Marketing Strategy of Walmart
Save money. Live better
A motto that Walmart lives by and is something that it strongly and consistently promotes through its different marketing campaigns.
Walmart is the marketing powerhouse, and one of its key strengths is its marketing strategy.
There are 4 main pillars of the Marketing strategy of Walmart
- Price
- Access
- Assortments
- Experience
The marketing strategy of Walmart was simple, gain a competitive advantage by keeping the customers first.
Before digging deep down into the marketing strategy of Walmart, let’s first understand what is the customer segment that Walmart targets and its positioning statement:
Customer segment: Walmart targets lower middle and middle-class customers and prices their products in a range which is suitable for their target audience.
Positioning statement: Among price-sensitive customers, Walmart is the brand of a retailer that provides the convenience of one-stop shopping for everyday products at the lowest possible price, because of its operational excellence, inventory management, and logistics infrastructure’.
Walmart’s brand identity is of a ‘low price discount retailer’. Right from the start, the company had employed a “national brand” strategy in its merchandising. By carrying all the well-known brands at relatively lower prices, it was able to demonstrate the superior value it brought to its customers.
Basis the customer segment it targets and the positioning it has in customers minds, the marketing strategy of Walmart is divided into 4 parts. So, let’s see –
What is the Marketing strategy of Walmart
PART 1: PRICE
Walmart PRICE STRATEGY :
Price is one of the main factors that influence the buying decision of the customer and Walmart’s management knew this secret very well. What did they do about it?
Made the products affordable for all walk of life.
Walmart’s EDLP (Everyday low price) strategy is well known all over the world and is all something which gave it the necessary competitive advantage. The strategy of offering low prices relied on another key cornerstone on which so much of Walmart’s advantage is built: scale/volume. Walmart knew, that with time and with an increase in the volume of sales, they would be able to achieve economies of scale and ultimately achieve high profits.
A strong network of supply chain and the ability to curb and lower the operational costs are two other factors that enabled Walmart to keep their prices low.
Once Walmart has formulated its pricing strategy, it was time to make the products accessible to every customer.
PART 2:
ACCESSIBILITY OF PRODUCTS:
To increase its reach and to make products accessible to customers, Walmart started opening its stores. As of today, Walmart has around 11,200+ stores in over 27 countries operating under 55 different brand names.
Walmart didn’t stop at just stores, in this digital world, the need was to offer products through online channels as well.
Customers can visit the Walmart website and can order products directly from their website.
Art.com : With an aim to provide customers with home decor products, Walmart recently acquired Art.com, world’s largest online retailer in the art and wall décor category.
Walmart Rakuten Ichiba Store: To give Japanese customers a taste of US products, Walmart is collaborating with Rakuten to open the First Walmart eCommerce Store in Japan. The online shopping collaboration to deliver Walmart US products directly to Japanese consumers.
PART 3:
ASSORTMENTS:
Providing a different variety of products to its customers was one of the main factors in the marketing strategy of Walmart.
Imagine this – What will a company do if they don’t have a good variety of products/brands to offer to its customers? – “Nothing”
That’s exactly what the people in Walmart’s board meeting must have thought and hence they came up with a strategy that enabled them to offer a wide variety of products to their customers at a low price.
Walmart Discount Stores offers products categories like family apparel, automotive products, health and beauty aids, home furnishings, electronics, hardware, toys, sporting goods, lawn and garden items, pet supplies, jewelry, housewares etc
Walmart Supercenters: Apart from general merchandise, Walmart Supercenters offers bakery goods, frozen foods, meat, and dairy products, etc. Specialty shops like hair salons, Mcdonalds, Subway etc find their place in these supercenters.
Walmart Neighborhood Markets feature products which are used by customers in their everyday use like deli foods, fresh meat and dairy items, pharmacies, stationery, and pet supplies, etc.
Sam’s Club: These are a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs that offers products ranging from laptops to grocery to jewelry at a cheap price.
PART 4:
Customer Experience :
In this digital world, customer experience has surpassed all factors in gaining customer loyalty. Intense competition and an easy to copy business model forced Walmart to focus on improving customer experience ( instore or online ) by using modern technology.
Walmart recently deployed Dotcom store technology that allowed in-store customers to buy items on Walmart.com, with the help of store associates who can place orders on their handheld touchscreen devices.
Walmart is also using VR technology to make customers shopping experience a pleasant one.
Walmart is being local
Walmart has been very careful in adding the taste and flavor of every country /region in which they are operating. The same is reflected through their store designs and their product offerings.
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