Corporate Market Share - WalMart/K-Mart

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I would choose Wal-Mart over K-Mart. I've actually done research on this and I will attach that as evidence to this posting. The main thing on this is that k-mart obviously lost brand value through its financial troubles followed by the Martha Stewart fiasco. However, this is not exactly why I don't like Wal-Mart. There are so many more Wal-Mart locations and even when they are side by side I would rather go to a Wal-Mart because it has more product selections, there are more products overall, it is cleaner, and the customer service is a lot better at Wal-Mart. K-Mart on the other hand I think is breathing its last breath and is just hanging on with all they have and it's not working. I find it very scattered in the store, the stock is not replenished as often, it is also not organized as often, and the overall look of the store outside and inside is poorer. The products inside the store may be of equal quality but the fact that Wal-Mart has a wider selection, more products, it's cleaner, and better customer service is why I would never really go into a K-Mart again.

The "Mart" Experience
All of us remember stores such as Zaire and Venture. These were deep discount stores who sold just about everything from saran wrap and toys to swimming suits and dress gowns. However, what we also remember about these stores is that they went out of business. Now, another deep discount retailer is going through very hard times. Kmart has declared bankruptcy and is staying afloat just above the water constantly being dunked by large discount retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. Both Kmart and Wal-Mart were founded in 1962 as discount retailers, however at this point that might be the only thing these two have in common. So how is that while two comparable retailers are doing just fine, that this [Kmart] once very successful pioneer is now in the red? The answer isn't easy. There seems to be a struggle of style and price. When Wal-Mart was winning the price war hands down, Kmart wanted to compete by bringing in higher style merchandise. However, this did not quite work as Target stores won the style competition. The bottom line comes down to Kmart's poor strategies and identify crisis. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is now the top seller of groceries, jewelry, photo processing, serving 100 million customers a week, employing 1/20 of the nations employees (1.3 million), is the biggest customer for manufacturers of products, and now has 22% of the grocery business, 21% of hard goods, 18% soft goods, 9% pharmaceuticals, 9% electronics, 8%toys and sporting goods, 7% beauty aids, 3% stationary, 2% one hour photo, 1% jewelry, and 1% of the shoe business (Food Industry News). Meanwhile, in the last decade, Kmart has been losing in annual revenues steadily and nothing has seemed to successfully pull the third largest retailing chain out of its rut. The exact causes and problems of Kmart and the successes of Wal-Mart can be attributed to inventory, management, strategy, price, and image. As it stands right now, Wal-Mart is continually expanding while K-Mart is finding it harder and harder to stay above water.

Known to all customers, inventory is the key to going to any store. If the supplies are not there, customers lose faith in their supplier and look elsewhere for the merchandise. Perhaps the biggest problem Kmart has is its ability to keep stock on the shelves. Kmart is able to keep its goods fully stocked on shelves only 86% of the time. In the industry, anything less than 90% is considered unacceptable. Wal-Mart, however, runs close to 100%. Wal-Mart and others have emphasized "everyday low price" selling, which is more predictable for both customers and the distribution pipeline. ...