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Walmart: Market segmented, key players, advantages, problems

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Focus on Wal-Mart, e.g. annual sales, number of companies, etc.

Is the industry segmented in some way?
Who are the key players (three to five major competitors)? Focus in on the key logistics issues and the primary methods used for flow of the products.
Does anyone have any advantages based on its particular logistics?
Are there any key problems with logistics in this industry?
What other issues are there that you see with the logistics and supply chain for this industry?

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Solution Summary

The solution discusses Wal-mart's market segmented, key players, advantages and problems.

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Wal-Mart company profile:

Wal-Mart founded in 1962 and incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores Inc in October 31, 1969, is the world's number one retailer dealing in mass merchandising in its stores located worldwide and employing more than 2.1 million people (Yahoo Finance, 2011). The company operates in 28 countries with more than 9600 retail units worldwide. Its retail store formats are either discount stores (700 stores worldwide), super centers (2900 centers), Sam's clubs (610 warehouse), neighborhood markets, hypermarkets and other numerous smaller store formats, located in more than 4500 locations worldwide. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates through three segments: the Wal-Mart US segment, the Wal-Mart International segment and the Sam's Club segment, with the Wal-Mart US segment having 4,400 store units, Wal-Mart international having 5200 store units and Sam's Club unit having 609 store units by the end of August 2011 (Wal-Mart, 2011).

For the year ended January 2011, reported financial figures show that net sales rose by 3.4% to $419 billion while operating income increased by 6.7% to $25 billion. Similarly shares per earning also rose by 12% to $4.18 per share with return on investment rising to 19%. This revenue reflects increased sales at the Wal-Mart stores and at the Sam's club. Sales in the Wal-Mart US segment was $260 billion, in the Wal-Mart international segment was $109 billion and in Sam's Club segment was $49 billion for the same period. The company ranked 1st in 2011 Fortune 500 lists of the world's biggest company by revenue (Wal-Mart, 2011).

Industry it operates in:

Wal-Mart operates in the Discount, Variety Retail Industry which is segmented into grocery and discount store industries. These industries are mainly driven by price, and since most companies in these industries sell similar products, they usually seek to different their products by convenience, price and quality (Anderson, 2011). Wal-Mart's main competitors in the industry are Target Corporation, Costco Wholesale Corporation ...

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