I. Company Description
a) History and Form
Organizational Background
Wal-Mart is known as one of the biggest public companies and retailers that have ever existed. Sam Walton is attributed for the foundation of the firm way back in 1950s, immediately after making a benefiting union with a guy called Ben Franklin who had his own chain of retail stores . In 1962, Walton and his beloved wife Helen moved their operational bases to Bentonville, Arkansas and reinvented the true Wal-Mart Company there. Sam Walton believed in the idea of passing his savings to his customers after buying goods in wholesale luggage. This eventually led to fast growth of the firm such that by 1967, the number of stores that had been opened as branches of the firm was 24. Broad assortments of the goods were the only kind of the merchandise the company specialized in by then (Wal-Mart, 2007).
They offered these goods and services to their own customers at low prices and, thus, attracting them in future which was leading to the spectacular growth of the company. In the year 1969, the list of the stores that had been formed as a chain of stores selling great products were merged together and renamed the “Wal-Mart Stores Inc”. It was then followed by the process of listing the on goings of the trading of the firm formally done on the New York Stock Exchange.
b) Mission Statement
Actually, there is no formal mission that has been set up by the Wal-Mart founders, there is only one known slogan that has been used over the years by the majority of the customers and this is: “To help people save money so they can live better”. This truly relates to the marketing strategy of providing products at a lower price to its customers worldwide that is commonly used by Wal-Mart
II. Customer Description
The Target Market category
Targeted marketing is a strategy that enables the marketers of the companies to have the best and appropriate prospective customers in a more efficient manner than other well known marketing strategies. The strategy enables various marketers to simply place different types of items in the retail stores that are located in different areas or rather neighborhoods. This would usually depend on the location that has been targeted or the population makeup of the locals (Evans, 2007).
a) Demographics
Segmenting the customers into the various demographics group would help the Wal-Mart Company to assess the actual size of the market that would be potential for its growth and also to have that capability to know if the goods and the services they provide do actually reach the target market group.
Age factor determines the type of goods and services that are offered by the Wal-Mart firm in general. For instance, children buy a lot of clothes, music, toys and several types of fast food only because people of other category have different tastes and needs and, thus, delineating the market in general. Gender or sex also plays a lot of role in determining the market behavior of the Wal-Mart customers. The differences in the gender group have led to the introduction of the various types of products by the Wal-Mart marketers. This has led to the introduction of various products targeted for women, for instance, the beauty products and various types of fragrances such as Bobby Brown and Clinique. There are also products that target the men market, and these include products such as Magazines like Nuts and Lifestyle and other grooming products. Other brands that are sold by the Wal-Mart firm are targeted for both sexes, for instance, watches.
Another important demographic variable that determines the market audience of the Wal-Mart firm is the social-economic status. This is because it has previously determined the types of the products that a customer would afford to buy. The information that usually determines the social- economic status of the customer includes the personal income of the customers, employment level and status, the net worth of the assets, and also the income of the household. Many types of customers with affluent status do visit the various stores of the Wal-Mart because of the variety of products that are offered there to satisfy their personal needs. It has been reported that Wal-Mart retailers have targeted specific segments of customers by simply breaking them into the various smaller chains with each having its own specific needs.
b) Psychographics
This factor is used generally to analyze the various types of the activities the customer engages himself or herself into, or even the various interests, including the types of opinions of the customers. The buying behavior of customers can be recognized via various individual’s lifestyles and patterns of dressing, and even eating various products that are sold in the outlet stores that are located in different parts. This would finally affect the decision making processes of these customers when they want to buy the goods in those stores.
This idea has led the marketers of Wal-Mart to fully stock the attires and apparel location where the African Americans are densely populated with lines of clothes that have various features, for example, sporting labels such as jackets and baggy jeans. This is because it has been shown by the previous patterns that there is ever increasing behavior of buying jeans and jackets.
c) Geographic
This factor is used mainly where differences in various attitudes have been established, and these may include the tastes, the customer’s preferences and the attitude towards consumption of goods and services. Customers who buy a lot of goods from the Wal-Mart stores come from the nearby neighborhoods where the retail stores have been located. The consumption patterns of the customers have influenced the location of the Wal-Mart retail stores. For example, the ingredients that are added by the customers in their morning toast, such as marmite and jam are located in the various stores the customers of which have the purchasing power and are able to buy these products from these stores (Hoffman, 2000).
This pattern of consumption serves as an indicator of preferences based on the differing geographic locations. Markets are also affected by country, by geographical size of city or town, postcode, and by other factors, as population density of the customers from the given urban, suburban, or rural portion that has been identified. For instance, it has been concluded that American beer drinkers do prefer lighter types of beers that are offered in the retail shop outlets, as when compared to other regions across the globe such as their counterparts, UK and also German beer drinkers.
III Description of the Four Ps
i) Products
The products that are offered by the Wal-Mart stores are of great quality so as to satisfy the needs and the wants of the customers, attracting him or her to come back to purchase more products. Products do come in various types of forms into the market for customers to buy them. These products can fall into different categories, such as convenience goods, so that the customers were able to invest very little amount of shopping efforts. Wal-Mart has implemented this idea and has since divided various outlet stores into sections that have products with same features such as apparel section with clothes of the same quality and use.
This is very important so that the customers were able to purchase these products easily, just by going to these locations. The brand of these products has been best indicated alongside their display location so that the customers could easily recognize and see them.
There are multiple types of products that are carried out by Wal-Mart and these include various types of home products for improvement and those required for the normal health, and even the entertainment products. There is a wide assortment of products that suite the customers of all categories from low class to high class category.