Gongbo Hou
Miller Steven
FIM-220
22-Mar-15
Walmart Retail Store Analysis
Introduction Walmart is largest international chain of retail stores which has a dominant presence in UK, USA, Mexico and Canada. The retail giant has thousands of stores in USA and what follows is an analysis of its retail outlet at Lansing 3225 Towne Centre Blvd. Though the retail store operates independently as a seller, but features affiliation with the top brands in all product categories for the purpose of maintaining the shelve supplies. The main idea of this report is to analyze the store operations with regards to the retail tactics and the 4 P’s of marketing strategy being followed. For giving a detailed analysis of this outlet, the report will cater to a variety of different questions under the theme of the 4P’s of marketing strategy namely Product, Place, Price and Promotion.
The 4P’s strategy at the store
Product
Like any of Walmart’s retail outlets, it features a comprehensive range of general merchandise products, health and beauty aids, household needs, family apparels, fabric, crafts, electronics, toys, lawn and garden supplies, shoes and jewelry. It also operates an oil and lube express, photo processing center and a pharmacy department. The product display arrangements or the store layout at Walmart is a standard thing. The left part of the store is for the grocery products where one finds bakery, frozen food and dairy food etc. The middle part of the store is dedicated for the housing and apparel products which include pharmacy, electronics and toys. On the right side is the area reserved for garden products. Following this product display layout at the store creates an open environment which enables the customers to find their desired product. The standard display tactic followed at this outlet along with all other Walmart outlet means that customers know where to find what at Walmart.
What was noticeable is that the arrangements of the products was in a manner that benefits both the store sales and the customers e.g. the high selling products like milk and eggs were though placed at the container’s end, but still they were visible to the customers when they walk into the outlet. So the customers pass through the low sale products to get to the more desired ones. This strategy is to keep a balance in the sales of different products so that the supply chain is effectively organized.
Another important feature of the product display at the outlet was that they were not only clearly segmented into departments, but were also further classified and categorized. For example the beauty products department is further classified as hair care and skin products with categories as body oil, moisturizers, sunscreen, and body cream lotions. The categories also featured sub categories e.g. the moisturizers were classified as herbal, regular and medical. A clear shop map was visible at each department which makes it very easy for the customers to make it to their desired product category and hence endorsing customer facilitation. The products are also categorized in brands and the private labels at the store, thus providing a more customer facilitating experience. The store also provides a more frequent buying section where high sellers are displayed to make the shopping experience customer friendly and less time consuming. However a problem that was witnessed in some of the departments was that the products were compactly arranged which can make the customers skip their desired products and waste time. This is one area which they need to improve on.
The overall display environment is clean in terms of the floors, the shelves and the walls except for a few shelves which had dirt. However it could badly effect a brand image. The outlet also featured private labeled brands of Walmart which may be about 25 to 30 percent of the total products. A noticeable feature in that regard was that the private labels of Walmart which also have high
