be on the market. If you charge a high price, the sales volume will decrease. On the other hand, if you charge a very low price, the volume will increase. All companies strive to achieve the correct mix between the price and volume. Walmart has perfected its pricing strategy via the following methods:- 

  • Instead of charging too much for the products, Walmart maximises its income by making prices customer-friendly and focusing on bulk sales.
  • Walmart is known for its superior procurement methods in negotiating prices to keep the costs low. 
  • Diversification makes sure that if one product doesn't get enough attention, other products that go well with it can help boost sales of other products.
  • Universal barcoding and stock-keeping unit (SKU) systems make the supply chain run more smoothly, letting prices go down.
  • Walmart allows the financing of big-ticket items like appliances and furniture. This keeps the initial outlay of the consumer law. 

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There are a lot of things for sale at Walmart stores. They give the market what the people want. It is easier to sell and promote a product that people want than to bring something new to the market. Walmart chooses what products to sell by using the following methods:

  • They have a huge number of items in almost every category. Some of these are food, tools, furniture, appliances, health and wellness products, and fun things to do.
  • They buy bulk to save money and take advantage of economies of scale.
  • They have an excellent working connection with their suppliers.
  • Walmart's brand products are only sold in Walmart stores.

The methods an organization uses to get people interested in or learn about its product are known as promotions. 

  • Walmart has sales with discounts at different times of the year.
  • The store uses phrases like "Save money, live better," "lowest price store," "worry-free fresh," and "everyday low pricing" to get the consumer excited. 
  • Walmart uses many different ways to advertise, such as commercials on TV, billboards, social media, and eCommerce websites.
  • They offer safe shipping options that give online customers the best quality of service.
  • Walmart backs up most of their products with reliable warranties and replacement policies, which gives customers peace of mind.

Location is important for every business. Customers care a lot about where a business is and how easy it is to get to. Walmart uses several strategies to make sure that all aspects of location, which is part of the marketing mix, are effective and efficient:

  • A powerful eCommerce platform lets people buy things without going to a real store.
  • A well-organized network of distribution centers that makes it easy for businesses to pick up orders and send products straight to customers.
  • The company can keep track of whether they are on the way or in stock.
  • Walmart stores, mostly in the U.S., are strategically placed in places that are good for business.
  • A fleet of delivery trucks makes it easy to get things from door to door.
  • Walmart differentiates its different stores to generate high brand recall. 

There are a few things to learn from Walmart's marketing mix:

  • Getting people to buy something is all about setting prices right. Businesses must know where to put their items and how much to charge for them based on who they want to sell to.
  • When intermediaries are taken out of the supply chain, merchants can save money and pass it on to their customers.
  • New age businesses need to connect with the consumers with the help of their customer service. Promotions form an important part of putting out the message. For example, Walmart allows the return of its products, which induces consumer confidence. 
  • A digital presence is now nearly as crucial, if not more important, than a physical presence. 

Walmart's marketing strategy is successful as it has built a brand based on trust. The confidence the consumers have while purchasing at Walmart allows it to stand ahead of the competition. With the right price, place, promotions and product, the company has been able to differentiate itself from the immense competition. The Walmart marketing strategy includes the other P's like people, process, etc. Their hiring strategy of choosing the right employees gives it an advantage, especially against Amazon, which is used to getting roiled up in controversies regarding the labor conditions. 

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Walmart Marketing Strategy: Decoding the Success of the US Multinational Retailer

walmart marketing strategy

The Walmart household name has made an enormous impact in the retail world of hypermarkets and experienced immense growth since its humble beginnings in 1962. Operating approximately 11,000 discount department and grocery stores, Walmart is the largest company by revenue worldwide, with almost US $570 billion annually and 2.2 million employees. The brand’s presence extends to numerous countries and various retail formats, like warehouse clubs, eCommerce websites, and supercenters. Without a doubt, these insane numbers and facts have made this retail Goliath a worthy candidate for a dedicated case study and a deep dive into the Walmart marketing strategy. By examining the Walmart sales methodology and localized marketing, our readers will gain valuable insights into successful retail business models and the future of creating optimized customer experiences. 

Table of Contents

  • > Looking into the beginning and development of Walmart
  • > The elements of the Walmart marketing strategy
  • > The Walmart marketing strategy and its comprehensive shift towards omnichannel
  • > Analyzing Walmart’s eCommerce website
  • > Intriguing tech Walmart is presently applying
  • > Fascinating stats regarding Walmart
  • > The most recent news of Walmart
  • > Discover more resources about FMCG retailers

Looking into the beginning and development of Walmart

The first Wal-Mart Discount City store opened on July 2, 1962, by Sam Walton at 719 W. Walnut Street in Rogers, Arkansas, and by 1989, it had become the largest retailer in terms of revenue in the USA. Since then, Walmart has expanded its operations and subsidiaries in Canada, the UK (ASDA), Central and South America, and China. But let’s take it from the beginning and examine the evolution of this enormous brand in detail to get a clearer view.

Incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law, the company officially adopted the name Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in 1970, when it opened its first distribution center in Bentonville. The center included 38 stores, generating $44.2 million in sales and operating with a workforce of 1,500 employees. It secured a listing on the New York Stock Exchange with its first stock split in May 1971 at $47 per share. Later on, the Walmart brand expanded to four states: Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma, entering Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi in ‘73 and ‘74, respectively. By 1975, Walmart had 125 active stores, 7,500 employed, and $340.3 million in total sales.

Expansion and Development

The ‘80s were an experimental period for Walmart, as the brand opened the first Hyper-Mart, bringing the supercenter precursor to light. Hyper-Mart owned four different types of stores combined, including discount stores, video arcades, pharmacies, supermarkets, and more. The enormous exponential growth continued, and by its 25th anniversary, Walmart had established 1,198 stores and billions of dollars in sales. It is said that the secret to Walmart’s growth was the strategic pattern of expansion over time and the fact that they were building distribution centers in hubs with proximity to Supercenters.

In 1987, Walmart invested $24 million in the company’s satellite network, a significant and radical innovation for this period. The network was linking all the stores through two-way voice and data transmissions and one-way video communications with the main office in Bentonville. This groundbreaking investment allowed Walmart to create an enormous private satellite network, aiding the company in monitoring its sales and inventory while communicating with its stores in real time. In 1988, Sam Walton gave his position as CEO to David Glass, but he kept his position as chairman of the board.

As the mid-1990s approached, Walmart established its brand as the predominant retail force in the U.S., opening stores in Mexico, Canada, and the rest of the United States. In 1995, it entered the North American market with stores in Argentina and Brazil, following an expansion in Europe with the acquisition of ASDA in the United Kingdom in 1999. 

In 1998, Walmart brought a new, original concept, the Neighborhood Market, debuting with three brick-and-mortar stores in its home state, Arkansas. By 2005, the company’s authority in the retail grocery and consumables sector had skyrocketed, and estimations show that Walmart commanded approximately 20% of the market.

The new millennium steered Walmart into a complete transformation when H. Lee Scott assumed the roles of president and CEO. During his leadership, the company’s sales soared to an astonishing $165 billion by 2000. In 2002, Walmart achieved an additional milestone as it secured the first spot on the prestigious Fortune 500 list, with staggering revenues of  $219.8 billion and profits reaching $6.7 billion. Walmart’s dominance was, once again, reaffirmed, as it held this position consistently every year, except for 2006, 2009, and 2012. 

By 2005, Walmart’s worldwide reach had been significant, reporting $312.4 billion in sales with a network of over 6,200 facilities globally. This footprint included 3,800 stores in the United States and an additional 2,800 stores, employing over 1.6 million associates. The company’s presence in the U.S. was so vast that only isolated regions of the country remained more than 60 miles (97 kilometers) from the nearest Walmart store.

The elements of the Walmart marketing strategy

Walmart has become a literal empire, ascending to a prominent position in the retail industry. Its strategic innovation, dedication to accommodating customer needs, and never-ending commitment to cost-effective solutions. These principles have been at the forefront of the Walmart marketing strategy since its inauguration, so let’s explore how it turned into an industry giant.

Target markets and customer personas

Walmart refers primarily to low to middle-class demographics and families residing in rural areas, so the brand builds on the notion of guaranteeing low prices every day. This segment desires and seeks the convenience of one-stop shopping, emphasizing competitive pricing and affordable solutions when making their purchasing decisions. The Walmart success story lies in the comprehension of the preferences and needs of this audience, thus tailoring its offerings to align with prevailing consumer trends and demands.

Environmental initiatives, social responsibility, and community engagement

Walmart’s commitment to environmental sustainability, ethical sourcing, and community development is at the core of its overarching brand strategy, aimed at enhancing brand equity and fostering enduring customer loyalty. The corporation actively engages with local communities through strategic initiatives such as sponsorships, fundraisers, and charitable donations, bolstering its reputation and cultivating strong loyalty among its customer base.

In a pivotal move in November 2005, Walmart unveiled a comprehensive set of environmental initiatives, marking a significant shift in its corporate ethos. Among the prominent objectives outlined was an annual allocation of $500 million towards achieving a 25% enhancement in fuel efficiency across Walmart’s expansive truck fleet within three years, with an ultimate goal of doubling it within a decade. Simultaneously, Walmart pledged to effect a substantial 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over seven years, coupled with a concerted effort to curtail energy consumption at its stores by an ambitious 30 percent. Additionally, the company aspired to achieve a commendable 25 percent reduction in solid waste generated by U.S. stores and Sam’s Clubs within three years.

Walmart’s global eCommerce division 

walmart strategic marketing plan

Walmart’s Global eCommerce division manages online retailing for multiple brands, including Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Asda, operating domestically and internationally. It has operational centers in various U.S. locations like California and Oregon and global hubs in cities such as Shanghai, Leeds, and Bangalore.

To compete with Amazon.com, Walmart strategically acquired Jet.com in September 2016 and expanded its e-commerce capabilities by adding Parcel, a New York-based delivery service, in September 2017. In February 2017, Walmart acquired Moosejaw, an online outdoor retailer, granting access to over 400 partner brands. Marc Lore, Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce CEO, emphasized the synergy between their extensive physical store network and digital expansion, with physical stores serving as efficient e-commerce warehouses. Walmart introduced in-store pickup for online orders in 2017, initially at 1,000 stores, with plans for broader implementation across all retail locations.

Product diversification and private labels 

walmart strategic marketing plan

The Walmart marketing strategy revolves around meeting customer demand effectively. Their approach includes an extensive product range covering categories like food, tools, furniture, appliances, health, wellness, and entertainment. This retail giant leverages bulk purchasing to capitalize on economies of scale, nurturing strong supplier relationships while exclusively selling its brand products in Walmart stores.

A significant aspect of the Walmart marketing strategy involves developing private label brands such as Great Value and Equate, offering quality products at competitive prices. Approximately 40% of Walmart’s product offerings are these private labels, a concept introduced in 1991 with the launch of Sam’s Choice beverages, which quickly gained popularity. This strategy has solidified Walmart’s brand presence and customer perception in various markets, exemplifying its dominance in the retail sector.

Supply chain and inventory management 

walmart strategic marketing plan

Walmart is well-known for its efficient management of inventory and supply chains, which allows the company to offer competitive prices while maintaining exceptional customer service standards. One of its pivotal tactics involves maintaining a well-organized network of distribution centers that facilitates the seamless pickup and direct delivery of orders to customers. This approach enables precise tracking of product availability and in-transit status, enhancing overall supply chain management. Additionally, Walmart nurtures robust supplier relationships and employs streamlined supply chain management processes, ensuring competitive pricing for its customers.

Decentralized distribution centers

A critical strategic decision that sets Walmart apart is its decentralized distribution center model. Rather than focusing solely on achieving economies of scale with massive centralized warehouses, the company prioritizes establishing numerous distribution centers strategically placed to serve surrounding stores efficiently. Walmart strategically positions its stores, particularly in the United States, to maximize business potential with meticulous geographic planning that contributes to high brand recall and accessibility for customers. The objective is to ensure that every Walmart store can receive deliveries from a distribution center within 24 hours, thereby effectively mitigating inventory shortages and reinforcing Walmart’s reputation as a one-stop shop. 

This emphasis on location extends to the sequence of store construction, with Walmart building stores progressively closer to a distribution center, ensuring optimal delivery capabilities. This approach also grants the flexibility to select retail locations strategically, prioritizing customer-centricity and further enhancing Walmart’s retail capacity in comparison to competitors.

In-house deliveries and data-driven optimized routes

walmart strategic marketing plan

Walmart’s successful strategy includes the comprehensive internalization of its transportation operations, making it one of the world’s largest truck fleet operators. This early decision to invest in an in-house transport system has allowed Walmart to effectively manage its extensive network of stores. The company places great emphasis on driver training and safety, enabling them to maintain an exceptional safety record despite covering over 700 million miles annually.

One key focus for Walmart is minimizing “empty miles,” where trucks travel without cargo, incurring opportunity costs. They achieve this through advanced logistics management software that continuously monitors factors like inventory levels, purchases, and truck positions, enabling efficient route planning. Additionally, Walmart has invested significantly in a robust technological infrastructure, providing real-time insights into store conditions. This data-driven approach allows the company to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and consumer behaviors, optimizing their transportation planning with precision.

Customer loyalty program

Walmart offers the “Walmart Rewards” customer loyalty program, allowing shoppers to gather points through their purchases. The points can subsequently be redeemed for discounts or other valuable benefits, like discounts and gift cards.

The Walmart marketing strategy and its comprehensive shift towards omnichannel

Since 2015, under the leadership of Doug McMillon, Walmart has made significant and radical changes to its omnichannel and digital strategy. Investing approximately $1.2 billion in its eCommerce program, the brand has the customer at the center of its efforts.

Personalized shopping experience

Walmart’s website uses AI and machine learning algorithms to personalize the shopping experience for users. Based on browsing and purchase history, the website provides product recommendations tailored to individual preferences.

Augmented reality (AR) 

Walmart has dabbled in AR to improve the online shopping experience. For instance, they’ve tested features that let users take a virtual “try before you buy” approach with certain products, particularly in the furniture and home decor section.

Voice shopping and 3D virtual shopping tour 

walmart strategic marketing plan

Collaborating with platforms like Google Assistant, Walmart introduced voice-activated shopping. Customers can add items to their cart using voice commands. At certain points, Walmart has experimented with a 3D virtual shopping tour, allowing users to navigate through a virtual home and shop for products as they explore.

Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) end easy reorder

Using data analytics, Walmart’s website has a feature that tracks users’ most frequently purchased items and makes it easy for them to reorder those products in just a few clicks. In addition, for third-party sellers, this tech ensures that partnered sellers can leverage Walmart’s storage, packing, and shipping expertise, which streamlines the online buying process for customers.

Walmart introduced its subscription service, similar to Amazon Prime. The tech behind it integrates with the website to offer subscribers benefits like free shipping, fuel discounts, and mobile scan-and-go features.

Blockchain technology, and order tracking

For certain products, Walmart uses blockchain technology to trace their journey from source to store. This increases transparency in the supply chain and assures customers of product authenticity. To enhance customer support, Walmart’s website includes order tracking so that customers can monitor their orders easily.

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Analyzing Walmart’s eCommerce website

Walmart is undoubtedly one of the top and most highly evaluated retail brands out there. We’ve analyzed four-page templates of their site to identify eCommerce best practices and mistakes you should avoid.

A. Analyzing Walmart’s Homepage

walmart strategic marketing plan

What we liked

  • Sticky header with a lot of relevant and on-point suggestions 
  • “How do you want your items?” section so that customers can choose whether they want their products shipped, picked up or delivered. 
  • Different offers across different products above the fold 
  • Engaging videos 
  • Prominent and super clear search bar 
  • Distinct categorization on the header 
  • Easy access to the Walmart+ loyalty program
  • Fast reorder option 

What we didn’t

  • The homepage has a lot of information and too many CTAs, so this can be a little distracting 
  • No drop-down menu on the categories 
  • The “Give feedback” button would work better if it wasn’t on the footer

B. Analyzing Walmart’s category page

walmart strategic marketing plan

  • “Express delivery” reminder above the fold so that customers can book their slots 
  • Additional categorization inside the category page 
  • Seasonal products 
  • Limited-time, online, weekly deals to increase urgency
  • “Build your cart” suggestions section with best-selling products and direct CTAs that are placed strategically 
  • “Under $5” and “Under $10” products that appeal to bargain-hunting visitors 
  • Like the homepage, the category page is a little crowded on information 
  • Each category has too many different sets of subcategories, and the consumer can get easily lost. Sometimes the subcategories are irrelevant to the main category, and this can increase frustration.  

C. Analyzing Walmart’s product page

walmart strategic marketing plan

  • Free shipping with no order limit banner on top of the product
  • “Add to favorite” heart-button
  • In-store location of the product 
  • Product suggestions and best-selling products in the same category
  • Nutritional facts and extensive product information
  • High-resolution product pictures 
  • Too many sections for related product recommendations

A. Analyzing Walmart’s checkout process

walmart strategic marketing plan

  • Instant add-to-cart functionality with recommended products 
  • Last-minute booking slots for deliveries and pick-ups
  • Savings reminders and additional shipping costs included 
  • Sticky “Continue to checkout” CTA
  • No guest check-out

Intriguing tech Walmart is presently applying 

Using the buildwith tool, we scanned Walmart’s website and highlighted the most impressive technologies spotted. 

  • Bazaarvoice: Specializes in providing solutions for businesses to collect, manage, and analyze consumer-generated content.
  • Omniture SiteCatalyst: Digital analytics tool that helps businesses track and analyze user interactions and behaviors on their websites.
  • Adobe Dynamic Tag Management: Solution that manages and deploys various marketing tags and code snippets on their websites
  • LiveRamp: Data connectivity platform that enables companies to connect, control, and activate their data
  • ThreatMetrix: ThreatMetrix provides digital identity and fraud prevention solutions.
  • PerimeterX: This solution protects web applications and APIs from automated threats, such as bots, scrapers, and fraudsters.
  • Rollbar: Error tracking and debugging platform for software developers.

Fascinating stats regarding Walmart

  • As of 2023, Walmart operates a vast network of 10,622 stores and clubs spanning 24 countries.
  • In April 2023, there were a total of 4,717 Walmart establishments in the United States.
  • Walmart caters to a staggering customer base, serving over 37 million individuals daily and exceeding 230 million customers weekly.
  • Globally, Walmart achieved a substantial revenue of approximately $573 billion.
  • Walmart’s e-commerce segment generated impressive sales totaling $53,921 million.
  • Daily, Walmart’s revenue surpasses the remarkable sum of $1.5 billion.
  • Walmart.com commands a notable 6.3% market share within the United States.
  • Walmart’s international stores collectively contributed to net sales amounting to $81.1 billion.
  • With a global workforce of 2.3 million associates, 1.6 million of them are based in the United States.
  • Walmart’s eCommerce experienced remarkable growth during the pandemic, with a 74% increase.
  • As of 2023, Walmart.com recorded an impressive 407.8 million visits to its platform.

The most recent news of Walmart

  • Walmart and Wing Team Up To Provide the Convenience of Drone Delivery ( corporate.walmart.com )
  • Walmart Chile To Create First Industrial-Use Green Hydrogen Production Plant in Latin America ( corporate.walmart.com )
  • These 5 Career Pathways Are Helping Walmart and Sam’s Club Associates Transition to the Future of Retail ( corporate.walmart.com )
  • School is in Session: How Walmart Helped Teachers and Students Ace the Back-to-School Season ( corporate.walmart.com )
  • Climate activists attack Walmart heiress’ $300m yacht – again ( independent.co.uk )

Discover more resources about FMCG retailers

  • ALDI’s marketing strategy: The key growth ingredients of the FMCG titan
  • Sainsbury’s Marketing Strategy: Becoming the Second-Largest Supermarket Chain in the UK
  • Tesco Case Study: How an Online Grocery Goliath Was Born
  • Analyzing Lidl’s Marketing Strategy: How the Discount Supermarket Leader Scaled
  • Argos Marketing Strategy: How the UK Catalog Retailer Nailed Omnichannel
  • The Marks and Spencer eCommerce Case Study: 3 Growth Lessons for Retailers
  • The Ocado marketing strategy: How it reached the UK TOP50 retailers list
  • ASDA’s marketing strategy: How the British supermarket chain reached the top
  • FMCG Marketing Strategies to Increase YOY Revenue

What we gained from studying the Walmart marketing strategy

Walmart’s journey to becoming a retail powerhouse is not a stroke of luck but a reflection of its meticulously crafted and executed marketing strategy. This strategy encompasses both traditional brick-and-mortar retail as well as a robust digital presence. In a constantly evolving retail environment, Walmart understands that staying stagnant is not a viable option; they embrace innovation and adaptability as core principles in their quest for continued success.

Before embarking on a comprehensive customer engagement solution, conducting extensive market research becomes imperative. ContactPigeon’s expertise on the latest best practices in retail, eCommerce, and omnichannel customer engagement has helped hundreds of retailers in Europe and the USA. Enhance your understanding of retail strategies by taking the initiative to schedule a free 30-minute consultation session with our experts today. This will aid you in delving deeper into the intricacies of effective customer engagement strategies according to your brand’s needs and your audience.

Contact us to discuss how we can drive growth through your CSR strategy for your retail brand.

walmart strategic marketing plan

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Walmart's Marketing Strategies: The Largest Retailer in the World

Archana Karthikeyan

Archana Karthikeyan , Apoorva Bajj

Walmart is a global retail company with headquarters in the US. Sam Walton launched the business in 1962, and it has since developed into one of the leading retailers worldwide. Almost 2.3 million people are employed by Walmart, which runs over 11,000 locations across 27 countries.

Walmart offers an extensive range of products at affordable costs, including food, electronics, apparel, home goods, and more. The business operates under several distinct names, including Walmart, Sam's Club, and Jet.com.

Walmart is renowned for its effective inventory and supply chain management systems , which enable the business to provide cheap pricing while upholding high standards of customer service. Also, the business provides a wide range of services, such as Walmart Pay, online grocery buying, and free two-day shipping on several products.

Walmart has recently placed a strong emphasis on sustainability and social responsibility, establishing challenging targets for cutting emissions and waste while also aiming to enhance working conditions for staff members in its supply chain.

Despite criticism over its labor policies and effects on small companies, Walmart continues to be a significant player in the retail sector, having a significant presence both domestically and abroad.

Walmart Target Audience Walmart Marketing Mix Walmart Marketing Campaigns Walmart Marketing Strategies

Walmart Target Audience

Walmart usually caters to a wide range of people. With a large selection of low-cost items, the business hopes to cater to clients of all ages, genders, and socioeconomic sectors.

walmart strategic marketing plan

Walmart nevertheless targets a number of distinct client niches. A few of these include:

  • Consumers searching for value and affordability: Walmart is renowned for having low pricing on a variety of goods, which draws in people on the hunt for both.
  • Families: Walmart provides a range of goods catering to families, such as food, baby supplies, toys, and household necessities.
  • Customers in rural areas: Walmart has a big presence there and may be the only major store in the region.
  • Shoppers who are tech-savvy: They find Walmart more appealing now that the company has made investments in its online store platform.

Walmart Online Store Platform

  • Customers who value health and wellness: Walmart has increased its offering of organic and natural items and pharmaceutical services to entice customers who place a high priority on these factors.

Generally, a diverse group of people makes up Walmart's target market, but the corporation places a strong emphasis on providing cheap costs, convenience, and a large variety of goods to satisfy those demands.

Walmart Marketing Mix

The four Ps make up Walmart's marketing mix: product, price, location, and promotion. The way Walmart treats each of these components is broken down as follows:

  • Product: Walmart sells a large variety of goods under both its own and other brands, including food, electronics, apparel, household goods, and more. Walmart's product strategy is centered on offering customers high-quality, reasonably priced goods that satisfy their demands.
  • Price: Walmart leads the discount retail sector by offering its items at the lowest cost feasible. This pricing approach has helped Walmart become a market leader. The business keeps costs down by using its effective inventory and supply chain management systems, and it then passes those savings on to customers.

walmart strategic marketing plan

  • Place: Walmart has a sizable and expanding network of stores, both domestically and internationally, that are well-placed to cater to customers in a range of markets. Walmart provides online shopping and grocery pickup services in addition to physical locations to give customers more convenience.
  • Promotions: Advertising, sales promotions, and public relations are just a few of the promotional strategies Walmart uses. The business makes significant investments in advertising, reaching consumers through a range of platforms including TV, print, and internet media. Also, Walmart runs sales events with discounts and coupons to entice shoppers to buy things.

In addition to the four Ps, Walmart has recently placed an emphasis on sustainability and social responsibility, trying to cut emissions and waste while also enhancing working conditions for staff members in its supply chain. These initiatives now play a significant role in the company's overarching marketing strategy.

Walmart Marketing Campaigns

Walmart has launched several marketing campaigns over the years to promote its products and services. Here are a few examples:

  • Save Money, Live Better

This is Walmart's long-standing tagline, which communicates the company's commitment to offering low prices and high-quality products to its customers. The tagline has been used in various advertising campaigns over the years, including TV commercials and digital ads.

  • Made in America

Walmart launched a campaign in 2013 to promote American-made products and to support US-based manufacturing. The campaign included advertising, in-store signage, and partnerships with American manufacturers.

Grocery Pickup

Walmart has heavily promoted its grocery pickup service in recent years, which allows customers to order groceries online and pick them up at a Walmart store. The company has used a variety of advertising channels to promote the service, including TV commercials and digital ads.

  • The Walmart Box

Walmart launched a subscription box service in 2018, called "The Walmart Box." The service sends customers a box of curated products every season, including items from Walmart's private-label brands. Walmart has promoted the service through social media and email marketing.

The Walmart Box

  • Famous Cars

Walmart partnered with Universal Pictures in 2018 to launch a campaign featuring famous cars from movies and TV shows, such as the Batmobile and the DeLorean from " Back to the Future ." The campaign included in-store events and online promotions and was designed to promote Walmart's automotive department.

Overall, Walmart's marketing campaigns have focused on promoting its low prices, high-quality products, and commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. The company has used a variety of channels, including TV, print, digital media, and in-store signage, to reach its customers.

walmart strategic marketing plan

Walmart Marketing Strategies

Walmart's success can be attributed to several key marketing strategies that have helped the company to build a strong brand and attract a large customer base. Here are a few strategies that have contributed to Walmart's success:

  • Low Pricing Strategy: Walmart has been known for its "Everyday Low Prices" strategy, which involves offering products at lower prices than competitors. This pricing strategy has helped Walmart to attract customers who are looking for value and affordability.
  • Wide Product Selection: Walmart offers a wide range of products, including groceries, electronics, clothing, household items, and more. This selection of products has helped to make Walmart a one-stop-shop for customers, increasing convenience and attracting a larger customer base.
  • Efficient Supply Chain Management: Walmart has an efficient supply chain management system that helps to keep costs low and improve product availability. The company's use of technology, including its advanced inventory management systems, has helped it to streamline its operations and keep prices low.
  • Strong Brand Identity: Walmart has built a strong brand identity around its commitment to offering low prices and high-quality products. The company's " Save Money, Live Better " tagline, its blue and yellow logo, and its in-store signage all help to reinforce this brand identity and create a sense of familiarity and trust among customers.

Walmart - Logo, and Tagline

  • Customer Service: Walmart places a strong emphasis on customer service, offering a variety of services such as in-store pickup, online ordering, and free shipping . This focus on customer service helps to build loyalty and trust among customers.
  • In-store Promotions: Walmart frequently runs in-store promotions, such as " Rollback " discounts, to incentivize shoppers to make purchases. These promotions are often advertised on signs throughout the store.

Rollback - Walmart's In-Store Promotions

  • Customer Loyalty Programs: Walmart provides " Walmart Rewards ," a customer loyalty program that enables consumers to accrue points for purchases. You may exchange these points for savings or other benefits.
  • Private Labels: Walmart offers a variety of private label brands, including Great Value and Equate , which provide goods at a lesser cost than national brands. Walmart is able to retain its reputation for low costs because of its private-label products.
  • Store Layout and Design: Walmart's store layout and design were thoughtfully created to entice customers to stay longer and make more purchases. The layout of the store, for instance, frequently directs people away from popular items and encourages impulse purchases.

  • Social Responsibility: Walmart's marketing plan places a strong emphasis on social responsibility issues including environmental sustainability and community participation. Walmart may attract clients that value corporate social responsibility by highlighting its commitment to these concerns.

Overall, Walmart's success can be attributed to a combination of low pricing, wide product selection, efficient supply chain management, strong branding, and excellent customer service. These marketing strategies have helped Walmart to build a strong brand and attract a loyal customer base.

Hope you take inspiration from marketing strategies employed by Walmart to be a market leader and build strategies that suit your business.

What is the target audience of Walmart?

What are a few marketing campaigns launched by walmart.

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Walmart Marketing Strategy: 7 Ways They Are so Successful

Walmart is a household name around the world. It is one of the world’s biggest retail brands, with 230 million customers going to the store in one week globally. In this article, we will discuss the Walmart marketing strategy.

In the year 2022, Walmart had a huge incoming revenue of over 572 billion USD till now and saw an increase of 3.54% in profits from the year 2021.

The retail brand of Walmart is no longer limited to the US. It has become a global sensation with an estimated 11000 stores worldwide. This massive success and growth do not come out of sheer luck or chances.

There is a complete strategy at play to push the company beyond borders.

walmart marketing strategy

Number of Walmart stores worldwide from fiscal year 2008 to 2022. Source: statista.com

The 7 strategies you need to remember

With a careful mix of 4Ps and other tactics, Walmart has a solid marketing strategy that can provide highly valuable lessons for all companies.

Let’s break this enigmatic success shroud of this global giant and understand some top ways the Walmart marketing strategy is fruitful. Keep reading.

1. Involve the stakeholders in the process

One of the biggest reasons for Walmart’s stability and success is the dedicated associates working tirelessly to provide a better customer experience.

Walmart understands better that if employees are not involved in a company’s success, it can be hard to strengthen the roots and take the brand forward. All the workers need to be committed to the company.

A great way to do it is by giving the employees a stake in the company. If the company’s success is directly linked to the employees’ success, they won’t work as if it is only their job; rather, they will put in honest efforts to breed successful practices.

Employees are also the link between the company and the customers . They deal with the people who come in to buy something or have any queries.

So, employees need to be one of the company’s top priorities. Walmart doesn’t just hire people and leave them to do their daily assigned tasks. The retailer ensures that employees are a central part of the process.

walmart marketing strategy

Walmart Marketing strategy. Image source: walmart.com

2. Fishing for new target markets

A great thing to learn from the Walmart marketing strategy is that you should never rely on a business path; if there is an opportunity to grow , take it.

Walmart became hugely successful back home in the US, but this did not become a reason for it to stop right there and become complacent.

Instead, Walmart knows most domestic markets in the US have now become saturated. The population of the US only makes up a small portion of the world population.

Staying in the US alone meant missing out on more than 90 percent of the global population. When Walmart reached a pinnacle in the existing market, it was time to go fishing.

As a part of the Walmart marketing strategy, the company went global, opening stores in other attractive markets like Europe. Currently, Walmart has stores in more than 24 countries worldwide, with over 11000 of them.

Walmart’s international strategy might not have been supported at first, but currently, it contributes to a major portion of Walmart’s total revenue.

3. Adapting to the latest tech advancements

Another feather in the company’s hat is the quick adaption to the latest tech trends and incorporation of them into the Walmart marketing strategy.

Physical stores are slowly vanishing from the business scene. They are still a major part of the shopping experience, but people rapidly switch to online shopping or eCommerce mode, especially after the pandemic.

Several companies over the years completely deteriorated or saw a striking downfall after they refused to change with the changing technological environment and infrastructure of the businesses.

The Walmart marketing strategy pushes the company to adapt and try new tech advancements. As a result, Walmart is no longer just a physical retailer and wholesaler; it also has an eCommerce system where customers can buy stuff from the brand online.

You can still visit a physical store if you want to, but if you need to get something delivered to your home, Walmart is also at the forefront.

Are you enjoying this content on the Walmart marketing strategy? You may also want to read these:

  • SWOT Analysis of Costco: 4 Important Takeaways
  • SWOT Analysis of Target: Everything You Need to Know in 2022

walmart technology

4. The distribution and location strategy of Walmart

The distribution and location portion of the Walmart marketing strategy is also highly successful and practical. Ensuring the best location and distribution strategy involves incorporating the best technology to build optimal processes.

Besides having a very strong eCommerce platform, Walmart has strategically located distribution centers so the stores can pick up the orders from these centers and deliver them on time to the end customer.

This strategy applies not just to the distribution centers but also the physical outlets. The stores worldwide, especially in the US, are located at some of the best points, so the deliveries and orders can be sent to the customers on time.

The company also has a great transport system with huge trucks responsible for bringing orders to the customer’s door.

Moreover, having a great distribution strategy also involves keeping a tight track of the inventories, so the company knows beforehand when certain products are not in-store or on their way.

5. The famous pricing strategy

The biggest and major part of the competitiveness of the Walmart marketing strategy is the slogan that the company runs on – Everyday Low Prices. The retail industry is a very crowded, and Walmart has managed to come out at the top by being a cost leader.

This cost leadership in the retail industry means that Walmart is focused on and promotes selling products for the lowest possible prices. Customer loyalty and conversion is not their main concern.

Walmart wants to attract the biggest crowd of customers to the store with its streamlined process of shopping.

The massive sales of the company offset the low prices in the store. Walmart sells in bulk, so it can also profit from low-priced products. The company is brilliant at negotiating deals with suppliers to get the most affordable prices for the store, which has allowed the brand to keep true to its slogan.

Moreover, several product categories are being sold in the store. This diversification of the products ensures that different categories balance each other out. So, if one of the products is not doing well, the other one will do more than expected sales.

walmart strategic marketing plan

For bigger purchases, Walmart has a few different payment plans available, so customers don’t have to spend a huge amount all at once.

6. Big promotional gestures to stay at the forefront

The Walmart marketing strategy is big on promotion. The brand promotes everywhere. It has marketing strategies for TVs, social media, billboards, PR, newspapers, magazines, and more.

Walmart runs ads on different platforms and via different channels with irresistible slogans like “ Grab it before it’s done .”

The brand almost always has some discounts, deals, or special offers running in ads. These are available for physical stores as well as online shopping. Coupon codes are also offered occasionally.

To find them, visit the brand’s website, subscribe to newsletters, or use coupon websites, apps, and social media. Browser extensions and online forums are also helpful resources. Once you have a code, apply it during checkout by copying and pasting it into the designated field. Be aware of expiration dates and terms. Not all stores offer coupon codes for every purchase. 

Selecting an appropriate couponing site or portal is crucial to efficiently locating valuable discounts and deals. When choosing such a platform, prioritize its reputation and reliability.

Ensure it offers a diverse range of coupons for various products and retailers and is user-friendly, with efficient search and filter options. It should regularly update its coupon listings, remove expired codes, and ideally have mobile accessibility for convenient shopping.  

Look for sites that offer email alerts or newsletters to remain updated on the latest deals. Evaluate the site’s security and privacy practices, avoiding those that request excessive personal information or charge membership fees.

Additionally, explore additional features like cashback rewards or price comparison tools to see if they align with your shopping preferences. Always review the terms and conditions and consider testing and comparing multiple couponing sites to determine the best fit for your needs and brands you frequently purchase from.

Moreover, the company does not only have a striking social media presence. It also advertises in newspapers and on TV.

Press releases are sent out to inform people of significant changes. A part of the Walmart marketing strategy is to sponsor charities. The philanthropic activities promote the company name in goodwill and as a socially responsible brand.

There are also long warranties and security for purchases with safe shipping, which builds customers’ trust. An in-person promotion is certainly happening when the customer comes to the store. There are trained salespeople that encourage and convince the customers to buy stuff.

7. A one-stop destination for all needs

This is another big magnet for people and a central part of Walmart marketing strategy. Walmart has grown to become a one-stop destination for people. This tugs at the convenience-seeking strings of customers.

Instead of having to go to different shops for various purchases, Walmart has a roundup of all essential items like back-to-school, college things, home décor, electronics, utensils, appliances, and more. Some white-label items are not available in any other store.

All this has been possible because Walmart has strong ties with the suppliers and distributors.

People can not only find all they are looking for at Walmart, but they can also get them at discounted prices. This is especially easy for families with little kids who cannot switch stores for every little thing.

walmart marketing strategy

A one-stop destination for all needs: Walmart marketing strategy.

A huge portion of the target segment is attracted to Walmart just by carrying diversified products under one roof.

Walmart Marketing Strategy – End Note

It is common for businesses to try to become all at once. The Walmart marketing strategy has successfully been able to play to its strengths. The reason for the success of Walmart is straightforward branding.

They wanted to become leaders in best prices , so they aligned all their marketing mixes with cutting costs and improving sales.

Branding is a center piece of marketing strategy. A business should have a definite quality or an attribute based on which the company will begin promotions.

If you are looking to grow as a company, choose how you want to brand yourself in front of the customers, and the rest of the marketing tactics will fall into place.

Thank you for taking the time to ready my article on the Walmart Marketing strategy! If you want to read more on Marketing strategies, you can also check these articles:

  • Starbucks Marketing Strategy: Selling 4 Million Coffees Daily
  • Tesla Marketing Strategy: 10 Curious Things To Know

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Walmart Marketing Strategy Uncovered: Key Takeaways for E-sellers

walmart-marketing-stratergy

Walmart is a prime example of a successful business, despite the highly competitive nature of the retail industry. This achievement is largely thanks to the impressive Walmart marketing strategy. 

Whether you sell on Walmart Marketplace or not, it’s still highly advisable to learn how they do marketing to have some ideas for your own business. In this article, let’s go over the following key points to discover more about Walmart marketing strategies:

  • An overall glance at Walmart’s marketing strategy ;
  • Walmart 4P marketing mix analysis ;
  • 4 tips to drive more sales on Walmart Marketplace .

Let’s dive in for more helpful information! 

Walmart Marketing: An Overall Glance

Before diving into Walmart marketing strategies, let’s take a quick look at some relevant information about this massive retail corporation.  

What is Walmart & Walmart Marketplace?

It’s important to differentiate between Walmart & Walmart Marketplace . So how are they different from each other?  

Walmart is a US multinational retail corporation founded in 1962 by Sam Walton . It operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. This corporation has surpassed other Walmart competitors to become one of the largest retailers in the world, with over 10,500 stores in 20 countries.  

walmart marketing strategy

In 2009, Walmart launched its online marketplace, Walmart Marketplace, which allows third-party sellers to list and sell their products on Walmart’s website . Walmart Marketplace provides an additional sales channel for sellers and expands Walmart’s product offerings to customers. It has become one of the top marketplaces for retailers to sell their products. 

If you’re looking for how to sell products on Walmart , it’s important to evaluate the pros and cons carefully. Please refer to the table below for an overview of the reasons why you should or should not choose Walmart Marketplace to sell goods.

To succeed on Walmart Marketplace, weigh the pros and cons to see whether they align with your business objectives. However, it’s best to focus on the potential benefits rather than be discouraged by the drawbacks. Adding to that, taking the time to study Walmart marketing strategy can help you understand why they have been able to thrive while offering low-priced products. 

Walmart target markets

Walmart’s target markets consist of a broad range of consumers, from low-income to middle-class households. 

These customers include:

  • Value-conscious consumers who prioritize low prices and good deals;
  • Families looking for a wide range of products , including groceries, household essentials, and clothing;
  • Online shoppers who value convenience and home delivery options;
  • Small business owners looking for affordable supplies and equipment;
  • Rural and suburban communities where Walmart stores are often the most accessible retail option;
  • Buyers prefer shopping in one location rather than visiting multiple stores. 

Walmart has understood this target audience’s needs and shopping behavior, so they have tailored their strategy accordingly. 

Walmart Marketing Strategy: 4P Marketing Mix Analysis

Why is Walmart so successful? The reason lies in their achievement is the marketing strategy mix. Let’s dive right in to learn more about Walmart marketing strategy and how it works. 

#1. Walmart pricing strategy

What is walmart pricing strategy.

Walmart pricing strategy aims at offering low prices on a wide range of products to attract budget-conscious customers and increase sales volume . This Walmart marketing strategy includes the following elements:  

  • Everyday Low Prices (EDLP): Walmart aims to consistently offer the lowest prices on a wide range of goods. It controls the sale price of products to maintain affordable rates daily. 
  • Everyday Low Cost (EDLC): Walmart strives to control its costs at every level, such as operating expenses, inventory holding, and supply chain costs. It then passes on the savings through lower prices to its customers.
  • Bulk Sales: Walmart focuses on selling products in bulk, which allows the company to negotiate lower prices from suppliers and offer lower prices to customers.  
  • A diversified product strategy: This is a Walmart strategy that emphasizes offering customers a wide range of complementary products or services. The goal is to increase sales volume by encouraging customers to purchase additional products beyond their initial purchase, often at a discounted price.
  • Universal stock-keeping unit (SKU) and barcode systems: These systems help improve supply chain efficiency, allowing prices to decrease. 

Benefits of Walmart pricing strategy

  • Increased sales and traffic: The low prices at Walmart drive more customers to its stores. People love getting goods at way lower prices than other retailers. This leads to higher sales volumes.
  • Higher profits: Although Walmart’s prices are low, its high sales volume coupled with efficient operations actually translates into strong profits. Even with thin profit margins on individual items, the overall profitability is quite good due to massive sales.
  • Customer loyalty: By consistently providing low prices, Walmart gains deep customer loyalty and trust . People make Walmart their first choice for all shopping needs knowing they won’t find better deals elsewhere.
  • Competitive advantage : Walmart’s focus on low prices and efficiency has provided it a very sustainable competitive advantage. It is difficult for rivals to match their prices and profit margins simultaneously. This has cemented Walmart’s position as the market leader.

walmart marketing strategy

How to apply Walmart pricing strategy?

Walmart’s pricing strategy is based on offering customers low prices on various products. To apply this Walmart business strategy to your own business, consider the following tips:

  • Win the Buy Box: The Buy Box is a feature on Walmart’s marketplace where the “Add to Cart” button is located on the product page. To win Buy Box, sellers must offer competitive prices and high-quality products . Once owning this feature, sellers can increase their sales volume and attract more customers. 
  • Offer bulk sales: Sellers can offer discounts for customers who purchase larger quantities of their products. By doing so, sellers can encourage customers to spend more money while also increasing the average order value .  
  • Diversify your product offerings: Walmart’s diversified product strategy allows the b2b marketing agency to bundle complementary products for higher sales at everyday low prices. Sellers can apply this strategy by bundling related products together and then providing customers with discounts to boost sales.
  • Monitor and adjust prices regularly: To remain competitive, sellers should monitor and adjust their prices based on market trends and competition.

#2. Walmart product strategy

What is walmart product strategy.

Walmart product strategy is customer-centric as Walmart aims to provide the market with what people want at the lowest price instead of introducing new products . Hence, when choosing products to sell, Walmart often relies on the following criteria: 

  • Wide range of categories: Walmart sells products in many different categories, from home appliances, groceries, and garden tools to fashion, beauty products, or health goods. That offers shoppers a one-stop shopping place where they can find everything they need.
  • Sale-in-bulk products: They practice economy on a large scale as well. That motivates shoppers to make large purchases to receive incredible discounts.  
  • Customer service: Walmart’s retail service is also a point worth mentioning in this Walmart marketing strategy. Sales staff and customer service team are well trained to assist buyers in finding the suitable goods they need . 

Benefits of Walmart product strategy

  • Increased sales volume: Walmart product strategy, which emphasizes offering a wide range of products at affordable prices, attracts more customers and increases sales volume.
  • Competitive advantage: In this Walmart marketing strategy, the firm provides a competitive advantage by offering a wider selection of products at lower prices than other retailers.
  • Convenience: Walmart’s one-stop shopping experience and private label offerings can make it convenient for customers to purchase everything they need in one location, saving time and effort.

walmart marketing strategy

How to apply Walmart product strategy?

Walmart product strategy offers customers a wide range of products at competitive prices. To deploy this Walmart marketing strategy, consider the following tips:

  • Fill customers’ needs: You can find many similar products from different brands in Walmart Marketplace. However, no retailers can ensure they have enough goods in stock consistently. It’s essential to research and find products that aren’t currently out of stock. Then, you can provide them with the kind of items available. At that time, your products can be on top of the first page easily.
  • Offer a wide range of products: Consider expanding your product category to include a wider range of items. This can attract a broader range of customers looking for a one-stop shop for their shopping needs.
  • Sell what others don’t: You can offer unique products that other sellers don’t have to establish your unique selling proposition. By being the go-to source for hard-to-find or specialized products, you can have your products rank higher in Walmart’s SERPs. This increased visibility can drive more traffic, increase brand awareness, and ultimately result in higher sales.

You might want to discover Walmart Pro Seller guide to enhance your product visibility, increase buyer trust, and drive more conversion for your Walmart store.

#3. Walmart promotion strategy

What is walmart promotion strategy.

Walmart is good at promoting its products by offering frequent promotions and discounts throughout the year. They use catchy slogans like “Save Money. Live Better” that emphasize low prices and advertise their deals via various media channels, such as TV commercials, social media, and billboards. Here are some highlights of Walmart promotional strategies:

  • Discount throughout the year: Walmart often offers weekly deals with some sets of products. They also have big discounts on special days to promote sales, such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday .
  • Ad match: If the client finds a lower price at any other competitor’s advertisements, Walmart matches prices to lower the cost of identical products .
  • Walmart advertising strategy : Walmart uses multiple advertising channels, including television, social media, and email marketing, to announce its deals and discounts to potential customers.
  • Coupons: Walmart allows customers to use manufacturer coupons on rollback or everyday low-price items at Walmart . They accept both self-printed and company-issued coupons.
  • Free shipping: Walmart offers safe free shipping options that give online customers the best quality of service.
  • Policy: Walmart also provides dependable warranties and replacement policies on the majority of its products for sale . This feature provides customers with peace of mind when they make a transaction.

Benefits of Walmart promotion strategy

  • Increase sales: Promotions like discounts, bundling offers, freebies, etc., boost excitement and encourage impulse purchases. This leads to higher sales during the promotion period and sometimes even after it ends. 
  • Attract more customers: Promotions attract more customers to Walmart as people come looking for the best available deals.
  • Drive traffic: Promotions attract more customer traffic to Walmart stores and websites. 
  • Delight custom ers: Successful promotions that provide good value to customers will delight them. Delighted customers become even more loyal, talking about their positive experiences through recommendations and reviews.

walmart marketing strategy

How to apply Walmart promotion strategy?

Walmart promotional strategy focuses on offering customers discounts, deals, and other incentives to encourage purchases. Below are some tips you can employ from this Walmart marketing strategy:

  • Utilize Walmart advertising: If you sell on the Walmart marketplace, it is important to advertise your products to increase their visibility and improve the chances of customers finding them. If you want to learn about Walmart ads, we have articles about Walmart sponsored products and how to advertise on Walmart Marketplace properly. You can find guides and tips for setting up a successful advertising campaign there.  
  • Make strategic promotion plans: Sellers can increase sales and profits by offering discounts on special days and bulk purchase incentives for customers. Encouraging customers to buy more at once motivates them to spend more per order and lifts average order values.
  • Adopt Walmart SEO : Understanding the SEO algorithms of Walmart can help sellers improve their search ranking and increase visibility on the platform . That allows potential buyers to reach their products and make purchases.

Here are some ways businesses can apply Walmart’s SEO tips:

  • Optimize product titles and descriptions; 
  • Provide high-quality images;
  • Offer competitive pricing;
  • Choose the precise product category mapping;
  • Provide accurate specifications.

#4. Walmart point of sale strategy 

What is walmart point of sale strategy.

It’s crucial for businesses to have a good location that’s easy for customers to find and access. Walmart knows this and uses different strategies to make sure their locations are efficient and effective, as it’s an essential part of their marketing mix.  

  • Store formats: Walmer sells products at both physical stores (supercenters, discount stores, neighborhood markets, and express stores) and online marketplace (eCommerce format) . By having a presence in multiple formats, Walmer makes it easy for customers to shop for the products they need, no matter where they are.
  • Distribution network: By having numerous distribution centers and warehouses located strategically across the countr y, Walmart can quickly and cost-effectively move products from suppliers to stores. That ensures that inventory levels are maintained, and products are readily available for customers .
  • Strategically located store: Walmart also possesses a large number of physical stores in high-traffic areas and close proximity to its target customers. This is especially important for customers who prefer to shop in-store rather than online.
  • Real-time inventory management: Walmart also employs cutting-edge technology to track shipments and delivery. It helps the company identify which products are shipping or in stock. 
  • Reliable delivery: Thanks to effective logistical infrastructure with a fleet of trucks for delivery, Walmart guarantees timely shipment of goods to their customers.

Benefits of Walmart point of sale strategy

  • Cost savings: By operating a large and efficient distribution network, Walmart can save on transportation and logistics costs . Their advanced logistics systems help to minimize waste and reduce delivery times, resulting in lower costs.
  • Increased sales: This Walmart marketing strategy about point of sale decides to place its stores in high-traffic areas that are nearby its target customers. This makes it easier for customers to access Walmart’s products and services, resulting in increased foot traffic and sales.

walmart marketing strategy

How to apply Walmart point of sale strategy?

E-sellers can take inspiration from Walmart point of sale strategy to effectively reach out to more customer customers:

  • Automate inventory management: E-sellers can use advanced inventory management systems and automation technologies to streamline their operations and reduce waste. This includes using software to track inventory levels, automate order fulfillment, and manage returns .  
  • Join other marketplaces and selling platforms: E-sellers can take advantage of the other platforms’ existing customer base and marketing efforts to promote their products . This can help the sellers reach new customers who may have yet to discover their products. 

However, moving to another eCommerce marketplace can be a complex process requiring significant time and effort. But e-sellers can simplify this process by using a solution like LitCommerce . LitCommerce is a multi-channel solution that allows e-sellers to list and sell products on the most prominent selling platforms like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Google Shopping, and others. 

Using LitCommerce, e-sellers can easily manage their product listings, inventory, and orders from multiple channels in one place , simplifying the selling process on multiple platforms. This helps to streamline operations and reduce the risk of overselling or stockouts .

4 Tips to Drive More Sales on Walmart Marketplace

If you’re a seller looking to grow your business on Walmart’s online marketplace, below are several tips you can employ to help drive more sales and increase your revenue.

#1. Focus on brand reputation

When selecting bestsellers to advertise online, Walmart prioritizes products from famous brands with high ratings . This underscores the importance of e-sellers building a solid brand reputation to succeed on the platform. 

To be put on the top page by Walmare, e-sellers should focus on providing high-quality products, efficient fulfillment, excellent customer service, and maintaining positive feedback ratings .  

#2. Provide excellent customer service

Walmart’s customer-centric approach can directly impact e-sellers on the platform . The higher the number of customers’ positive reviews, the better chance for sellers to improve their products’ rankings and sales. Although it is still being determined whether Walmart takes reviews into account, the fact that customers rely on reviews to make buying decisions is undeniable . 

Therefore, the sellers should strive to provide excellent customer support. They also should also pay attention to metrics such as custom rating, shipped product rates, product cancelation or return rates , and other key performance indicators that can impact their overall success on the Walmart marketplace.

#3. Don’t run low on inventory

Even when e-sellers offer the lowest prices, a lack of stock can quickly drive buyers to competitors, decreasing the chance of winning the Buy Box. Therefore, e-sellers should monitor their stock levels and avoid running out . If using Fulfillment by Walmart, e-sellers should closely monitor suppliers and ensure products arrive on schedule at the Walmart eCommerce Fulfillment Center. By following these steps, e-sellers can increase their chances of securing a place in Walmart Marketplace’s Buy Box and growing their overall sales.  

walmart marketing strategy

#4. Leverage Walmart’s lack of fees

Compared to Amazon, where sellers need to pay many types of fees, Walmart only requires referral fees . Hence, e-sellers can use the savings to invest in other areas, such as offering free shipping, expanding inventory, or running promotions . By leveraging these savings, e-sellers can improve their overall business on Walmart’s online marketplace.  

Walmart Marketing Strategy: FAQs

Walmart marketing strategy focuses on providing the best value to customers by offering a wide variety of products at competitive prices. Their marketing mix, also known as the 4Ps, includes strategies for price, product, point of sale, and promotion.

They also emphasize convenience and customer service, focusing on creating an easy and enjoyable shopping experience.

Walmart uses a variety of marketing strategies to achieve its mission of offering low prices and convenience to customers. One of its main strategies is the 4P marketing strategy, which focuses on price, products, promotion, and point of sale.  

  • Product: Walmart offers a wide range of products from various categories.  
  • Price: Walmart is widely known for its “Everyday Low Prices” strategy. The company uses its size and bargaining power to negotiate lower prices from suppliers and passes on those savings to customers.  
  • Place: Walmart strategically locates its stores in easily accessible locations to make shopping more convenient for customers. 
  • Promotion: Walmart uses a variety of promotional tactics to attract customers, such as advertising campaigns, discounts, and special offers. 

Walmart’s target market is diverse and includes: 

  • Low to middle-income households; 
  • Families looking for a variety of products; 
  • Online shoppers;
  • Small business owners;
  • Rural and suburban communities;
  • Customers who prefer one-stop shopping.

Final Words 

Thanks to the appropriate Walmart marketing strategy, the platform has succeeded in building a trusted brand – an edge over its competitors. Therefore, when selling products on Walmart Marketplace, it’s essential for merchants to understand its 4Ps marketing mix and adopt these strategies properly. 

If you are selling on other platforms and want to expand to Walmart to utilize these useful strategies and suggested tips, check out LitCommerce . As a multichannel selling expert with over 10 years in dealing with several marketplaces and platforms, LitCommerce can streamline the multichannel selling journey and make it an effortless experience like never before.  

Don’t forget to check out our Retailer Blog and join our community for useful eCommerce tips and updates! Happy selling! 

David Do

I'm David Do LitC, Writer at LitCommerce. I have over 3 years of experience writing about marketing, SEO, and technology for E-Commerce businesses.

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Walmart Innovation Strategy Uses Emerging Tech and Acquisitions

Walmart Innovation Strategy Uses Emerging Tech and Acquisitions

Walmart, the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, has been pushing the envelope for becoming a tech-centric company from being a traditional retailer . It has shifted its focus and strategies to become a high-tech innovator. 

For nearly a decade, Walmart has been investing heavily in technologies and startups and is one of the reasons that it still sits on the throne of the Fortune 500 Company List despite seeing immense competition from its rivals such as Amazon. 

For the fiscal year 2022, Walmart set an investment of $14 billion for automation, technology, and other business areas like supply chain and customer-facing initiatives.

And not just in technology but the company is also planning to hire thousands of the workforce in 2022 including cybersecurity professionals, architects, developers, software engineers, data scientists, data engineers, technical program managers, and product managers. 

It makes one wonder – What made Walmart take that approach? What strategies did it use to overcome the challenges it had been facing?  We did some digging and found a lot of insights that other businesses can take a lesson or two. These insights include Walmart’s patent strategy, its similarity to Amazon’s strategy, the innovations Walmart is working on, and how it is integrating next-gen technologies to improve every area of its operations.

The table of contents below gives a sneak peek into every facet we’d be discussing in our brief time together today. If you’d like a particular section of your interest, you can click on the relevant hyperlink to get to that section.

One more thing, I’ve converted this entire analysis into PDF form that you can download and save for later reading (or sharing with your friends). You can download it using the form below:

walmart strategic marketing plan

Table of Contents

Walmart’s Tough Time

Before 2014, the condition of Walmart in the market was chaotic . Here are some of the factors substantiating its situation:

Walmart decline patent filing trend

  • Not only that, Walmart had faced a financial breakdown during the years 2013–14. The annual report of Walmart in 2014 stated: “Fiscal 2014 was a tough year for Walmart. Sales and earnings were not where we wanted them to be, as we faced a number of economic headwinds around the world.”
  • Consequently, in 2014, it was noticed that the ROI of Walmart had dropped rapidly when compared to 2010.

Walmart’s Strategies to Overcome Challenges

After 2014, the headlines seemed to change. Walmart began emerging as a rising player — one to watch out . If we try and look for the reasons behind this positive turnaround, we’d find the following:

  • Walmart shifted its focus towards becoming a technology-centric company: In June 2014, Walmart started its new aim , which was to transform itself into a tech-innovating company instead of just having some retail stores. Doug McMillon, Walmart’s CEO, said: “We will also develop new capabilities to serve customers in new ways. It is important that we all understand the shift that has happened in technology and retail, what it means for us and what we’re doing to win. There’s a lot of innovation and opportunity available to us.”
  • Walmart realized that it must protect the tech it’s using: Walmart had been facing continuous litigations and had realized that in order to avoid these costly litigation cases, it had to secure a patent arsenal.

Patents are mostly used for defensive purposes rather than offensive — and having a strong patent portfolio often helps in avoiding litigation as chances of counterclaim or retaliation increase hence the possibility of settlement becomes more viable.

Considering this, it can be considered that the continuous litigation pushed Walmart to develop a patent portfolio of its own, and subsequently, an exponential rise was observed in Walmart’s patent filing trend post-2014 — in fact, the count of patents filed in 2017 was 5 times when compared to 2014–15.

Walmart Patent Filing Trend

Being sued multiple times made Walmart smart about protecting their technology. This means that their plans to expand or invest in a domain are reflected directly and clearly in their patent filing.  This can be lucky for their competitors as they can assess Walmart’s plans through their patent portfolio and strategize their business accordingly.  If you’d like to see Walmart’s patent filing trends, which countries they are protecting their IP in and more, in the form of an interactive dashboard, then you can find that treasure of information here.    hbspt.forms.create({ portalId: "1791848", formId: "c5f043a4-97cc-4e0f-943e-6fe14863ae99" });

In 2015, Walmart topped the list of the biggest IT spenders worldwide ; the amount being spent was more than USD 10.5 billion. This IT spending entailed the money spent on hardware, software, IT services, telecommunication services, etc. One of Walmart’s recent announcements substantiates the impact of this decision clearly: “ A 43% increase in its e-commerce sales”, which was fueled by increased investment in digital assets.

In 2020, Walmart upgraded its infrastructure to support the data workloads and bandwidth required for machine learning capabilities. Walmart’s machine learning model optimizes the timing and pricing of markdowns, which saved the company $30 million.

As it is said, “Innovation without protection is philanthropy” , Walmart realized the importance of innovation, and moreover, of protecting its innovation.

Like Amazon, Like Walmart

Walmart and Amazon have been competing in almost every aspect of their businesses. While Walmart’s revenue surpasses Amazon’s drastically, Amazon beats Walmart in online sales with a huge gap. Amazon covered 38.7% of US online sales while Walmart only had a share of 5 .3%. But the game is not limited to the US, globally both companies are struggling to make bucks.

But, as per Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, “ Walmart is the only firm that has the management, capital, and the scale to compete with Amazon . They’ve probably done as good a job of getting off their heels and on their toes as any retailer in the world.“

There is no doubt in stating that IP lawsuits played a key role in pushing the development of Walmart’s patent portfolio. But Walmart is not the only case. It seems that Amazon’s patent portfolio was also kick-started by the rising number of lawsuits against it.

Well, as is apparent, the plots of litigations against Amazon and that of the patent filing of Amazon look similar to those of Walmart. This seems if Walmart has actually been following the business strategy that had previously been adopted by Amazon.

Walmart’s strategy aims for technologies, innovation, and acquisitions to be the best retailer. The company has been utilizing the latest technologies and startups to make the customer experience better. Further, doing in-house innovation to stand out in the market and then using patents to protect its innovation.

Walmart Patent Strategy

A step towards monopoly.

Here is how Walmart’s invention of the ‘self-driving shopping cart’ incorporated more and more features over time.

Walmart Shopping Cart technology

  • Self-driving Mechanism ( US9875503B2 )
  • Video Surveillance ( US9875502B2 )
  • Route Planning ( US9801517B2 )
  • User Interface ( US2016260142A1 )
  • Voice Input Means ( US9757002B2 )
  • Image Capturing ( US2016260148A1 )

Furthermore, Walmart recently filed a patent application for a shopping cart with a biometric handle, which would track customers’ stress levels , and read pulse rate, and temperature. Additionally, these carts would warn associates when customers may need help.

It looks like Walmart has been actively researching which exceptional features can still be added to a shopping cart. Thus, it can very well be a possibility that Walmart is monopolizing the shopping cart space.

Areas in which Walmart might think of monopolizing

Areas In Which Walmart Might Think Of Monopolizing

These are some areas in which Walmart has cited itself repeatedly. As we have seen in the case of Shopping Carts and Conversational Interfaces, Walmart might develop patent thickets in these technological areas, and try to monopolize here too.

Two Trends of Walmart Patent Strategy

Now, one thing to ponder over is the way Walmart is monopolizing ‘Self-Driving Shopping Cart Systems’. Well, as it turns out, there are two trends that we can see by looking at the way Walmart files its patent applications. Let’s have a look.

File First. File Often

Walmart leans towards filing multiple provisional applications for a single invention. The concept here is that with any invention, there would be a stream of additions and reductions to practice. Thus, when Walmart decides to work on an invention for long, it files numerous provisional applications as and when the additional versions of the invention are developed.

Self Citation

Apart from filing often, Walmart has been practicing self-citations for incremental innovations. In a considerable number of cases, Walmart has cited its own patents — indicating that most of its research is intertwined. Further, for such cases, Walmart generally files a continuation application — again indicating that it aims to cover each and every aspect of a single invention.

All this can be boiled down to the term ‘patent thicket’, which means a cluster of patents revolving around one big invention , thereby creating a monopoly in that space.

Walmart has applied both these strategies in the case of Self-Driving Shopping carts — and seems to be on the verge of successfully capturing the market.

There’s another  patent that talks about conversational interfaces between a user and a computer system without human intervention for enhancing the consumer experience. This patent has 9 provisional applications and around 20 INPADOC family members. Though there’s no recent activity by Walmart on this patent, it is a possibility that Walmart applies the same strategy on this invention and gains a monopoly here as well.

Walmart, with its tech-centric approach and a focus on patent filings, is slowly getting a hold of the IP space in the eCommerce industry. Check out where Walmart’s patents are becoming a roadblock for other companies – companies who are working in similar areas but are unable their patents are being rejected because of Walmart’s patents. Fill out this form and with the help of our tool – BOS – we’ll help you find out which patents are being blocked by Walmart’s patents.

Walmart Technology Strategy

Earlier, Walmart’s purpose in using technologies was to solve certain problems. And the new technologies (like Blockchain, IoT, AI, etc.) did help Walmart overcome industry issues and support improving every area of its operations. That’s why they have been investing so much money and effort to become a technology company and this strategy certainly helps the company to a great extent.

But now, Walmart wants to try different technologies not just to solve certain problems but to find white spaces where they can manage to make a space for themselves. 

Below we have provided examples that Walmart is using for either solving a certain issue or to create a new revenue stream.

Blockchain and IOT for tracking food safety

Industry Challenge

The contamination of food leads to significant losses to the suppliers. In 2018, many customers and grocers were forced to throw away large amounts of romaine lettuce when an E. coli contamination in the lettuce spread through the food industry.

Since most supply chains are bogged down in manual processes, tracking such an issue is difficult and time-consuming.

Solution via tech-integration

Walmart partnered with IBM to implement the Food Trust blockchain for its live food business. It quickened tracing the food from farm to store in real-time, thus making the process more transparent.

Moreover, Walmart asked its suppliers of leafy greens to use Blockchain to trace their products all the way back to the farm. This will let them see and validate with certainty where that product was grown, handled, stored, and inspected.

Furthermore, Walmart has implemented the Internet of Things to manage food safety. IoT aggregates data from sensors at each point in the supply chain: farm, transportation, warehousing, and marketplace, and provides information about the product’s attributes.

The retail giant has joined hands with JD.com to back blockchain food tracking efforts in China.

Walmart collaborated with IBM and Tsinghua University to create the Blockchain Food Safety Alliance. Walmart had, in fact, piloted the use of Blockchain in food safety back in 2016 — to explore its usability for food tracking, traceability, and safety — with IBM and Tsinghua.

AI for stock management and store cleanliness

  • Items get misplaced on the wrong shelf.
  • Refilling is needed when the stock is running low.
  • Retail stores are prone to dangers from wet surfaces.
  • Repetitive tasks such as cleaning/scrubbing the floor require a lot of time and effort.

Walmart is working on an Artificial Intelligence Lab in its stores, which will use cameras to track misplaced items and identify low-running stocks. Walmart has also partnered with the California-based Bossa Nova to implement AI-based robots, who’d roam around the store and identify shelves that’d need to be taken care of.

Walmart sponsored Texas A&M University for its computer vision projects. One of the projects involves creating camera systems that would detect water on the floor and let the employees know — so that they can remove the water.

To implement this, Walmart had also partnered with Brain Corporation to create floor-scrubbing robots. Such a robot uses multiple sensors to scan its surroundings for people and obstacles, identify the areas on the floors that need scrubbing, and clean the floor when needed.

Augmented Reality for customer’s enhanced experience

  • It is not feasible to facilitate a one-go comparison of different products based on prices, ratings, etc.
  • It is needed that retailers create engaging and fun experiences for shoppers for enhancing the customer experience.

Walmart recently introduced an AR scanner in its mobile app; the camera, when pointed at items on a shelf, brings out the products’ names, prices, customer ratings, and other details while moving the phone from one product to another. The technology was first developed by a team at an internal Walmart hackathon using Apple’s ARKit technology.

Walmart also partnered with the augmented-reality developer Zappar , to bring this tech to their retail stores. Shoppers can scan the Zapcodes at the stores to activate the AR experience, which is being sponsored by many brands like Pepsi, Nickelodeon, etc. The AR-related activities include encounters with brand mascots like Tony the Tiger or Chester the Cheetah, mini-games, 3D animations, and face filters. All of this greatly enhances the customer experience.

Walmart’s purpose in making its stores AR-enabled is to get more attention from customers and enhance their in-store experience. Walmart is doing its best to transform a regular shopping trip into an adventure, thereby boosting customer engagement.

Virtual Reality for enhancing the employee-customer experience

  • It is difficult to train employees without creating a life-like store environment.

Walmart has been using virtual reality to train its associates . The associates can learn by watching modules through the headsets. This lets them recreate a real-life store environment to experiment, learn, and handle difficult situations. In fact, “ Walmart was one of the first companies to benefit from VR’s ability to enrich employee education ”.

Walmart even acquired virtual reality startup Spatialand to create VR software to be used in Walmart’s retail stores. Spatialand had already worked with Walmart’s technology incubator, Store No. 8, on a project in 2017 — this resulted in a proof-of-concept VR experience for shoppers. As stated by officials, what Spatialand is creating for Walmart might not be visible for 12-18 months. It seems that the VR products in Walmart’s store would be seen at a future time interval when the tech becomes widespread and the cost of VR products is reduced.

Wireless Charging for Store Maintenance

In-store devices, like battery-powered barcode scanners and electronic shelf labels in retail stores, need to be plugged into conventional power sources. This is one extra task that leads to a decrease in employees’ productivity due to the time and energy that could have been utilized elsewhere. More importantly, such devices also increase battery costs for the retailer.

In Sep 2018, Walmart partnered with Ossia to pilot wireless charging technology across its retail stores.

Walmart selected Ossia innovation at the Walmart Innovation Summit in April 2018, out of hundreds of applications, when they showcased how Cota Real Wireless Power would transform the retail experience.

Walmart’s director of public relations, Ravi Jariwala stated: “ When we find ways to lower costs, it means we can lower our prices even further for customers, and that’s something we’re always looking to do. One interesting technology we’re excited to test is wireless power transfer from a company named Ossia, Inc., which could one day reduce and even eliminate our daily dependence on batteries and wired connections for power. ”

Autonomous Driving for product delivery

For the customers that prefer home delivery, there needs to be a proper channel of delivery service. Moreover, it is not very convenient for the customers to go to a retail store every time they want to buy something new.

In November 2018, Walmart teamed up with Ford to test the ways in which the latter’s self-driving vehicles could be used to deliver products, such as groceries, toiletries, pet food, and other consumer items. The collaboration would focus on “gathering crucial data about consumer preferences” and learning the best way to connect people with goods that they’d need.

Walmart has also partnered with Waymo to work on an online grocery pilot project. The purpose, they say, is to learn more about the customers and give them a unique convenient experience.

Cloud Computing for enhancing the customer’s experience

It is a task to manage data on thousands of proprietary servers when a retailer is renting all the computing capacity that they need in order to serve their customers effectively.

In mid-2018, Walmart entered into a five-year agreement with Microsoft to use the latter’s cloud platform, Azure. With this, Walmart would convert all of its websites and applications to run natively on Azure.

In late 2018, they also announced the opening of a joint engineering office in Austin, Texas , as part of the cloud partnership.

This has enabled Walmart to more effectively store and analyze data that could be used to drive online sales and boost retail efforts.

Drone Delivery

As the FAA increasingly embraces commercial drone operations, drone delivery in the United States is closer than ever to reality. Amazon is already looking forward to the race of drone delivery as the company researching drones for years and securing many drone-related inventions. 

Walmart too has buckled in the race but rather than following Amazon, the retail giant chose partnership to speed up. Walmart has struck three deals with drone operators to test different uses for drones. 

In the first deal, it teamed up with Flytrex to deliver groceries and household essentials in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The second deal includes Zipline for delivering medical and healthcare products.

The third deal with DroneUp is proving to be successful as Walmart (with DroneUp) has rolled out the first of its drone “Hubs,” which are co-located with Walmart stores. 

Walmart has 90 percent of the U.S. population within 10 miles of its stores, and each store is optimized for that particular area’s audience. And this fact alone could give it a good edge over Amazon in the drone delivery race. 

Walmart said to expand drone delivery across 6 states by 2022.  it will be able to reach 4 million households in parts of Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. The deliveries by air will be fulfilled from a total of 37 stores — with 34 of those run by DroneUp.

Sustainable Packaging

Being the world’s biggest retail company, Walmart is bound to adopt sustainable packaging. Though the company is to replace single-use plastic for some time, now it has chosen an alternate option to search for sustainable packaging solutions .

Walmart launched an online platform called Circular Connector. The goal of the platform is to accelerate innovation in sustainable and circular packaging and providing this innovation to companies that are looking for such solutions. 

Via the new platform suppliers can submit their sustainable packaging innovations for review and potential online publication for brands to consider. 

Voice-Search AI

Voice-Search is a feature that Walmart lacks drastically, especially if compared to Amazon which has Alexa. Amazon Alexa’s everywhere strategy is proving a goldmine for them. Whereas Walmart doesn’t have a personal assistant that can rival Siri let alone Alexa. Still, the company has been experimenting with different ways of implementing voice AI for a few years due to its immense potential in the coming years. 

The company implemented direct ordering through Google Home devices in 2017 before switching to Google Assistant integration in 2019. Integration with Siri quickly followed. The company has also begun trying out voice AI for use by its employees.

Walmart might not be getting success in voice search but its Indian e-commerce subsidiary Flipkart seems to be doing well in this department, although the tech was developed in-house and not as part of Walmart’s overall R&D efforts.

Automated Delivery

Delivery is one of the biggest strengths of Walmart and the company wants to be better at it with the passing of every day. Apart from strengthening the supply chain, Walmart is using emerging tech to improve its delivery services. 

For example, Walmart has built a tech platform that uses automation and machine learning to turn a near-infinite number of factors into usable data which helps in improving its last-mile delivery ecosystem. As it learns through artificial intelligence (AI), the platform is designed to improve. 

Further, Walmart wants to provide its delivery expertise to merchants both large and small. 

In Aug 2021, Walmart announced a new delivery service business called Walmart GoLocal, which allows other merchants, to tap into Walmart’s own delivery platform to get orders to their customers. 

Merchants can choose to use the service for a variety of delivery types, including scheduled and unscheduled deliveries, including same-day delivery, and they can expand their delivery capacity and coverage as their own customer demand requires.

GoLocal is powered by services Walmart first developed for its own delivery needs. Over the past three years, Walmart has been working to scale its in-house Express Delivery service, which promises delivery in two hours or less. This service now offers 160,000+ products at some 3,000 stores, reaching nearly 70% of the U.S. population, the company says. Now it believes it’s ready to make these same capabilities available to other merchants across the U.S. with GoLocal. 

Fintech is perhaps one of the important sectors for Walmart to enter. And considering Amazon’s growth in fintech, it’s an obvious choice for Walmart to make a space in the fintech market. 

In 2021, Walmart announced that it will be creating a new fintech startup in collaboration with investment firm Ribbit Capital. Behind the scene, both successfully launched a startup that aims to be a super-app rather than a bank of Walmart, per Forbes. 

Later in 2022, the start-up, called Hazel , acquired two more companies , One Finance and Even. The combined company will be called ONE .

The start-up plans to capitalize on Walmart’s huge reach: its 1.6 million U.S. employees and more than 100 million weekly shoppers. It has also pointed to an untapped customer base of millions of Americans who don’t have a bank account, can’t access credit, and struggle to build up savings — including many who already shop at Walmart stores. 

Robotic Automation in Fulfillment Centers

Automation is not new to Walmart but the company now is aggressively seeking automation for its fulfillment centers. 

As a result, Robotic technology from GreyOrange will be used at Walmart Canada’s new $118 million sortable fulfillment center in Rocky View County, Alberta.

The facility will be capable of: shipping 20 million items annually from the facility to Walmart customers; storing 500,000 items to fulfill direct-to-home and in-store pickup orders; and designed to optimize packaging, minimize waste, and reduce transportation costs.

The new center is part of Walmart Canada’s $3.5 billion investment to make the online and in-store shopping experience simpler, faster, and more convenient for its customers. 

Further, the company announced plans to build four new fulfillment centers . These will implement automation technology that provides customers and Walmart+ members with access to next or two-day shipping on millions of items. 

The retailer says that this results in double the storage capacity and double the number of customer orders it’s able to fulfill in a day. 

As new technologies are emerging, Walmart trying to find how it can use them for its customers’ benefit. Keeping that in mind, Walmart has chosen to venture into the Metaverse , one of the more trending technology of current times.  

Walmart plans to create its own cryptocurrency and collection of NFTs. It filed several new trademarks in Dec 2021 that indicate its intent to make and sell virtual goods, including electronics, home decorations, toys, sporting goods, and personal care products. 

Its Indian subsidiary, Flipkart, also launched an in-house innovation arm called ‘Flipkart Labs’ to explore the metaverse and Web3 . One of the first areas of focus for Flipkart Labs is to collaborate with the web3 community and set the standard for commerce in the metaverse. 

Web3, the next iteration of the internet, will have a profound impact across e-commerce solutions, said Naren Ravula, vice president, product strategy and deployment at Flipkart Labs adding that it “leverages the best of latest technology like blockchain for real-world use cases that can digitally transform businesses like ours.” 

Following its acquisition last year of Zeekit, creator of a virtual fitting room platform, Walmart is rolling out the venture’s tech , starting with a Choose My Model feature, to users of the retailer’s app and website.

New Services

Walmart is interested in expanding its profit pools beyond its core retail business. And to achieve that Walmart has started selling its technologies to small-and-medium size retailers. 

It allows shoppers to buy items online and pick up the purchase at the store. These businesses also will be able to add products to Walmart’s online marketplace with just a few clicks. To offer a suite of cloud-based services, Walmart has partnered with Adobe, which will sell the software through a subscription.

Walmart Acquisition Strategy

Walmart acquisitions.

Walmart has been snapping up start-ups aggressively in recent years. Even they are pouring big money for making acquisitions.

  • The acquisition spree looks to have started with the $3.3-billion acquisition of Jet.com, which continued with Walmart’s acquisition of ShoeBuy (retailer), Moosejaw (retailer), Bonobos (retailer), Parcel (logistics company), Hayneedle (retailer), Modcloth (retailer), Flipkart, etc.
  • Walmart had launched a “Technology Open Call” back in 2016 to look for innovative tech ideas and startups.
  • Further, in 2017, Walmart announced its Store No. 8 , which would be an incubator to nurture startup businesses internally.
  • In Aug 2018, Walmart completed a $16 billion Flipkart acquisition which makes the company the largest shareholder of the acquired e-commerce company. This is the biggest acquisition ever made by Walmart .

After Flipkart, Walmart made a few more acquisitions that were related to the online shopping platforms.

  • In Oct 2018, Walmart acquired Eloquii , an online plus-size clothing store featuring women’s plus-size fashion, clothes, and accessories, for $100 million. Women’s plus-size apparel is a $21 billion dollar market that every retailer wishes to have.
  • On Nov 20, 2018, Walmart added art.com to its portfolio . Art.com is an online platform that sells wall art and decor items. Neither of the companies disclosed the acquisition amount.
  • In 2019, Walmart made two acquisitions both with an undisclosed amount. The first one is an Israeli Natural Language Processing Startup, Aspectiva that has the ability to turn product reviews into a smart shopping experience. Another is Polymorph Labs , an ad-tech startup to help the company to maximize its ad revenue.
  • In Jun 2020, Walmart acquired CareZone , a medication management software for reportedly $200 million. The recent acquisition is a hint of where Walmart could want to expand.

The startups can help Walmart to fulfill their technological needs, whereas big acquisitions like jet.com or Flipkart could help to gain more market. The only purpose of acquiring Flipkart is so they can obtain a sufficient online sales portion in one of the biggest markets in the world, India.

Walmart also had many retail stores in India but acquiring Flipkart would help them in getting online sales as well.

Amazon is pouring a good budget for the Indian market as both companies know the value of the market. Last year, Amazon acquired a food and grocery retail chain, More, for making their offline presence strong in India.

Walmart would be providing these businesses with capital and support. The incubator would, thus, have a strong focus on futuristic technologies such as in-store drones, VR-enabled shopping, beacon technology, etc.

Transformation of Retail’s Future

Walmart’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Sam’s West, operates the Sam’s Club chain of membership warehouse stores, which has set up a cash-less digital store called Sam’s Club Now for the retail giant.

The retailer’s recent plans to launch such a store in Dallas called it ‘a real-world test lab for technology-driven shopping experiences. The store would comprise technology-enabled retail features such as electronic shelf labels, wayfinding technology for in-store navigation, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence-infused shopping.

Here are certain notable features of the store:

  • The store would be staffed with “Member Hosts” instead of cashiers who would act more like concierges.
  • Instead of scanning items at a POS cashier stand, customers would use a specialized Sam’s Club Now mobile app . The app leverages Sam’s Club existing “Scan & Go” technology across its retail locations to help speed up the checkout. It would also be infused with other features the company wants to try out, including an integrated wayfinding and navigation system, augmented reality features, an AI-powered shopping list, and more.
  • At the launch of the app, it was planned to offer ‘a built-in map’; but over time, the map would be upgraded to use beacon technology and provide routes to customers according to their shopping list. Also, the shopping list would be powered by A.I., which would use a combination of machine learning and customer purchase history to pre-populate the list as per the customers’ history of purchases.
  • It would also include new inventory management and tracking technology. On the shelves, it’s also testing electronic shelf labels that would update the prices of displayed products instantly.

Key Takeaways for the Decision Makers

We can take several key takeaways from Walmart’s strategies and implement them in any industry.

  • Walmart’s approach to collaborating with a university to look for the possibility of solving a particular problem, then entering into a partnership with a startup to get a more advanced solution for a similar problem, portrays its determination to build intelligent stores, thus enhancing customer experience at its retail locations.
  • By acquiring companies, in order to integrate advanced tech and futuristic approaches, it depicts its determination to build intelligent stores — all to become more customer-centric by being tech-centric.
  • Using the latest technologies, Walmart is not only saving its manual labor on incompetent tasks but also saving its money on power costs by eliminating the daily dependence.
  • Walmart seems to be literally going out of its way to provide customers with the most convenient experience. With this initiative, Walmart would explore how grocery delivery can help them expand their reach to people all over the globe — effectively.
  • Walmart is also making efforts to stay competitive with Amazon to control its data-intensive functions smoothly. Not to mention how the cloud initiative imitates Amazon’s use of cloud-powered big data to drive digital sales.
  • Walmart is, well, doing an excellent job of leveraging the power of innovative start-ups in order to elevate its own hold in the e-commerce business. Their strategy, so far, has been to buy companies and pull them into Store No.8 where they can provide all the required backing and get innovative advancements.
  • The vast majority of technologies that Walmart is and would be using have been developed in-house, though there might be pieces of modules that it is using from third parties. The store also plans to rapidly iterate on new and different experiences across computer vision, AI, AR, machine learning, and robotics.

The use of the latest technologies and acquiring startups are some of the key takeaways which a company can implement. Further, being technology innovative and then securing those inventions using patents is another strategy that is one of the reasons for Walmart’s rise.

Knowing the potential market and paying a huge amount for it so that it might give benefit in the future is another strategy of Walmart that the company implemented in the Indian market by acquiring Flipkart. They paid a big amount to date for the acquisition but it’s a good decision.

Walmart seems all set for more future growth and so is its main competitor, Amazon. How the future will be going for both, that’s a little complicated, but it is evident that a tough competition has already been started.

And one can learn from both companies as their strategies are what made them pioneers in their industry.

Authored by : Vipin Singh (Sr. Research Analyst, Market Research), Mitthatmeer Kaur (Sr. Research Analyst, Patent Analytics), and Priya Vashishth (Sr. Research Analyst, Patent Analytics), Sushant Kumar (Team Lead, Patent Analytics).

Next Strategy : Amazon Business Strategy: Insights of their core operations and investment to be the top Fortune 500 company

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Walmart Marketing Strategy: 6 Tips for Success

a small grocery cart beside a smartphone with the walmart online logo on its screen

Last updated on August 16th, 2023

walmart strategic marketing plan

Walmart is one of the retail giants in the world, known for its cost leadership strategy and unique selling proposition of offering products at "everyday low prices." To thrive on this platform, you must devise and adopt an effective Walmart marketing strategy.

But what makes an effective strategy? 

Many factors go into it, from specific business needs to industry suitability. To help you find the most suitable option for your brand, let’s explore six strategies to drive your business to success in the Walmart marketplace. 

Table of Contents

Walmart’s Business Model

Walmart is known for its huge physical stores, but today it can compete against giants of the online shopping world. In 2023, Walmart's revenue is already at 611 billion dollars .

Here are the four primary business models of Walmart that cater to its growth:

With operations in all 50 states, Walmart has been one of the most prosperous American retail companies since its founding. Walmart U.S. is responsible for 66% of the company's overall sales.

Walmart International

Walmart continues expanding outside the United States and operates in 27 countries. Walmart International operates under different formats:

  • Supercenters
  • Hypermarkets
  • Warehouse clubs
  • Supermarkets

Sam's Club is another Walmart business model comprising members-only warehouse clubs available in 50 U.S. and Puerto Rico states. It contributes 14% to Walmart's overall sales.

Walmart Distribution Centers

Walmart has over 190 distribution centers, and its operation is one of the most efficient in the world. Walmart's transportation alone is impressive. The enterprise has 80,000 trailers, more than 13,000 drivers, and 11,000 tractors.

  • Walmart's intensive distribution strategy ships general merchandise, groceries, and other goods to consumers daily.
  • Walmart has disaster distribution centers placed in strategic locations across the country. These distribution centers contain enough goods for struggling communities in disaster situations.
  • All distribution centers measure at least 1 million square feet and have more than 700 personnel on the field and more than 200 trailers for shipping needs.
  • Every distribution center in a 150-mile radius can serve up to 150 Walmart retail stores.

6 Practices for a Successful Walmart Marketing Strategy

The numbers are impressive just by looking at it. According to recent data, Walmart has 240 million customer visits weekly across their physical stores and ecommerce websites. They have roughly 160 million products to choose from over 150,000 sellers.

The Walmart marketplace has clearly increased its digital presence and is now directly competing with the Amazon marketplace. But just like any online selling platform, it is also competitive. 

Racking up on sales and driving traffic to your business requires plenty of work. But with the proper marketing strategies, boosting your business is possible. If you're an ecommerce seller and have yet to join the Walmart bandwagon, now is the time to grab the chance to earn large potential sales. 

Here are six practices to incorporate into your marketing strategy.

an infographic about 6 tactics to include in your walmart marketing strategy

Target the Most Competitive Price Point

The product price is a big consideration in Walmart customers’ purchasing decisions. In Walmart marketing, you are likely to achieve the Buy Box feature with the lowest price. But remember, you don't need to always race for the lowest store price.

Here are rules to remember when targeting a competitive price point for your Walmart stores.

  • Low prices are great, but always consider your profit margins. Forcing you to sell at low prices that don't generate profit can hurt your business in the long run.
  • Consider other costs, such as shipping, packing, and other fees, for your pricing strategy.

Look for a New Target Market

Exploring multiple business paths is one of Walmart's most successful marketing techniques. If there are growth opportunities, don't be afraid to take them. Opening your company to new (and relevant) prospects can significantly expand your presence worldwide.

How do you think huge enterprises grow their business? Walmart has over 11,000 stores spread across 27 different countries. You don't have to offer your products in all countries. Starting with the nearest or most convenient for your business is a great start and will surely cater to your business growth.

Excellent Customer Support Is a Must

Sometimes, the factor that separates online selling platforms is customer service. A positive customer experience makes buyers trust and repeat purchases from you. However, good customer service is hard to define in a few words. Is it replying to customer messages diligently? Is it about processing refunds and returns quickly?

Here are some key metrics to help you provide top-notch customer service to your patrons.

  • Maintain a 99% product shipping rate to help your business rank high in organic listings.
  • Product cancellations should be less than 1.5%
  • Keep returns under 3% and, if possible, process all refunds in one day.
  • Your Walmart 90-day seller rating should be 90% or above.
  • Escalation rates should be less than 0.5%.
  • It is best to answer 60% of calls within a day and reply to at least 90% of emails you receive.
  • The file order receipt should be received and confirmed by Walmart in an hour, and there should be an electronic notice of the shipment confirmation in a four-hour time window.

Take Advantage of Walmart's Minimal Fees

Walmart offers an easier way to generate income compared to other selling platforms. When you have an Amazon account, it feels like you only pay fees for subscriptions, FBA, shipping, storage, and more. These fees can be heavy if you're starting an online business.

If you want to save money and boost your income faster, take advantage of Walmart's minimal fees. There are no set-up, monthly, or annual charges for maintaining your account. Walmart only charges referral fees depending on different product categories. 

Once you have confirmed your product categories on the retailer agreement, you can enjoy the many features of the Walmart marketplace.

walmart homepage on a laptop screen

Be Smart About Your Promotional Strategies

The most effective and fool-proof way to attract customers to your product listings is by running different promotions. There are several marketplace techniques you can use for your Walmart product strategy. Here are a few to consider.

Find the Best Distribution Center and Location

An efficient supply chain is essential to succeeding as a seller at Walmart. First, you must leverage the ecommerce platform’s intensive distribution channel design. It ensures your product reaches customers in the fastest time possible. For example, they provide designated trucks to handle large items and guarantee their good condition until delivery. 

Next, you can choose the optimal location for your products strategically. This will simplify your shipping process and inventory to meet customer demands. Always track your inventory to meet your customers' needs successfully.

Manage Your Walmart Account Right with Seller Interactive

The online marketplace is a competitive landscape. There are always learning curves, but scaling your business with us can make the venture easier and more guaranteed success. 

Seller Interactive’s Walmart account management services will set the stage to support your business growth. Our experts will provide key Walmart marketing strategies to help increase your sales and conversion rates.

You can trust our experts to find the best strategy for growing your ecommerce business. What are you waiting for? Don't get left behind. Book a call with us today, and get to know more about our Walmart marketplace services !

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walmart strategic marketing plan

Last updated on December 18th, 2023 Written by Mohamed Aden For Amazon sellers, having a strong marketing strategy is crucial for boosting sales. Having a landing page for Amazon products is a strategy many successful sellers apply, and you can also do. This article will explain what a landing page is and how it can […]

walmart strategic marketing plan

Last updated on December 13th, 2023 Written by Mohamed Aden The Amazon Best Seller Rank (BSR) is a crucial metric sellers like you should understand to maximize your success on the platform. This ranking system reflects a product's popularity and sales performance against other products in the same category. By grasping the intricacies of BSR, […]

walmart strategic marketing plan

Last updated on December 11th, 2023 Written by Himanshi Raj In a bustling marketplace like Amazon, every aspect of your online presence matters, and thoughtfully chosen Amazon seller names can be one of the first steps toward building a solid brand. However, coming up with an Amazon seller name is considered trivial for most sellers. […]

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Walmart Business Strategy: A Comprehensive Analysis

Author Image

By   Julie Choo

Published: January 5, 2024

Last Update: January 5, 2024

TOPICS:   Service Design

In the dynamic landscape of retail, Walmart stands as a behemoth, shaping the industry with its innovative business strategies . This article delves into the core of Walmart’s success, unraveling its business strategy and digital transformation from top to bottom.

Walmart Business Strategy

Walmart’s business strategy is a well-crafted tapestry that combines a variety of elements to secure its position as a retail giant. At the heart of this strategy lies a robust operating model approach that encompasses a diverse range of channels and tactics. 

Transition to An OmniChannel Marketplace

The Walmart business strategy includes leveraging its vast physical presence through an extensive network of stores, drawing customers in with the promise of Everyday Low Prices (EDLP). This commitment to affordability is not just a slogan; it’s a cornerstone of Walmart’s marketing ethos, shaping consumer perceptions and driving foot traffic to its brick-and-mortar locations.

Building Strength via its Emerging Digital Operating Model

Walmart’s business business strategy extends beyond traditional advertising methods and its strength is in its operational strategy where it is charging ahead with digital transformation to become a more complete Omnichannel Marketplace to combat competitors such as Amazon. The retail giant has embraced the digital era, utilizing online platforms and e-commerce to reach a broader audience. Part of this digital evolution involves the strategic placement of distribution and fulfillment centers , ensuring efficient order processing and timely deliveries. By strategically integrating distribution and fulfillment centers into its operating model , Walmart maximizes operational efficiency, meeting customer demands swiftly and solidifying its reputation for reliability in the competitive retail landscape.

In essence, Walmart’s holistic digital operating model backed by a evolving digital transformation  strategy, encompassing physical stores, online presence, and strategically placed distribution hubs, reflects a dynamic and adaptive approach to consumer engagement and satisfaction. 

Walmart's business model as a retailer and business giant

Walmart’s Existing Business Model Before Digital Transformation

Walmart’s retail business .

Walmart stores, comprising a vast network of discount stores and clubs, serve as the backbone of the retail giant’s physical presence. Walmart’s store format, ranging from neighborhood discount stores to expansive membership-based clubs, caters to a diverse customer base. These Walmart stores are strategically positioned to provide accessibility to a wide demographic, offering a one-stop shopping experience.

The discount stores, characterized by their commitment to Everyday Low Prices (EDLP), have become synonymous with affordability, attracting budget-conscious consumers. Simultaneously, Walmart clubs offer a membership-based model, providing additional benefits and exclusive deals. The amalgamation of these store formats under the Walmart umbrella showcases the company’s versatility, catering to the varied needs and preferences of consumers across different communities and demographics.

Walmart Pricing Strategy

Pricing strategy.

Walmart’s pricing strategy and its competitive advantage are substantiated by reputable sources in the retail industry. The pricing index data, indicating that Walmart’s prices are, on average, 10% lower than its competitors, comes from a comprehensive market analysis conducted by Retail Insight, a leading research firm specializing in retail trends and pricing dynamics.

Everyday Low Prices

Walmart’s success in the retail sector can be attributed to its commitment to Low Price Leadership, a strategic approach that revolves around providing customers with unbeatable prices. Leveraging Economies of Scale, Walmart capitalizes on its vast size and purchasing power to negotiate favorable deals with suppliers, enabling the company to pass on cost savings to consumers. The integration of Advanced Technology into its operations is another pivotal aspect of Walmart’s strategy. From inventory management to supply chain optimization, technology allows Walmart to enhance efficiency and keep prices competitive.

Walmart Discount prices depiction

Walmart strives to keep it’s pricing tactics to the concept of “Everyday Low Prices” (EDLP). This philosophy ensures that customers receive consistently low prices on a wide range of products, fostering trust and loyalty. Additionally, the Rollback Pricing strategy involves temporary price reductions on select items, creating a sense of urgency and encouraging sales. Walmart’s Price Matching Policy, both in-store and online, further solidifies its commitment to offering the best deals. This policy assures customers that if they find a lower price elsewhere, Walmart will match it.

The insight into Walmart’s “Everyday Low Prices” (EDLP) philosophy and its impact on a 15% lower average price for common goods compared to competitors is derived from a detailed report published by Priceonomics , a respected platform known for its in-depth analyses of pricing strategies across various industries.

The statistics regarding Walmart’s market share of 22% in the U.S. grocery market and the 19% higher customer loyalty rate compared to competitors are sourced from recent market reports by Statista, a reliable and widely used statistical portal providing insights into global market trends and consumer behavior.

Multiple layers of Discount

Walmart’s embrace of Multiple Discounts adds another layer to its pricing strategy. Whether through seasonal promotions, clearance sales, or bundled deals, the company provides various avenues for customers to save money. This multifaceted approach to pricing reflects Walmart’s dedication to delivering value to its customers, ensuring that affordability remains a cornerstone of the retail giant’s identity.

These sources collectively reinforce the significance of Walmart’s pricing strategy in maintaining its competitive edge and dominating the retail landscape

Walmart’s Servicing Business

Walmart’s strategic expansion into the servicing business marks a transformative shift, positioning the retail giant as a comprehensive one-stop-shop that extends beyond conventional retail offerings. This venture encompasses an array of lifestyle services, ranging from financial services to automotive care and healthcare clinics. Walmart’s aim is clear: to seamlessly integrate into the daily lives of customers, providing not only products but also essential services, thereby enhancing its role in customers’ routines.

In response to the evolving preferences of contemporary consumers who prioritize convenience and accessibility, Walmart’s strategy seeks to streamline the customer journey. The provision of a diverse range of services alongside its traditional retail offerings exemplifies Walmart’s commitment to simplifying the consumer experience. This comprehensive approach not only caters to the varied needs of customers but also cultivates a sense of loyalty, as individuals find value in the convenience of addressing different requirements all under one roof.

The multifaceted nature of Walmart’s strategy is anticipated to foster increased customer retention. By offering not only a wide array of products but also an extensive range of lifestyle services, Walmart solidifies its position as a retail powerhouse, adapting to the changing landscape of customer-centric businesses. The convenience and value embedded in this approach are poised to elevate Walmart’s stature, making it an indispensable part of customers’ lives.

SWOT Analysis of Walmart’s Business strategy

As we navigate Walmart’s digital transformation journey, a SWOT analysis reveals key insights into its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, guiding strategic decisions for sustained success in the dynamic retail industry that is operating in an increasingly digital economy.

SWOT Analysis of Walmart

SWOT Analysis of Walmart:

  • Strong Brand Recognition: Walmart’s strength lies in its widely recognized and trusted brand, fostering consumer confidence and loyalty.
  • Diverse Revenue Stream: The company’s adaptability is evident through a diverse revenue stream, navigating various markets and industries to maintain financial resilience. Per Walmart’s Q3 FY23 Earnings , a breakdown of walmart’s income can be recognised through its Sam’s Club membership sales (Up by 7.2%), Walmart U.S Comp Sales (Up 4.9%), Walmart U.S. eCommerce (up by 24%), and Walmart International sales (up by 5.4%). 
  • Economies of Scale: Walmart leverages its extensive size for economies of scale shown by its strong revenue growth of 5.3% per 2022 and 2023 consolidated Income statement, enabling cost advantages in procurement, operations, and overall efficiency. 
  • Strong Customer Base: With a vast and loyal customer base, Walmart establishes a robust foundation in the retail sector, emphasizing customer retention and sustained business growth as per market share stat of 60% shown on the Market retail/wholesale industry dominated by Walmart.

walmart strategic marketing plan

Weaknesses:

  • Labor Relations: Walmart has faced criticism for labor practices, including low wages and labor disputes.
  • E-commerce Competition: Despite significant strides, Walmart faces intense competition from e-commerce giants (e.g, amazon, eBay), impacting its online market share.
  • Over Reliance on US Market: A substantial portion of Walmart’s revenue is generated in the United States, making it vulnerable to domestic economic fluctuations.
  • Inconsistent customer service: represents a weakness in Walmart’s SWOT analysis, as variations in service quality across different locations may impact the overall customer experience, potentially leading to customer dissatisfaction and diminished brand perception.

Opportunities:

  • E-commerce Expansion: Further growth in the online market allows Walmart to capitalize on changing consumer shopping habits.
  • International Expansion: Targeting untapped markets presents opportunities for global revenue diversification.
  • Health and Wellness Market: The growing trend towards health-conscious living provides avenues for expansion in the health and wellness sector. Increased understanding of customer journeys in these niches is key to begin to build stickiness effects.
  • Technological Innovations: Embracing cutting-edge technologies can enhance customer experience and operational efficiency through a growing Omnichannel marketplace. It is vital to master data science and begin to leverage AI in the battle to understand consumer behaviors and deliver a remarkable experience.
  • Competition: Intense competition from traditional retailers and e-commerce platforms poses a threat to Walmart’s market share such as Costco, Target and Amazon.
  • Regulatory Challenges: Changes in regulations, especially related to labor and trade, can impact Walmart’s operations and costs. One such example is the metrics shown per Walmart’s ethics & compliance code of conduct aligning to regulatory challenges in culture, work safety, risk mitigation and more. 
  • Economic Downturns: Economic uncertainties and recessions may lead to reduced consumer spending, affecting Walmart’s revenue.
  • Supply Chain Disruptions: External factors like natural disasters or geopolitical events can disrupt the global supply chain, impacting product availability and costs. Such threats are specifically addressed by Walmart’s Enterprise Resilience Planning Team .

More on Walmart’s Online Competitors

Walmart faces formidable competition in the online retail arena, with key rivals such as Amazon and Target vying for a share of the digital market. Amazon, known for its extensive product selection and swift delivery services, poses a significant challenge to Walmart’s e-commerce dominance. Target, on the other hand, leverages its brand appeal and strategic partnerships to attract online customers. To counteract these competitors, Walmart employs a multifaceted approach that combines technological innovation, competitive pricing, and strategic collaborations.

Walmart strategically invests in advanced technologies to enhance its online platform and improve the overall customer experience. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning enables Walmart to provide personalized recommendations, similar to Amazon’s renowned recommendation engine. Additionally, Walmart’s commitment to competitive pricing aligns with its traditional retail strength, offering Everyday Low Prices (EDLP) and frequent promotions to attract budget-conscious consumers, countering the pricing strategies employed by Amazon and other competitors.

Conducting a thorough SWOT analysis (such as this example from the Strategy Journey Book – 2nd Edition) allows Walmart to capitalize on its strengths, address weaknesses, seize opportunities, and mitigate potential threats, contributing to sustained success in the ever-evolving retail landscape.

Global Expansion across the countries image

Walmart’s Digital Transformation Strategy in the new ERA of AI-led Customer Centricity 

Walmart’s online business strategy.

Overall, Walmart’s e-commerce strategy is customer-centric, driving substantial sales growth by tailoring its approach to the evolving needs of online customers. Operating a multitude of specialized e-commerce websites across diverse product categories, Walmart strategically positions itself on various e-commerce platforms for market penetration within the US.

Servicing Relevant Customer Journeys & Sustainable Transformation

Walmart’s evolving online strategy is characterized by a dual focus on extensive product offerings and technological sophistication, with concrete examples per its strategic partnership with Adobe in 2021 to integrate walmart’s marketplace, online and instore fulfillment and pickup technologies with Adobe commerce showcasing its commitment to a seamless customer experience. The integration of advanced tools is exemplified by the implementation of an efficient order processing system. For instance, Walmart employs real-time inventory management and automated order fulfillment , ensuring that customers experience timely and accurate deliveries. Statistics show an increasing number of fulfillment centers through FY2022 and FY2023 reports per statista .

Walmart Statistics on Number of Fulfilment Centers increased from FY2022 compared to FY2023

Emerging predictive capabilities supported by Data Science and AI

In addition, the technological depth extends to personalized experiences, illustrated by Walmart’s robust recommendation engine. By analyzing customer preferences and purchase history, the system suggests relevant products, enhancing the entire customer journey. This personalized touch not only reflects the user-friendly interface but also demonstrates Walmart’s dedication to tailoring the online experience to individual needs.

Focus on seamless CX and UX to improve customer stickiness

Furthermore, Walmart’s commitment to a seamless online interaction is evident in its streamlined navigation features. The website’s intuitive design and optimized search functionality provide a smooth browsing experience for customers. This emphasis on user-friendliness goes beyond mere aesthetics, ensuring that customers can easily find and explore products, contributing to a more engaging online experience. Improved engagement is at the heart of Walmart’s strategy to foster stickiness effects, both digitally and to also build on brand stickiness too.

Walmart Website Layout

By investing in cutting-edge technologies while transforming using Human Centered design practices focused on CX and UX, Walmart not only navigates the complexities of the e-commerce landscape but also enhances the overall satisfaction and engagement of its online customers. These examples underscore Walmart’s strategic approach to digital transformation, where technological sophistication is not just a feature but a tangible means to elevate the online shopping experience. 

Walmart International Business Network

Walmart International Business

Successful international business expansion requires operating model transformation, and Walmart’s strategy is characterized by a blend of strategic acquisitions, partnerships, and a keen understanding of local markets. This is also how Walmart is operationally applying AI, via strategic partnerships as it continues to build its capabilities to improve its agility to implement transformation and go to market faster, rather than trying to build everything from scratch.

A Sustainable Diversification strategy that adapts to local markets  

Walmart’s international business expansion is a testament to its strategic approach in entering diverse markets and adapting to local nuances. One notable example of Walmart’s successful international expansion is its entry into the Indian market. In 2018, Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart, one of India’s leading e-commerce platforms. This move allowed Walmart to tap into India’s burgeoning e-commerce market, aligning with the country’s growing digital consumer base.

The acquisition of Flipkart exemplifies Walmart’s strategy of leveraging local expertise and established platforms to gain a foothold in international markets. Recognizing the unique characteristics of the Indian retail landscape, where e-commerce plays a significant role, Walmart strategically invested in a company deeply embedded in the local market. This approach not only facilitated a smoother entry for Walmart but also enabled the retail giant to navigate regulatory complexities and consumer preferences effectively.

Another example of Walmart’s commitment to tailoring its offerings to meet local needs is further highlighted in its expansion into China where Walmart adapts its store formats to cater to specific consumer preferences. 

In China, Walmart has experimented with smaller-format stores in urban areas, recognizing the demand for convenient and accessible shopping options. This adaptability showcases Walmart’s understanding of the diverse economic and cultural landscapes it operates in, contributing to its success on the global stage.

Teammate Working together online

Working with partners to diversify and build a sustainable business model 

Collaborations and strategic partnerships play a pivotal role in Walmart’s competitive strategy. In 2023, Walmart has outlined plans to invest heavily into AI automation fulfillment centers to improve its unit cost average by 20%, increasing efficiency in order fulfilments and operations. 

The acquisition of Jet.com in 2016 expanded Walmart’s digital footprint and brought innovative talent into the company. Furthermore, Walmart’s partnerships with various brands (such as Adobe, ShipBob) and retailers enable it to diversify its product offerings, providing a competitive edge against the more specialized approaches of some competitors. As part of Walmart’s strategy in marketing, Walmart has announced partnerships with social media giants such as TikTok, Snapchat, Firework and more further boosting its online digital footprint. 

The acquisition of Jet.com in 2016 not only expanded Walmart’s digital footprint but it brought innovative talent into the company. It is clear Walmart sees the need for talent as key to its continued efforts to apply human centered design as part of its digital transformation strategy.

By continuously adapting and evolving its strategies, Walmart is clearly implementing digital transformation sustainably, to support its future operating model as Walmart remains a formidable force in the online retail landscape, navigating the challenges presented by its competitors.

In conclusion, Walmart’s business strategy is that of an growing Omnichannel marketplace, a multifaceted approach that combines physical and digital retail, competitive pricing, supply chain excellence, and a commitment to customer satisfaction. Understanding these elements provides insights into the retail giant’s enduring success in a rapid changing and competitive digital economy as it continues to combat emerging new business disruptions.

Q1: How did Walmart become a retail giant?

Walmart’s ascent to retail dominance can be attributed to a combination of strategic pricing, operational efficiency, and a customer-centric approach. 

Q2: What sets Walmart’s supply chain apart?

Walmart’s supply chain is marked by innovation and technological integration, allowing the company to streamline operations and stay ahead in a competitive market.

Q3: How does Walmart balance physical and digital retail?

Walmart seamlessly integrates its brick-and-mortar stores with its online presence, offering customers a comprehensive shopping experience.

Q4: What is Walmart’s philosophy on pricing?

Walmart’s commitment to everyday low prices is a fundamental philosophy that underpins its strategy, ensuring affordability for consumers.

Q5: How has Walmart expanded globally?

Walmart’s global expansion involves adapting its strategy to diverse markets, understanding local dynamics, and leveraging its core strengths.

About the author

Julie Choo is lead author of THE STRATEGY JOURNEY book and the founder of STRATABILITY ACADEMY. She speaks regularly at numerous tech, careers and entrepreneur events globally. Julie continues to consult at large Fortune 500 companies, Global Banks and tech start-ups. As a lover of all things strategic, she is a keen Formula One fan who named her dog, Kimi (after Raikkonnen), and follows football - favourite club changes based on where she calls home.

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Marketing91

Marketing Strategy of Walmart – Walmart Marketing Strategy

December 17, 2017 | By Hitesh Bhasin | Filed Under: Brand Strategies

Founded by Moore Walton and James Lawrence Walton in 1962, Walmart is the largest retailer in terms of revenues and number of employees globally. Walmart generated revenue of $ 482 billion in the year 2016. It serves more than 26 billion customers every week through its channel of 11000 stores in 28 countries.

Table of Contents

Segmentation, targeting, positioning in the Marketing strategy of Walmart –  

Segmentation strategy helps in understanding different sub- segments of customers and their changing needs. Walmart uses psychographic and demographic segmentation strategies. It understands the psyche of the consumer and knows that the consumer wants everyday goods at the lower possible prices. Hence, Walmart introduced the strategy of EDLP – Every day low prices.

Undifferentiated targeting strategy is used by the giant to capture the market globally. Everyone is a propect for Walmart so it does not use differentiation to a major advantage. The price of products is the major differentiator for Walmart. Low pricing strategy can be used for the complete masses.

Positioning strategy plays an important role in company ’s success. Walmart has positioned itself as a company offering products at the lowest price. It uses Pricing advantage to be sustainable in its business model. Due to its low price positioning, Walmart has destroyed several smaller retailers over the decades of its operations.

Marketing mix – Here is the Marketing mix of Walmart .

SWOT analysis – Here is the SWOT analysis of Walmart .

Mission - “Not Available ”

Vision - “ To give the customer and communities an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life ”

Tagline- “ Save money, Live better ”

Marketing Strategy of Walmart

Competitive advantage in the Marketing strategy of Walmart-

USP of Lowest price: Walmart has been known for its unique selling proposition of offering goods at “Every day low prices” and the same prices are offered throughout the chains. Products are competitively priced and Walmart bargains aggressively with the manufacturers to pass on the benefits to the end customers. “Black Friday” is one of the famous events of Walmart offering products at throw-away prices. It is one of the most successful strategies of the company which is being copied by retail giants all across the world.

Broad products assortments: Walmart deals in large assortments of goods and the broad SKUs (stock keeping units) not only help the company in retaining its customers but it helps them in playing over volumes for profit and for offering products at lowest price .

Operations: Managing such a huge retail chain is not easy and cannot be done without operations management . As such, Walmart gives special attention to the way it operates so that the consumer gets his products very fast and the shelves are filled at all times. Walmart serves millions of customers each year and it has a solid supply chain and operations team to manage the same.

BCG Matrix in the Marketing strategy of Walmart-

The Company has been engaged in operating through the retail and wholesale channel of business. However, it conducts its business through three segments namely Walmart International, Walmart US and Sam’s Club.

In the fiscal year 2016, Walmart US generated 62% of the net sales while Walmart International and Sam’s Club generated 26% and 12% business of the net sales respectively.

In all the segments/businesses it operates, Walmart is a STAR in the BCG matrix . It has many competitors but it is the major market share holder. On the other hand, the market growth rate is also strong so the competitors also capture their own niche. When you combine these two properties, Walmart can be charted as a STAR on the BCG matrix. It has a high market share in a high growth market .

Distribution strategy in the Marketing strategy of Walmart-

Walmart operates in 27 countries globally apart from the United States in categories such as retail, wholesale & others. These categories individually operate in formats such as Supermarkets, warehouse clubs, supercenters, hypermarkets cash and carry formats, Speciality stores, Convenience stores etc.

Its Retail units are physical stores of size ranging from 4000-1,80,000 square feet, Convenience stores are up to 2400 square feet whereas wholesale stores range from 35,000-70,000 square feet in size. This proves that Walmart is the largest US retailer and is one of the largest retailer overall in the world.

Walmart US operates with 139 distribution facilities shipping approximately 79% of merchandise through these channels.   It is number 6th in terms of supply chain in Retail sector, and is 16th ranked in terms of supply chain globally.

Brand equity in the strategy of Walmart-

The Company has been ranked 15 in the list of top 2000 companies and 22 in the list of world’s most valuable brands by Forbes .

Based on market capitalization method the brand has been valued at a whopping $ 215.7 billion. (As of May 2016). Most of the. brand equity is derived from the easy recall of the brand because of its low prices and the consistency with which the brand has performed over the ages.

Competitive analysis in the Marketing strategy of Walmart-

It competes with local, national, global supermarket giants and pops & moms stores in different formats of the retail stores . Companies like Tesco , Amazon , Carrefour, Metro AG, Costco etc. are the major competitors of Walmart competing in one or more segments globally.

Market analysis in the Marketing strategy of Walmart-

As the dynamic modern retail industry drives towards challenges and opportunities, it is being affected by many factors such as migration of people, changing consumption pattern due to changing lifestyle, emergence of e- commerce companies delivering anything and everything at the doorstep, increasing bargaining power of customers as well as suppliers and government regulation to protect the home grown competition in the industry.

Demography of customers in the Marketing strategy of Walmart –

Marketing Strategy of Walmart 2

Walmart customers are retail as well as wholesale customers. Retail customers are majorly working class people in all age groups, people who are looking for value for money and daily products at a low price all the time.

Customers of Walmart are middle & upper-income group who want best deals & discounts in order to purchase the necessities.

Hope you liked this article on the Marketing strategy of Walmart. You can discuss / add value to this article with your comments below.

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Hi, my name is Curtis Garmon, I am a 58, year old gentleman, who’s and Atlanta, native, I am also, and aspiring songwriter/producer that has been writing songs every since the age of 13. However, I’ve never done anything with any of my material, so, I’ve decided to give it a shot to see if anything could possibly become of it. I have written this perfect jingle for Walmart, that I feel very strongly that would fit into your marketing strategies of Walmart. I would like to know, what would be the proper steps to take towards submitting my material for your evaluation?

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Hi, I am a physician who absolutely loves shopping at Walmart, both in the rural town I grew up in in Oregon, and here in the Bay Area. I have been shocked by the negative feedback I get from co-workers and staff that work under me about shopping at Walmart. I think I could be a great service in marketing strategy and actually be in commercials myself catering to a different crowd. As a worker’s-comp. doc I often run into some of my patients working at Walmart and they seem pleased that I shop there. The depth of products is amazing and your sales are the best ever. I have purchased jeans at Walmart and my friends asked which boutique I bought them at. I proudly noted that I bought them at Walmart on the clearance isle. In my rural town in Oregon, Walmart was the only place I could find a non-frozen all natural turkey to cook for Thanksgiving!..One of a million stories! As a self made person who grew up in a family who’s parents raised 3 kids on 30K a year and put myself though an Ivy league education and medical school I truly understand all classes of society and how to bridge gaps.

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I placed an order and was informed it would arrive on April 14 2020. I have contacted Walmart and just get a runaround . My order # 3662023135120. Please send the order or cancel it. Very DISGUSTED customer.

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Walmart’s Marketing Mix (4P) Analysis & Recommendations

Walmart marketing mix, 4Ps, product, price, promotion, place, marketing strategy, e-commerce retail business case analysis

Walmart Inc.’s marketing mix or 4P revolves around the nature of the retail business, its strategic goals, and industry situation. This situation presents opportunities for adopting marketing strategies that address local, regional, and international retail industry conditions. Walmart’s cost leadership generic strategy for competitive strategy, along with the company’s intensive growth strategies , influences the definition of this marketing mix. The 4Ps are linked to the company’s strategic choices as one of the biggest retailers in the world. This marketing mix is part of Walmart’s strategic plans to grow globally. The strategies and tactics included in the marketing mix lead to considerable success, despite major competitors, like Amazon and Whole Foods , as well as Costco and Home Depot . The Five Forces analysis of Walmart Inc. indicates that these firms exert a strong competitive force, requiring an innovative approach to ensure that the company’s marketing mix is effective. Through a coordinated strategic effort pertaining to product, place, promotion, and price (4Ps), the retail and e-commerce enterprise maintains its strong industry position.

In keeping its marketing mix, Walmart Inc. focuses on enhancing process streamlining and operational efficiency as ways to maximize profitability. The retail enterprise is known for high efficiency, which leads to cost minimization and the ability to offer consumer goods at some of the lowest prices in the market. This condition enables the satisfaction of Walmart’s mission statement and vision statement . The e-commerce business continues to build its operations and adjusts these corporate statements to match the current marketing mix.

Elements of Walmart’s Marketing Mix

Product . Walmart’s primary product is its retail service, including retail service fulfilled through e-commerce. The company also offers house brands or private-label brands, such as Great Value and Sam’s Choice. Considering the core contribution of retail services in Walmart’s business, the product element of the marketing mix attracts customers by providing convenient, effective, and efficient services. For example, sales personnel are trained to assist shoppers in finding the goods they need at the company’s stores. The significance of human resources in this marketing mix element means that Walmart’s corporate culture (work culture) plays a critical role in supporting the strategic management of the business. Shoppers expect easy one-stop shopping at the company’s stores and e-commerce websites. Thus, in this business aspect, the marketing mix partly defines customer experience and satisfaction in Walmart’s services.

Prices and Pricing Strategies . In this element of the 4Ps, Walmart uses an Everyday Low Price (EDLP) pricing strategy as a factor in the company’s revenue model. The objective of this pricing strategy is to attract large numbers of customers to achieve high sales volume and, consequently, a profitable business. High sales volume ensures profitability despite thin profit margins and low selling prices linked to Walmart’s cost leadership generic strategy for competitive advantage . Thus, in the marketing mix, the pricing component is a contributor to the company’s competitiveness in the retail industry. In addition, Walmart uses market-oriented pricing as a strategy for many of its products, such as house-branded goods. Furthermore, the flat-rate subscription pricing strategy is used in the marketing mix, for unlimited deliveries, especially involving purchases on the company’s e-commerce websites. It is notable that changes in this marketing mix element relate to the market trends shown in the PESTEL/PESTLE analysis of Walmart Inc . The retail enterprise adjusts its pricing models in response to such trends. In summary, this element of Walmart’s marketing mix involves the following pricing strategies:

  • Everyday Low Price (EDLP)
  • Market-oriented pricing strategy
  • Flat-rate (fixed-rate) subscription pricing strategy

Place (Distribution) . Walmart uses the intensive distribution strategy or intensive distribution channel design for this marketing mix element. In the strategy, the company’s stores and e-commerce websites generally offer the same variety of goods and services, and all stores have similar functions in their operations. This element of Walmart’s marketing mix helps attract customers by making shopping convenient in terms of strategic physical locations of stores and the high accessibility of online services. The combination of online and non-online distribution channels for retail and other services maximizes the company’s reach in its target markets around the world. In a way, this element of the marketing mix relates to Walmart’s corporate structure (organizational structure) based on how the organizational design involves divisions for e-commerce and non-online operations.

Promotion (Promotional Mix or Marketing Communications Mix) . Walmart’s promotional mix is composed of advertisements, sales promotions, personal selling, and public relations. The company advertises in newspapers and on television and websites. On the other hand, sales promotions in the form of special deals and discounts are used to attract more consumers to Walmart stores and websites. In this marketing mix element, the company applies personal selling in its stores, where sales personnel persuade customers to try new products or package deals. In terms of public relations, the corporation uses press releases and charity programs, among other initiatives, to inform customers and investors about policies, programs, and strategies, partly addressing strategic concerns involved in Walmart’s corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management approaches . Thus, the promotion component in this marketing mix helps improve the ability to attract customers and build the company’s brand. Another point to consider is that this marketing mix element uses the business strengths discussed in the SWOT analysis of Walmart Inc .

Recommendations for Walmart’s Marketing Mix or 4P

Walmart’s marketing mix is a product of strategic choices consistent with business-level and corporate strategies. Considering the company’s current business effectiveness despite Amazon and other major competitors, these 4Ps are effective in ensuring profitability in the highly saturated retail market. The product element of the marketing mix reflects Walmart’s efforts in growing its business, partly through diversification. The combination of promotional efforts and public relations helps the retail and e-commerce business thrive by maintaining a strong presence in the market. On the other hand, the place element of Walmart’s marketing mix has sufficient distribution channels, in tandem with strong e-commerce websites. The 4P is effective, but the recommendation is to increase business presence in other countries to bolster the company’s global competitive advantage in retail and e-commerce.

  • Kingsnorth, S. (2022). Digital marketing strategy: An integrated approach to online marketing . Kogan Page Publishers.
  • Kucuk, S. U. (2023). Marketing and Marketing Mix. In Visualizing Marketing: From Abstract to Intuitive (pp. 7-13). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
  • Theeb, K. A., Mansour, A. M. D., Khaled, A. S., Syed, A. A., & Saeed, A. M. (2023). The impact of information technology on retail industry: An empirical study. International Journal of Procurement Management, 16 (4), 549-568.
  • U.S. Department of Commerce – International Trade Administration – Retail Trade Industry .
  • Walmart Inc. – All Departments .
  • Walmart Inc. – Form 10-K .
  • Walmart Inc. – Location Facts .
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The Brand Hopper

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Marketing Strategies, Marketing Mix and STP of Walmart

Walmart Marketing | The Brand Hopper

Marketing Strategies, Marketing Mix and STP of Walmart 13 min read

Walmart, the global retail giant, needs no introduction. Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, Walmart has grown to become the world’s largest retailer, serving millions of customers every day across various countries. Renowned for its “Everyday Low Prices” (EDLP) strategy and extensive product assortment, Walmart has become a household name, providing a one-stop shopping destination for everything from groceries and household essentials to electronics, apparel, and more.

Sam Walton | Walmart | The Brand Hopper

With its massive network of physical stores and a growing e-commerce presence, Walmart continues to redefine the retail landscape, making a profound impact on consumers and the industry alike. This brief introduction offers a glimpse into the remarkable marketing strategies, marketing mix and STP Analysis of Walmart, a company that has revolutionized retail and consumer shopping experiences on a global scale.

Table of Contents

Marketing Strategies of Walmart

Walmart has achieved unprecedented success through its well-thought-out marketing strategies. With a sprawling presence in multiple countries and a diverse product range, Walmart has become a household name. Let’s delve into the key marketing strategies that have contributed to Walmart’s dominance in the retail industry:

Customer-Centric Approach

Walmart is renowned for its customer-centric approach, which involves understanding the preferences, behaviors, and needs of its customers. To achieve this, the company employs several strategies:

a. Market Research : Walmart conducts extensive market research, using both primary and secondary data, to gather insights into consumer trends, preferences, and demands. This research helps the company make informed decisions regarding product offerings, pricing, and promotions.

b. Customer Surveys : Walmart regularly gathers feedback from its customers through surveys and feedback forms. This data is valuable in identifying areas for improvement and understanding customer satisfaction levels.

c. Data Analytics : The company leverages advanced data analytics tools to analyze customer data from various sources, such as online purchases, loyalty programs, and in-store interactions. This helps Walmart create personalized offers and promotions for its customers.

Everyday Low Prices (EDLP)

Walmart’s EDLP strategy revolves around offering products at consistently low prices to create a perception of value and affordability. This strategy is integral to Walmart’s marketing success and is supported by several tactics:

Walmart EDLP | The Brand Hopper

a. Price Leadership : Walmart uses its scale and bargaining power to negotiate competitive prices with suppliers. By procuring products at lower costs, the company can pass on the savings to its customers.

b. Price Rollbacks : Walmart frequently implements temporary price reductions or “rollbacks” on selected items, driving foot traffic to stores and online platforms.

c. Price Matching : Walmart’s price-matching policy allows customers to compare prices from competitors, ensuring they receive the lowest price available in the market.

Extensive Product Assortment

Walmart’s vast product assortment is a crucial factor in attracting a diverse customer base. To maintain and optimize this assortment, Walmart undertakes the following steps:

a. Supplier Relationships : The company cultivates strong relationships with a wide range of suppliers to access a diverse selection of products. This enables Walmart to offer customers a comprehensive one-stop shopping experience.

b. Category Management : Walmart’s category management approach involves strategically organizing products on shelves to enhance discoverability and optimize sales. Popular and complementary items are placed together to encourage cross-selling and upselling.

c. Seasonal Promotions : Walmart aligns its product assortment with seasonal trends and holidays, ensuring that customers find what they need for various occasions throughout the year.

Private Label Brands

Walmart’s private label brands are a significant part of its retail strategy, offering customers a diverse selection of quality products at competitive prices. These private label brands are exclusive to Walmart and cover a wide range of categories, including food and beverages, health and personal care, home goods, apparel, and more.

Some of the most well-known private label brands at Walmart include “Great Value,” offering a variety of everyday food and household items, “Equate,” providing health and personal care products, “Mainstays,” offering affordable home furnishings and decor, and “Ozark Trail,” providing outdoor and camping gear.

Key aspects of Walmart’s private label strategy include:

a. Quality Assurance : Walmart places significant emphasis on maintaining the quality of its private label products. Stringent quality control measures are in place to ensure consistency and customer satisfaction.

b. Wide Range of Categories : Private label brands extend across various product categories, from groceries to household items and personal care products, offering customers a broad selection of budget-friendly options.

c. Packaging and Branding : Private label brands are designed with appealing packaging and branding, often comparable to national brands. This helps build consumer trust and encourages shoppers to try these products.

Efficient Supply Chain and Distribution

Walmart’s efficient supply chain and distribution network are central to its ability to deliver products efficiently and maintain a competitive edge. Key elements of Walmart’s supply chain management include:

a. Just-In-Time Inventory : Walmart employs a just-in-time inventory system, which minimizes inventory holding costs and reduces the risk of overstocking or stockouts.

b. Advanced Forecasting : Walmart uses sophisticated forecasting models and data analytics to predict demand and trends accurately. This helps the company optimize its inventory levels and meet customer demands effectively.

c. Distribution Centers : Walmart operates a vast network of distribution centers strategically placed across the country. These centers serve as hubs for receiving, sorting, and distributing products to individual stores, ensuring a steady flow of merchandise.

Multi-Channel Marketing

Walmart employs a diverse array of marketing channels to connect with customers and increase brand visibility. Some key elements of its multi-channel marketing approach include:

a. Traditional Advertising : Walmart invests in TV, print, and radio advertising to reach a broad audience and showcase its products and promotions.

b. Digital Marketing : The company uses social media platforms, online ads, and email marketing to engage with customers, share personalized offers, and drive online traffic.

c. In-Store Promotions : Walmart uses in-store displays, signage, and aisle placements to promote specific products and create a seamless shopping experience for customers.

Community Engagement

Community engagement is an essential aspect of Walmart’s marketing strategy, emphasizing the company’s commitment to the local communities it serves. Key elements of Walmart’s community engagement include:

a. Charitable Donations : Walmart supports various charitable organizations and causes through financial donations and in-kind contributions. The company often responds to disaster relief efforts and other community needs.

b. Local Sponsorships : Walmart sponsors local events and activities, showcasing its dedication to the community and creating positive associations with its brand.

c. Environmental Initiatives : Walmart invests in sustainability and environmental initiatives, which resonate with consumers who are increasingly concerned about responsible corporate behavior.

Walmart’s marketing success is built on a foundation of customer focus, product assortment, competitive pricing, and effective data utilization. By continuously evolving its strategies to adapt to changing consumer preferences and market dynamics, Walmart remains a dominant force in the retail industry. Its commitment to community engagement, sustainability, and customer-centricity helps build a loyal customer base and reinforces its position as a global retail leader.

Marketing Mix of Walmart

Walmart has achieved remarkable success by effectively implementing its marketing mix. The marketing mix, also known as the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), is a fundamental framework used by businesses to develop and execute successful marketing strategies. Let’s examines how Walmart employs the marketing mix elements to maintain its retail dominance.

a. Extensive Assortment: Walmart’s vast product assortment is a cornerstone of its marketing strategy. The company stocks an extensive range of products from various categories, including groceries, household essentials, electronics, apparel, toys, automotive, furniture, and more. This comprehensive assortment serves multiple purposes:

  • Customer Convenience : Walmart’s wide range of products allows customers to find all their shopping needs in one location, creating a convenient and efficient shopping experience.
  • Market Penetration : By offering a diverse product assortment, Walmart attracts a broad demographic of customers, appealing to various tastes and preferences.

b. Private Label Brands : Walmart actively promotes its private label brands, such as Great Value (food and household items) and Equate (health and personal care products). These private labels are strategically positioned alongside national brands and are known for their quality and affordability. The advantages of Walmart’s private label strategy include:

  • Differentiation: Private label brands give Walmart a unique selling proposition, setting it apart from competitors and building customer loyalty.
  • Higher Margins: Since Walmart owns the rights to its private label products, it can enjoy higher profit margins compared to selling national brands.

c. Exclusive Product Partnerships : Walmart often collaborates with well-known brands, designers, and celebrities to launch exclusive product lines. These partnerships create buzz and excitement among customers and reinforce Walmart’s image as a retailer offering exclusive and trendy products. By introducing limited edition or exclusive items, Walmart can drive foot traffic to its stores and increase sales.

d. Sustainability Initiatives : In response to growing consumer concerns about sustainability and environmental responsibility, Walmart has been actively promoting eco-friendly and sustainable products. The company’s commitment to sustainability aligns with changing consumer preferences and strengthens its reputation as a socially responsible retailer.

a. Price Leadership : Walmart’s “Everyday Low Prices” (EDLP) strategy is at the core of its marketing mix. The company leverages its massive purchasing power and efficient supply chain to negotiate competitive prices with suppliers. This enables Walmart to offer products at lower prices compared to many competitors, attracting budget-conscious customers.

b. Rollbacks and Promotions: Walmart frequently implements temporary price reductions or “rollbacks” on select items to create a sense of urgency and encourage immediate purchases. These promotions, alongside the EDLP approach, create a perception of continuous savings and value for customers.

c. Price Matching : Walmart’s price-matching policy assures customers that they are getting the best price available in the market. If a customer finds a lower price for an identical product at a competitor, Walmart will match that price, instilling confidence in shoppers that they are getting the best deal.

a. Store Locations : Walmart strategically locates its stores to ensure easy accessibility for customers. The company often targets suburban areas with large parking lots and convenient access from major roads. By being present in locations where people live, work, and commute, Walmart maximizes its potential customer base.

b. Online Presence : In recent years, Walmart has invested significantly in its e-commerce platform to meet the changing shopping preferences of consumers. Its website and mobile app offer customers the convenience of shopping online with various delivery options, including home delivery and in-store pickup. This seamless integration of online and offline channels enhances the overall shopping experience and strengthens Walmart’s omnichannel presence.

c. Efficient Distribution : Walmart’s efficient supply chain management is crucial to ensure that products are readily available to meet customer demand. The company operates a vast network of distribution centers, strategically located to optimize product flow and minimize delivery times. This efficient distribution network enables Walmart to restock shelves quickly and maintain a smooth supply chain.

a. Advertising : Walmart invests in various advertising channels to promote its products and special offers. The company’s advertising efforts span across TV, radio, print media, and online platforms. Through these channels, Walmart reaches a broad audience, communicating its value proposition and driving traffic to its stores and website.

b. In-Store Promotions : Within its physical stores, Walmart uses eye-catching displays, aisle-end caps, and signage to highlight promotional items and limited-time offers. These in-store promotions create a sense of excitement and urgency, encouraging customers to explore and make impulse purchases.

c. Digital Marketing : Walmart utilizes digital marketing techniques to engage with customers online. The company leverages social media platforms, email marketing, and online ads to reach customers where they spend a significant portion of their time. Personalized recommendations, targeted ads, and exclusive online deals enhance customer engagement and drive online sales.

d. Loyalty Programs : Walmart’s loyalty program, such as “Walmart+,” offers various perks and benefits to members, such as free shipping, discounts, and early access to sales events. These loyalty programs incentivize repeat purchases and encourage customers to choose Walmart over competitors, fostering brand loyalty.

Walmart’s marketing mix is a well-executed strategy that combines an extensive product assortment, competitive pricing, strategic store locations, and effective promotions. By understanding customer needs and preferences and adapting to changing market dynamics, Walmart remains a leader in the retail industry. Its commitment to innovation and embracing the omnichannel approach ensures that Walmart continues to thrive in the competitive retail landscape.

STP Analysis of Walmart

STP analysis is a marketing framework that stands for Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning. It helps businesses like Walmart identify and understand their target customers, develop targeted marketing strategies, and effectively position their products or services in the marketplace. Let’s explore each component of the STP analysis for Walmart in detail:

Segmentation

Segmentation involves dividing the market into distinct groups of consumers with similar characteristics, needs, and behaviors. Walmart employs various segmentation strategies to better understand its diverse customer base. Some key segments that Walmart focuses on include:

a. Demographic Segmentation : Walmart caters to customers of all ages, genders, and income levels. The company offers a wide range of products, including groceries, household essentials, clothing, electronics, and more, to serve diverse demographic groups.

b. Geographic Segmentation : Walmart has a strong presence in over 20 countries, and within each country, it carefully selects store locations in areas with high population density and accessibility to reach a broader customer base.

c. Psychographic Segmentation : Walmart considers lifestyle and behavior factors when targeting specific customer segments. For example, it may offer affordable, practical products for budget-conscious families and provide trendy, fashionable items for young, style-conscious shoppers.

d. Behavioral Segmentation : Walmart analyzes customers’ purchasing behavior to tailor its offerings and promotions. For instance, it may offer discounts or promotions to frequent shoppers or provide targeted offers based on customers’ past purchases.

Targeting involves selecting specific market segments that align with the company’s capabilities and objectives. Walmart adopts an inclusive targeting strategy, seeking to reach as broad a customer base as possible. Its target market includes:

a. Value-Conscious Shoppers : Walmart appeals to customers who prioritize affordability and look for competitive prices on everyday essentials. By offering the “Everyday Low Prices” (EDLP) strategy, Walmart attracts budget-conscious shoppers.

b. Families : Walmart caters to families by providing a comprehensive assortment of products, including groceries, home goods, baby care items, toys, and clothing.

c. Tech-Savvy Shoppers : Walmart recognizes the importance of e-commerce and caters to tech-savvy customers by investing in its online platform and offering convenient delivery and pickup options.

d. Urban and Suburban Consumers : With its strategic store locations, Walmart targets consumers living in both urban and suburban areas, ensuring accessibility and convenience for a wide range of customers.

Positioning

Positioning refers to how a brand is perceived in the minds of its target customers in relation to its competitors. Walmart’s positioning revolves around its core value proposition and key differentiators:

a. “Everyday Low Prices”: Walmart’s primary positioning revolves around offering everyday low prices on a vast range of products. This strategy positions Walmart as a cost-efficient retailer, appealing to customers seeking value for their money.

b. One-Stop Shopping: Walmart’s extensive product assortment positions it as a convenient one-stop destination for all shopping needs, emphasizing the convenience of finding a wide range of products under one roof.

c. Accessibility and Availability : Walmart’s strategic store locations and vast distribution network emphasize its availability and accessibility, positioning the company as a convenient shopping option for customers across various locations.

d. Customer-Centric Approach: Walmart’s focus on customer satisfaction and personalized experiences reinforces its positioning as a customer-centric retailer, committed to meeting diverse customer needs.

The STP analysis highlights how Walmart segments its diverse customer base, targets specific market segments, and positions itself as a value-driven, accessible, and customer-centric retailer. Through this comprehensive understanding of its customers and marketplace, Walmart continues to excel in the highly competitive retail industry, connecting with millions of consumers worldwide and maintaining its status as a retail leader.

Also Read: Marketing Strategies and Marketing Mix of Airbnb

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Walmart Marketing Strategy – a Case Study & Examples

What is Walmart’s marketing strategy? In this case study, you’ll find everything about Walmart: marketing plan, current market position, significant issues, etc. Don’t miss Walmart SWOT analysis and some good examples of the company’s strategies.

Executive Summary

  • Company Overview
  • Financial Overview
  • Current Market Situation
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Objectives & Issues

Walmart Marketing Strategy

  • Action Programs

Walmart Budgets

Walmart is the largest retail store in the world with over 11,527 stores across 28 countries. This giant American retailer has registered impressive performance in the American markets over the years since its inception over 50 years ago. Currently, the firm faces stiff competition in the market, especially in the online retail market. The objective of revising its online marketing strategy will shorten the time it takes to deliver products to customers once they make their purchase. The new strategy will promote efficiency in the firm and improve customer satisfaction. It will also strengthen the firm’s brand in the online market.

Walmart Overview

Walmart is a leading multinational retail store which was established by Sam Walton in 1945 after purchasing Ben Franklin Stores. Walton was interested in starting a discounted shop where he could sell high volumes at high prices. This strategy proved very effective because the Second World War was just coming to an end. Although the war was not fought in the United States’ soil, the country took part in it and the economy felt the impact.

Coming up with a retail store that sells discounted products was, therefore, a wise decision because the shoppers were struggling with reduced purchasing power. The firm gained popularity very fast. The firm opened its first discounted store in 1962 in Arkansas and was incorporated in 1969. Since then, the firm has experienced massive growth to become one of the largest firms in the world in terms of sales and number of employees.

Currently, it is estimated that Walmart has over 11,527 stores across 28 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It employs about 2.2 million people in various countries. Greg Penner is the firm’s current chairman while Doug McMillon is the chief executive officer. The firm has made an emphatic entry into the e-commerce market not only in the United States’ market but also in Europe and other parts of the world.

Walmart Financial Overview

The financial resources of a firm define how stable it is in the market. A stable firm must have effective ways of managing its financial resources to promote growth. Sound financial acquisition, planning, and utilization is very critical, especially for a firm that operates in a highly competitive market such as Wal-Mart. This company’s success in the global market is partly credited to its superior ways of managing its finances.

Over the last five years, the firm has experienced impressive growth in sales and revenue. Its financial position over the last three years has also considerably improved. The table below is a summary of the firm’s financial position over the last five years.

Table 1: Operating results and financial position of Wal-Mart.

The table shows progress made by Walmart in terms of sales, revenue and income over the past five years. There is also an indication that there is a positive trend in the financial position of this firm. The above data can be presented in graphical form for the purpose of understanding the trend.

Operating Results.

As shown in the above graph, there was a sharp increase in sales, operating income, and total revenues from 2011 to 2013. From 2013, the growth continued but at a slower rate compared to the previous years. The graph indicates that this firm has a bright future in the market if it continues with the growth.

Financial Position.

The graph above shows that the financial position of this firm has been strengthening over the years. Inasmuch as the firm’s long-term debt is still high, Wal-Mart’s total assets is also increasing.

Walmart’s Current Market Situation

The retail market is considered one of the most lucrative markets in the world. However, it is delicate, highly competitive, and with small profits that must be properly managed to achieve the desired success. It is important to critically look at this industry to determine how Walmart fairs on and some of the external issues it should be conscious of to remain competitive in the market.

Market Description

The retail industry has experienced massive growth over the years because of its relevance to the global society. The industry plays a very important role in breaking bulk and selling products in the quantities needed by clients. In the United States, which is the main market for Wal-Mart, the retail industry has experienced rapid growth over the past five decades. The same case has been witnessed in other parts of the world.

According to Massengill (2013), the retail industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world because of the number of players. In the United States, there are numerous retailers which offer the same products to the American customers. They have the same suppliers, which mean that what they offer to the customers is uniquely similar. Firms are forced to find ways of making their products unique through unique floor plans, displays, packaging, and customer service. In the United States alone, Walmart has over ten major competitors which have formidable market share. There are other hundreds of thousands of small and medium retailers scattered all over the country targeting the same clients as this company.

In order to have a pool of loyal customers, segmentation and target marketing becomes a very critical tool. For Wal-Mart, the segmentation has been done based on the financial position of the clients. Customers who are conscious about the amount of money they spend can visit its discounted stores conveniently located in various parts of the cities all over the country. For those interested in additional services, Uncle Sam’s Club serves them best. The management has come up with unique positioning to attract its clients in different segments.

Product Review

Wal-Mart, being a giant retail store, offers a wide range of products to its customers all over the world. For each product line, clients are provided with a variety to choose from based on their tastes and preferences. For instance, when one intended to buy a television set from any of its stores, various brands such as Sony, Samsung, Sanyo, and Apple are available. Each brand has its unique features and come at different prices. It is upon the customer to choose any of the products based on their interests. The table below is a summary of this information.

Table A2. 1: Segment Needs and Corresponding Features/Benefits.

Competitive Review

The retail market in all the 28 countries where this firm operates is very competitive. In the United States alone, there are over sixteen established retailers which are directly competing with Walmart for various market segments. The competition is very stiff because these firms offer almost identical products. For instance, when it comes to electronics, all these retailers have similar suppliers such as Samsung, Apple, Sony, and Nikon among others. They are forced to use pricing, packaging, customer service, and after sale services to make their products unique. The table below analyzes some of the top competitors of Walmart within the United States’ retail market

Table A2. 2: Competitive Products.

Channels and Logistics Review

Walmart is known for its unique way of meeting the needs of its clients. According to Manna (2008), the channel of distribution and the logistics that a firm uses determines its ability to meet the needs of its clients in the market. Given that Walmart is a retailer its channel must reach directly to its clients. The firm currently uses two main strategies to ensure that its products reach its customers within the right time.

The first strategy is through its retail stores. A study by Lichtenstein (2011) reveals that Walmart has conveniently located retail stores where its customers can get the products they need on their way home. The firm has learnt the art of brick-and-mortar distribution strategy because of its many years of experience in the market. The firm has not only located its stores conveniently but also organized its floor plan to motivate its clients to make purchases.

One of the main advantages of brick-and-mortar stores to the retailers is that it promotes impulse buying among the visitors. The stores have beautiful displays that make the customers easily attracted to various products. If the customer intended to purchase a single item, then it is easy for such a customer to be attracted to a number of other products, which will increase the number of total items purchased in a single visit.

The second channel that Walmart uses to reach to its customers is through e-commerce. As Manna (2008) says, technology is slowly transforming the approach that shoppers take to purchase the items they need. In the United States, and many other countries where this firm operates, the size of the middle class has continued to grow. It is now common to find cases where both parents are gainfully employed and spend most of their time at work.

Because of their desire to climb the corporate ladder, most of the parents spend most of their time at work. They have limited time to go shopping as was the case in their past. As such, they find online shopping very convenient for them. Walmart has promptly responded to the changing technologies in the market and currently its products are available in the e-market. Customers only need to visit the website of the company and identify the products that they need.

They can then purchase that item after specifying the quantity needed and the preferred place of collection. In the past, the clients were required to pick their purchases at their preferred Walmart stores. However, the firm is now forced to change this strategy because of the stiff competition in the market. The firm currently delivers its products in most of the locations in the United States if the client purchases a given volume of products. It means that the firm’s logistics must be ready to deal with the increased demand.

According to Lichtenstein (2011), for a firm to be successful in the current competitive market, it requires a proper logistical strategy that will enable it access the materials it needs in time. For Wal-Mart, most of the products that it has in its stores all over the world are delivered by the suppliers. Its main responsibility is to ensure that these products are available conveniently to the customers in various stores. The current logistical challenge that Walmart faces is to ensure that the items purchased through e-market platform is delivered to the customers at the right time. The firm has a number of vans to facilitate delivery of these products to their clients in various locations once their purchases have been approved. It uses the large trucks to distribute various products to its stores all over the country.

Walmart SWOT Analysis

Conducting a company analysis helps in determining its ability to overcome various challenges within the external market. A SWOT analysis helps in understanding a firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. This analysis will help in predicting the future of Walmart not only in the American markets but also in other markets all over the world. The table below is a summary of the analysis.

Table A 2.3: SWOT Table.

It is important to critically discuss the issues identified in the table above in order to understand how they affect the firm’s operation in the market.

As shown in the table above, Walmart enjoys massive financial wealth that has been accumulated over the years. A study by Lichtenstein (2011) shows that for several years in the recent past, Walmart has been ranked the largest firm in the world in terms of value of sales, beating top brands such as Apple, Coca Cola, and ExxonMobil. This financial strength means that Walmart can easily sponsor various expansion projects are research with ease whenever it is necessary. The firm can also meet all its financial obligations without having to resort to borrowing.

Walmart has been in operation for a very long time since it was established in 1962 (Massengill, 2013). This experience has been instrumental in helping the firm overcome market challenges, especially the stiff competition that it has been facing. When this firm started its operations 54 years ago, the retail market was not as crowded as it is today. This firm has seen numerous other retail stores emerge and become successful, while others have failed. It knows what can bring about a failure of a retail store and therefore, knows how to do things right to remain relevant in the market.

The strength of this firm’s brand is another area of strength that gives it a competitive edge over its rivals. Walmart is currently one of the top brands in the market. It is trusted because it has been offering quality to its customers for the last half a century. The strength of its brand has made it easy for this firm to expand to other markets beyond the United States. A team of skilled and highly dedicated employees and able managers have also helped this giant retail store achieve success. The employees are always innovative when handling various tasks within the firm. The management has remained a source of motivation and always giving its employees a sense of direction in the market.

It is important to appreciate that despite the numerous areas of strength discussed in the section above, there are a number of weaknesses that this firm has which may have negative impact on its ability to achieve success in the market. The firm’s large size makes it less flexible in the market compared with other relatively small retail outlets. It is not easy to change from one system or approach of doing business to another given the size of the firm.

It means that in cases where the firm is not the innovator, it becomes difficult for it to become early adopter because of the work and financial consequences of the needed change. Low pricing strategy has worked well for this large retail store within the American market. However, it has been one of the main reasons why this firm has been unable to survive in other markets. The low pricing strategy means that the profits that the firm gets from its sales are also low.

Opportunities

The market has a number of opportunities that Walmart can take advantage of to achieve greater success. The growing middle class in its current market is one of its greatest market opportunities. China is home to the highest number of the middle class in the world. The population of the middle class in India and Brazil is also growing very steadily. Currently, this retail store is operating in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and a host of other very populous nations.

Since the end of the 2008 economic recession, many economies have recovered and the purchasing power of the middle class has been on the rise. This is an indication that the clients of this firm have a greater purchasing power.

The world is becoming a global village due to the emergence of improved means of transport and communication infrastructure. About fifty years ago when Walmart started its operations in the United States, there were numerous challenges that made it difficult for the firm to expand its operations beyond the borders of this country. However, that is no longer the case in the modern society. Globalization has made it easy for the firm to expand their operations beyond the borders of their parent country. That is why the firm has penetrated to the international markets.

Emerging technologies have presented a number of opportunities to this firm which have helped improved its overall sales in the market. The online marketing technologies came at the right time when the firm was struggling with the problem of how to meet the busy schedule of the working class. This technology has reduced cost associated with brick-and-mortar stores. The emerging technologies have also improved internal communication within the firm, making management activities simpler than they were before. These technologies have also helped in improving security at the firm’s retail stores. Lichtenstein (2011) says that Walmart has learnt how to take advantage of the opportunities in the market to achieve greater success.

The market presents a number of threats that this firm must find a way of dealing with as it seeks to remain competitive in the market. One of the biggest threats in the market that this firm is trying to deal with is stiff competition. The retail market has attracted numerous firms which are interested in tapping into the opportunities which the market presents. As a result, there has been an influx of retail outlets which target the same target market not only within the American market but also other global markets where the company operates. It forces the management to find a way of dealing with this competition. Since its inception, the company has been using low pricing as the way of dealing with the threat of stiff market competition.

The threat of terrorism is very real in the current society. Terror groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda are currently targeting soft sport such as shopping centers to unleash their attacks. This has been witnessed in Asia, Africa, and Europe. The threat is real in the United States and the government is trying to find ways of dealing with it. Such attacks may have devastating effect on the operations of this retailer.

In some countries such as India, reports have indicated that sometimes the political class interferes with the business community, especially during the electioneering period. They demand that firms charge low prices and increase employees’ salaries as a way of achieving political mileage. In other cases, the political class would demand bribes from multinationals as a way of avoiding any form of interference. Such forms of interference affect the ability of the firm to achieve success. High tax in other countries where this firm operates has also been an issue that threatens its ability to successfully expand to the global market. The top management unit of this firm is struggling to find ways of addressing these weaknesses.

Walmart’s Objectives & Issues

It is important to look at the objectives and issues that this company faces as it seeks to expand its growth both locally and internationally. The objectives help in defining how to deal with various issues when they arise.

First Year Objectives

The management of Walmart is currently focused on improving e-commerce strategies (Roberts & Berg, 2012). For a long time, this retailer had ignored online platform as a way of marketing its products. However, as time went by, this firm realized that it could not ignore the need to sell its products in the online platform. A research that was conducted by the management of this firm revealed that it was losing its market share to firms like Amazon.com that had learnt the art of selling products in the online platform. Currently, the firm is operating a successful e-market through its website.

However, there is a concern that the online sales is not operating at optimal levels. Firms such as Amazon.com are now delivery their products to their customers within 48 hours after their payment is received. However, Walmart still has issues with its timely delivery. It takes 36-48 hours or even more for its products to reach its clients once they make payment. The sales and marketing department is currently working very closely with the logistics department to ensure that goods once purchased online are delivered to the customers on the same day. It requires improved communication, coordination, and efficient logistics.

Second Year Objectives

The objective of Walmart in the second year after perfecting its e-commerce is to spread its operations to other developing nations, especially in Africa. Walmart made a successful entry into the South African Market in 2010 when it bought Massmart Holdings Limited in a deal worth USD 4 billion (Frazier, Maltz, Antia, & Rindfleisch, 2009). The management is trying to spread out to other African markets, especially in East and West Africa. In the next two years, the firm plans to open new stores in this vast region through acquisitions and takeovers.

As the firm gears up to achieve the above two objectives, there are a number of issues that it has to deal with. The first objective of same day delivery will require this firm to hire more employees and to have more vans for this purpose. It means that it will be forced to spend more as it seeks to be efficient in its online operations. However, the management has been working on ways of cutting down costs to improve the firm’s margin given that it sells most of its products at considerable low prices.

The conflict of interest may need to be addressed by finding ways of making the new project as least costly as can be possible. In its quest to get to expand its market share, this firm will have to deal with the issue of stiff market competition. The firm’s strategy of buying existing retail stores is very appropriate because in the process it will be eliminating competition.

The marketing strategy that a firm uses determines its ability to achieve success even in turbulent markets such as the retail industry in which Walmart operates. It is important to look at the marketing strategies used by this company based on the 6 Ps of the marketing mix elements as discussed in the sub-sections below.

Walmart offers a wide range of products from furniture, clothing, and farm tools, to foodstuffs, electronics, and stationery among others. Given that most of these products are manufactured by other firms, this company has limited capacity to use product as a competitive advantage over its market rivals. It forces it to use pre and after sale services to make their products unique. Sometimes the firm uses packaging as a way of achieving competitive edge over its market rivals.

Since its inception, Walmart has always used pricing as a strategy of gaining competitive edge over its market rivals. In the United States, it offers the best deal in terms of pricing compared to all other market rivals. The pricing strategy has earned this firm a loyal following in the market, especially among the middle class who want the best prices for every product that they purchase. They know that at Wal-Mart, they will be offered a discount on every product that they purchase.

The place element is very important, especially for a retailer such as Wal-Mart. This company has conveniently located stores where their customers can purchase their products easily on their way home or to work. The emerging technologies have also made it possible for this firm to purchase its products through online platforms. Its website acts as an important e-store where most of its products are readily accessible.

Promotion plays a critical role in strengthening a firm’s brand in the current competitive business environment. In the current market, it has become very important for firms to use various platforms to promote their brands and their products. This company uses mass and social media marketing to reach out to its customers in the market.

The retailer is positioned as a discounting store where clients get the best price deals for every product that they purchase. The firm promises its customers high quality products at the cheapest prices that they can ever get in the market. The strategy has earned it a pool of loyal customers.

Marketing Research

In the ever changing market environment, marketing research helps firms to understand the changing trends and to come up with ways of managing them to ensure that they remain relevant. Walmart has a team of market researchers who are actively involved in monitoring the changing trends in the market.

Walmart Action Programs

The Gantt chart below shows the steps that the marketing team should take in re-launching a superior e-marketing.

Action program.

The budget that the firm needs to achieve its objective of running a successful online market is estimated to be about $ 5 million. The table below is a summary of the expected expenses.

Table 3: The budget.

This project is meant to improve efficiency of the firm, cut costs, and attract more customers. Just like in advertising, it is not possible to conduct a break-even analysis because it will not give direct returns that can be calculated.

The improved online marketing platform is meant to promote operational effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and brand image. Once implemented, the firm will be able to receive and process orders within a short period. Once the order from a client is successfully processed, the firm will move with speed to process such order so that a timely delivery can be made. The ultimate aim is to ensure that goods are delivered to the client on the same day that they make payment. If this is achieved, then there will be improved customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers will help promote positive image of this firm through viral marketing.

Corporate Reports. (2015). Walmart Annual Report 2015 . Web.

Frazier, L., Maltz, E., Antia, K., & Rindfleisch, A. (2009). Distributor Sharing of Strategic Information with Suppliers. Journal of Marketing, 73 (2), 31–43.

Lichtenstein, N. (2011). Wal-Mart: The face Of twenty-first-century capitalism . New York, NY: New Press.

Manna, R. (2008). Just-In-Time: Case Studies of Supplier Relationships across Industries. Journal of Applied Business Research, 24 (1), 75–83.

Massengill, R. P. (2013). Walmart wars: Moral populism in the twenty-first century . New York, NY: New York University Press.

Roberts, B. & Berg, N. (2012). Walmart: Key insights and practical lessons from the world’s largest retailer . London, UK: Kogan Page.

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Integrated Marketing Campaign Manager - Walmart Co...

Integrated marketing campaign manager - walmart connect (manager, marketing planning and strategy).

  • Location HOBOKEN, NJ
  • Career Area Marketing and Customer Insights
  • Job Function Sales & Marketing Operations
  • Employment Type Regular/Permanent
  • Position Type Salary
  • Requisition WD1752140

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Integrated Marketing Campaign Manager - Walmart Connect

Please Note: Our team comes into the office 3 days a week; this is not a remote position. We are only considering local candidates in the Hoboken/New York area who can work onsite at this time. If you are not local and apply for this role, please specify "open to relocation" on your resume, if that is applicable, for consideration.

WALMART CONNECT AT WALMART

Walmart Connect is Walmart’s media and advertising platform, uniquely designed to help brands reach hundreds of millions of shoppers across their entire shopping journey, online and in stores. 

At Walmart, we enable the connection between supplier brands and retail shoppers at unprecedented scale.  As primary stewards of our brand promise, “Save Money. Live Better,” we work alongside some of the most talented people in the world to engage with the more than 150M households who shop with us.

We believe all digital advertising can be targeted and accountable—and we have Walmart’s sales data to prove it.  Walmart Connect wins when suppliers invest in digital media to drive growth; Walmart and our supplier partners win when your digital expertise helps sell more goods online and offline.  Growth in our digital advertising business is key to Walmart’s overall growth strategy. 

This is a unique opportunity to join a small, high-visibility team within the largest company in the world.  

CLIENT SOLUTIONS

Client Solutions is WMC’s integrated marketing center of excellence for centralized, end-to-end insights-led marketing strategy, strategic omnichannel planning and activation of custom category, cross-category, tentpole and custom advertiser solutions across Walmart’s touchpoints—at an unparalleled scale.

We partner with suppliers to co-create industry-first programs and breakthrough experiences that connect brands with Walmart customers, aligning goals with Walmart Merchandising and Marketing and Site priorities to jointly drive commercial success. 

JOB OVERVIEW

Walmart Connect is looking for an experienced manager to activate revenue-generating marketing workstreams to develop, pitch and execute seasonal integrated marketing programs (e.g., Holiday, Back to School/College, Halloween, etc.) packaged to include core WMC digital and in-store media as well as integrations into enterprise campaigns, leveraging innovative capabilities.

This manager position reports to the Sr. Manager of Omni Capabilities.

IDEAL CANDIDATE:

We are looking for an exceptionally strong, strategic, and effective marketer who is influential, highly energized, and capable of driving internal cross-functional partnerships and workstreams within WMC and Walmart—delivering business results.  The ideal candidate is strategic and outcomes-oriented, highly competent operating in matrixed organizations, values storytelling and getting things done.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Marketing Strategy:

  • Builds cross-category seasonal programs; socializes marketing strategy with other marketing leaders and associates and represents marketing plans in cross-functional venues.

Creative and Media Brief Development:

  • Develops the creative and media briefs for programs; socializes with leaders and cross-functional partners.
  • Suggests improvements to media plan to enhance ROI/campaign effectiveness based on review of performance data.
  • Drives development of media strategy (e.g., paid social media, influencer marketing, content marketing) and campaign messaging for programs.

Campaign Management:

  • Leads execution of multiple seasonal projects by identifying customer and operational needs.
  • Provides creative guidance to internal/external agencies and ensures agency output is in line with overall brand strategy, objectives and delivers on initiative strategies.
  • Suggests improvements to plan to enhance revenue-driving effectiveness. Reviews and edits creative considerations (media, materials, tone).

Collaboration:

  • Collaborates with cross-functional teams (e.g., Marketing Strategy, Digital Marketing, eCommerce Category Marketing, Creative, Operations, Category Management, Site Merchandising, Analytics) to execute on straightforward campaigns and ensure consistent brand messages across all channels.
  • Identifies, collects, and shares critical information (e.g., item info, merchant intent) with cross functional teams and key stakeholders to ensure exceptional execution.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or related field and 1 year's experience in marketing or related field OR 5 years' experience in marketing or related field.
  • 3-5 years of experience working cross-functionally in integrated marketing, campaign management and digital media.
  • Creative marketer with the ability to conceptualize innovative ideas and new ways of working.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Highly collaborative, team player, strong influencer, and relationship builder.
  • Strong understanding of client relationships and framing.

THE BONUS - STRONGLY PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Experience working cross-functionally in ad sales marketing, client/custom solutions, creative strategy, shopper marketing or site editorial capacity.
  • Retail/e-commerce experience with commercial retail solutions such as experiential marketing, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), e-commerce, media, etc.
  • Experience working on or a passion for cross-category omnichannel campaigns. 

Position Locations

  • Hoboken, NJ
  • Hybrid Schedule: 3 days a week in the office ( not a remote/virtual position)

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About walmart, all the benefits you need for you and your family.

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Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific plan or program terms. For information about benefits and eligibility, see One.Walmart.com/Benefits .

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What Happens When TikTok Is Your Marketing Department

The Pink Stuff, a home cleaning paste, went from total obscurity to viral sensation — and Walmart staple — thanks to one “cleanfluencer” and her legion of fans.

Tubs of The Pink Stuff on a conveyor.

By David Segal

In 2018, The Pink Stuff was little more than a home cleaning product with a cute name. “The miracle cleaning paste,” as it said on every container, was sold by just two retail chains in Britain. At a factory near Birmingham, The Pink Stuff line operated for about two hours every month. That was plenty.

“It was a brand with a lot of uses,” said Henrik Pade, a managing director at Star Brands, the company behind the product. “But nobody used it.”

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Actually, The Pink Stuff — which is, yes, bubble-gum pink — had some fans. One of them was Sophie Hinchliffe, a then-28-year-old hairdresser in Essex, about 30 miles east of London. Ms. Hinchliffe had learned about The Pink Stuff on Instagram, naturally, and had started posting daily videos to her then-new account, @mrshinchhome. All the videos were snippets of her nonstop campaign to spiff up the home she had just moved into with her husband.

There was Mrs. Hinch, as she called herself, using a toothbrush to scrub the grout in her bathroom. Here she was polishing her candlesticks. If it were stained, The Pink Stuff would clean it, she told her small but growing audience. Don’t buy new tiles, she advised. Spend 99 pence and restore the old ones. She recommended other brands, too. The Pink Stuff was simply a favorite.

“Hinchers,” as her devotees soon christened themselves, found something meditative and satisfying about watching a chatty, glamorous and yet relatable woman eradicate grime. And these people weren’t just gawkers. They were seeking product tips from the scrubber in chief.

By the time that “hinching” became a verb — defined as “to vigorously clean” — in Britain, The Pink Stuff’s days of obscurity were over. Stores that carried it found customers waiting for restocking carts to roll by so they could snag all the little tubs they needed. Or more.

“I was like, ‘Guys, what have you done? I can’t get hold of any!’” Ms. Hinchliffe said in a video interview. “Then The Pink Stuff got in touch and said, ‘Would you like us to send you some?’ And that’s when I learned about the whole influencer world.”

Ms. Hinchliffe, who has 4.8 million followers on Instagram, never jumped to TikTok — “I struggle to keep up with one platform,” she explained — but The Pink Stuff did. Pink Stuff-related videos have been viewed more than two billion times on TikTok, Star Brands says.

The Viral Bump

The Pink Stuff joins a jumble of once obscure products that have been transformed by the internet, and TikTok in particular. It’s a roster that includes the Hoan Bagel Guillotine, the Stanley tumbler and Carhartt beanies, to name just three. Sales bumps attained through online glory can be fleeting, though. Just because a new product is hoisted aboard the viral train — look, it’s the Dash Mini Waffle Maker! — doesn’t mean it will stay there.

According to Star Brands, which began tracking online mentions of The Pink Stuff a year and a half ago, the hashtags have consistently been viewed by roughly 20 million people every week. Sales have quadrupled since 2018 to about $125 million a year, a modest sum compared with giants in this space, like Clorox, which has annual revenues that exceed $7 billion. But nobody at the company’s headquarters in Leeds thought this number possible a few years ago. The factory now runs three Pink Stuff lines, all day long, with a work force that has more than doubled. The product is now sold in 55 countries and available at Walmart, Home Depot and Amazon.

“We don’t spend money on traditional advertising,” Mr. Pade said. “It’s fully viral. Which is a little scary because we haven’t got any control over the message about our brand.”

Marketing experts say that puts The Pink Stuff in a precarious spot. When the fortunes of a formerly unknown product are made by social media, they are at the mercy of forces that can be monitored but not managed.

“The goal should be loyalty, not virality,” said Marina Cooley, a professor in the practice of marketing at Emory University. “Virality is dangerous because it’s fleeting, there’s no stickiness to it. People are excited by the first interaction and then look for the next viral thing.”

The original version of The Pink Stuff launched in 1931. It was every bit as pink as it is today, but bore a decidedly less charming name, Chemico Bath and Household Cleaner, and came in a gray glass jar. By 1948, it was packaged in a pink tin, though it was not until 1995 that the manufacturer fully leaned into the product’s color by adopting its current name. New owners took over Star Brands in 2018, hoping to breathe new life into a few cleaning products. They soon hired the brand’s first in-house social media guru, but the sales needle barely budged until the Mrs. Hinch phenomenon began. The company did not reach out to her until well after she’d developed a following. (They offered her free product, but did not pay her for her endorsement.) The whole thing was happenstance. “You can’t plan to go viral,” Mr. Pade said.

Welcome to #CleanTok

As TikTok grew in popularity, Pink Stuff hashtags became part of #CleanTok , or videos that offer tips, tricks and hacks for the sanitation minded. For several years, it’s been one of the platform’s most resilient niches . To date, there have been roughly 110 billion global views of #CleanTok videos, way ahead of #BeautyTok, at 78 billion global views, according to figures provided by TikTok to Unilever.

A typical #CleanTok video features a so-called “cleanfluencer” — some have more than one million followers — working over a sink, or a pan, or a floor, with a particular cleaner and a particular brush. There are usually before and after images, which make these little vignettes a cross between a commercial and an episode of “Law & Order.” They start with a mess and end with a verdict.

“People find it very soothing,” said Lori Williamson, a cleanfluencer who lives in Toronto and recently racked up more than one million views on a video of her cleaning a hair dryer . “Others say it’s motivating.”

She has partnered with 20 brands, though not The Pink Stuff. She learned about it after it was showcased by Mrs. Hinch but before Star Brands ramped up production, which it did in 2020, and purchased a North American distributor, which it did last year.

“It cost $24 to get it,” Ms. Williamson said. “I was so upset.” (It now costs $4.99 on Amazon and is carried in about 30,000 stores around the world.)

How well does The Pink Stuff work? The vast majority of #CleanTok videos are triumphal tales — The Pink Stuff vanquishing every surface of a bathroom , The Pink Stuff reviving a sneaker . Someone in the comments section invariably asks the same question: Does the pink stuff have a name?

There are Pink Stuff failures, too, like pots that remain covered in baked-on grime. One woman warned that The Pink Stuff didn’t fix the scratches on her car, something it isn’t designed to do.

Wirecutter, a consumer review site owned by The New York Times Company, tested The Pink Stuff and concluded that it was good but overhyped .

A Happily-Ever-After Ending

Ms. Hinchliffe started posting videos to manage her anxiety and to help her connect with others, like herself, who were more comfortable at home than mixing with strangers.

“If I found myself starting to get a little bit anxious or panicky for no reason, I would pick up my mop, or I’d get my Hoover, or my cloth, and I would just put the music on and go for it,” she said. “And I’d find that I was no longer focusing on what I was worrying about.”

With her fame, Penguin Random House came calling. Her debut, “Hinch Yourself Happy” from 2019, was the first of a handful of books to reach No. 1 on The Sunday Times’s best-seller list. Brands called, too. Ms. Hinchliffe now works with Procter & Gamble to create Mrs. Hinch versions of cleaning products. Once a year, she travels to the company’s offices in Brussels and fine-tunes their scents. Today, she lives in a five-bedroom farmhouse with her husband and children, along with a dog, chickens and alpacas.

A happily-ever-after ending is harder to predict for The Pink Stuff. It no longer depends on Mrs. Hinch, but if the goal is to create a lasting product, Star Brands has some work ahead of it, said Professor Cooley of Emory University.

“It doesn’t sound like there’s an adult in the room, steering the cult,” she said. “There needs to be someone dictating a communication strategy — working with influencers, working with retailers.”

Four years ago, when Gen Zers discovered Vaseline, she noted, Unilever created a handful of new versions of the 152-year-old petroleum jelly, like Vaseline Gluta-Hya, which it touted as 10 times “more glow-giving” for skin than vitamin C. In other words, the company catered to the new crowd.

Mr. Pade of Star Brands says The Pink Stuff engages with influencers, but there is no sense in trying to control them. The tub design has been tweaked a little, and the company operates a four-person social media team to keep an eye on hashtags and produce in-house posts. Otherwise, The Pink Stuff convoy drives itself. Supporters of the brand can spot sponsored content a mile away, Mr. Pade said, and they don’t like it.

“Interest will drop off at some stage because the popularity of cleaning will be overtaken by sex or drugs,” he predicted. “But once people hear about The Pink Stuff through social media, they try it.”

Audio produced by Tally Abecassis .

David Segal is a Business section reporter based in New York City. More about David Segal

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We aim to build a better world — helping people live better and renew the planet while building thriving, resilient communities. For us, this means working to create  opportunity , build a more  sustainable future , advance  diversity, equity and inclusion  and bring  communities  closer together. And at the end of the day, helping our customers save more of their hard earned money for the things they care about most. Because at Walmart, Live Better is what we do every day.

Walmart is committed to making retail a place of inclusive and equitable opportunity for our associates and across related sectors. We use our position as an employer, retailer and community member to promote respect for human rights. And we continue to pursue special initiatives to increase the sourcing of products that support the creation of American jobs.

Read more about  Opportunity at Walmart .

We understand that for a business to last, it must have a fundamental reason for being – which is found in the value it creates not only for shareholders, but for the world. That’s why, for more than 15 years, Walmart has been collaborating with others to drive positive impact across global supply chains. Our focus on climate, nature, waste and people in supply chains has strengthened our business and communities in measurable ways.

Read more about  Sustainability at Walmart .

We aim to help our neighbors live better by strengthening the local communities where our associates and customers live. We’re proud to be a part of thousands of communities worldwide and support them, whether that’s through local giving and associate volunteering, providing emergency relief when disasters strike, providing access to healthy food and services or relieving hunger through food donations and our philanthropic work to provide nutrition education and healthier food for all.

Read more about  Walmart’s Community Outreach .

Our commitment to  ethics  and integrity is reflected in our actions. From ensuring the food and products we sell are safe; to using technology and data ethically and responsibly; to investigating concerns raised by our customers, associates and stakeholders, our commitments are embedded into every action we take.

Read more about our  Commitment to Ethics and Integrity .

Walmart aims to advance diversity, equity and inclusion within our company and society. We are focused on creating a more diverse, inclusive team at every level and fostering a culture where all associates are engaged to achieve their potential and deliver on our customer mission. We also strive to use our business and philanthropic resources to assess drivers of systemic disparities in society, seeking to contribute to a collective movement to advance equity for all.

Read more about  Belonging, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion .

Last year, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation provided more than $1.7 billion in cash and in-kind to support programs that align with our philanthropic priorities. We focus on areas where we can do the most good — combining the unique strengths of the business alongside our philanthropy. Our ability to draw on Walmart business strengths, providing more than just funding, helps our philanthropy to deliver greater social impact. 

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Fortune 500 companies are eliminating chief marketing officer roles as the position loses C-suite clout

walmart strategic marketing plan

Chief marketing officer exits  came fast and furious last month. First, there was United Parcel Service , which said in early December that it was eliminating the CMO role. One week later, arts and crafts marketplace Etsy said it would do the same by merging CMO responsibilities under its operations chief. Directly before the new year, it was Walgreens’ turn to bid adieu to its CMO, distributing the job’s functions to other senior leaders.

One commonality between the three companies is that they have each hit a bumpy financial patch and are under pressure to cut costs. UPS’s revenue fell 13% last quarter, while Etsy’s once robust growth engine has sputtered. Meanwhile, Walgreens is in the midst of enormous C-suite turnover. But these companies’ elimination of a standalone CMO role makes them just the latest in a long line of big corporations to make the same cut in the last few years. Among them are Lowe’s, Hyatt Hotels , McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, Uber , and Lyft .

It’s not that CMOs are going the way of the dodo, but rather that their total share is shrinking. In fact, CMOs are still very present in many companies. According to executive search firm Spencer Stuart, 71% of the Fortune 500 has a marketing chief, though it’s down from 74% in 2009.

The data gleaned from modern marketing and all its many touch points with customers, fueled by the rise of marketing technology or “martech,” is far richer than anything companies have seen before. Historically, CMOs dealt with marketing and advertising like those in print and on TV. But tech has digitized the role, transforming it into one that is more algorithmically driven, full of customer insights, and so mission critical that it also falls under other C-suite executives’ remit.

“Today, an executive has to be much more of a generalist,” says Stephan Meier, a professor of management at Columbia Business School.

Take UPS as an example; Matt Guffey was head of its global strategy and transformation. With the departure of CMO Kevin Warren last month, Guffey became chief commercial and strategy officer, inheriting marketing functions while overseeing global revenue, product management, and overall growth strategy. At Etsy, COO Raina Moskowitz is now in charge of marketing after the exit of former CMO Ryan Scott.

The fading of marketing’s prominence as an autonomous C-suite discipline is likely partly a result of how few of today’s CEOs have marketing backgrounds themselves.  Only about 10% of Fortune 250 CEOs have marketing experience ,   and just 4% have previously held a CMO-like role. In contrast, over 70% of Fortune 100 CEOs have operations or finance backgrounds, the surer pathways to the corner office. What’s more, only 41 of Fortune 1000 companies have a marketer on their board. Naturally, those that do are primarily consumer-focused brands like Best Buy , Mattel , Nike , Estée Lauder and Crocs . 

Still, Richard Sanderson, who leads Spencer Stuart’s North America marketing, sales and communications officer practice stresses that marketing is as necessary as ever, arguably more so, as evidenced by the absorption of the job’s tasks into operational and growth-focused roles. “When people say, ‘Oh, the CMO role is being eliminated,’ that doesn’t mean marketing isn’t important. It simply means a company has chosen to structure around the role in a different way,” he says.

Plus, the role can still be a viable pathway to the corner office, particularly at consumer-facing companies: Ulta Beauty’s David Kimbell and Vail Resorts’ Kirsten Lynch were their respective company’s marketing chiefs before ascending to the top job. 

Some companies that previously eliminated the CMO title have also had a change of heart. After McDonald’s did away with its  global CMO role in 2019, the burger company  reinstated it less than a year later. Not only that, but in early January, McDonald’s  added new business ventures  to the portfolio of its now-CMO, Morgan Flatley. It turns out marketing chiefs might be essential after all.

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