Walmart Organization Marketing Strategies

To flourish in the marketing industry, organizations adopt marketing strategies. Marketing strategies enables an organization to identify the route to follow to achieve its intended objectives. These strategies involve clarifying an organization’s mission, vision, objectives, co-values, and the environment it intends to operate in. The different organizations have adopted marketing strategies, and Walmart is one of them. Walmart is an American global retail corporation that operates chains of the supermarket, retail, and grocery stores. It came into the  Limelight in 1962 when Sam Walton developed a store in Rogers ( Walmart Annual Report, 2020). Since then, it has served millions of customers in different countries and has a wide range of stores. Walmart aims at simplifying their customer’s lives through e-commerce technology, where they can access their products through their online sources. This has made the organization to achieve a high ranking and gain recognition globally. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the organization’s strategies and apply Grand Strategy Matrix to determine which strategies the organization should pursue and determine whether the current strategies suit it.

Walmart has managed to make profits and thrive in the industry through the adoption of marketing strategies. It uses an innovative strategy to hasten the accessibility of its products by customers’ Walmart has adopted e-commerce and robot technology (“Walmart’s Generic Competitive Strategy and Intensive Growth Strategies – Panmure Institute,” 2020). E-commerce Panmureogy enables its customers to order products at their comfort. This has made shopping to be convenient and time-saving. Technology has also enabled customers to return products in case of dissatisfaction through code-scanning provided in the app. The use of technology has enabled the store to interact with its customers with ease and serve them efficiently by satisfying their needs in due time. Apart from serving their customers with ease, Walmart uses robot technology, which coordinates some tasks in their stores. These robots are used when restocking and tracking various inventories, ensuring inventory accuracy. Technology has enabled the organization to hit its goal by helping its customers to live better and save money.

Secondly,  Walmart has adopted competitive strategies to bloom in the retail industry. According to  Michael Porter, competitive strategy is divided into cost leadership, differentiation, and focus (“Walmart’s Generic Competitive Strategy and Intensive Growth Strategies – Panmore Institute,” 2020). Cost leadership involves increasing profit for the organization by reducing operational costs while charging the average industry price. Walmart increases its market share by charging lower prices than its rivals, such as Costco Wholesale. This strategy makes the customer prefer their stores.

On the other hand, differentiation strategy has enabled the company to produce its product with unique selling propositions that are very difficult for its competitors to copy. This technique has enabled the organization to be in a better position than its customers. Finally, Porter’s strategy of focus allows Walmart to incorporate differentiation and cost leadership to obtain a niche market.

Besides innovative and competitive strategies, the organization has also adopted a marketing penetration strategy. Marketing strategy focuses on market development, product development, and diversification (“Walmart’s Generic Competitive Strategy and Intensive Growth Strategies – Panmore Institute,” 2020).In product development, Walmart seeks to increase sales by improving the present market. While in diversification, the company concentrates on related and unrelated diversification.  In related diversification, the organization produces similar products to what it produces, while in unrelated diversification, Walmart focuses on the production of different products from what it has been producing. In market development, Walmart introduces new products into the present market rather than looking for a new market for their products. Marketing penetration strategy serves as Walmart’s primary intensive growth strategy enabling it to target its current customers by selling more goods to them at discounted prices. It has also enabled Walmart to increase its sales and market share in its biggest retail market in the US.

Based on Walmart’s current strategies,  the organization will achieve a strong competitive position and rapid market growth than its rivals.  Quadrant one in the grand strategy matrix is the best fit for the organization (“Complete Guide to Grand Strategy Matrix,” 2020). Market penetration strategy may enable Walmart to achieve a strong competitive position because it will significantly focus on its current market. It’s familiar with and concentrates on their customers by giving them discounted prices. Also, Walmart will sell more goods to these market than its competitors because of dominion in the market and strong marketing base.

Besides, market penetration strategy, market development strategy may influence Walmart to achieve a rapid growth rate in quadrant one of the grand strategy matrix. Walmart assumed that when new products are offered to its current market, it will achieve a high market growth rate than looking for new markets. This is because their existing markets will be more responsive to their product than new markets. Much of the cost will be used in sales and marketing rather than improving the products as the customers have prior positive information regarding their products’ quality.

Walmart needs to adopt a more grand strategy to be more competitive and achieve a rapid growth rate. Walmart should adopt a forward integration strategy, enabling it to own and control activities ahead in its value chain, thus acquiring most of the customers in the market. Also, Walmart should adopt a backward integration strategy to own several supply niches for raw material, thus extending its raw materials sources. Finally, Walmart should adopt a horizontal integration strategy to merge with its competitors, such as Kroger company, a leading food retail shop in the US. A merger may results in high revenue than working independently and also lessen competition in the market.

In conclusion, Walmart is a global retail industry that continues to thrive in the market. Its marketing strategies have enabled it to achieve a strong competitive position and faster marketing growth.  For example, by adopting a marketing penetration strategy, the company has increased its market share by partnering with local and international shareholders globally, thus improving the industry. Also, the differentiation strategy has enabled the organization to beat the competition. Apart from its current strategies, the company should adopt other strategies such as horizontal integration strategy.

References

Complete Guide to Grand Strategy Matrix. Welp Magazine. (2020). Retrieved 10 December 2020, from https://welpmagazine.com/complete-guide-to-grand-strategy-matrix/.

Walmart Annual Report. (2020). Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/media-library/document/2020-walmart-annual-report/_proxyDocument?id=00000171-a3ea-dfc0-af71-b3fea8490000#:~:text=Walmart%20U.S.%20had%20net%20sales,fiscal%202019%20and%202018%2C%20respectively.

Walmart’s Generic Competitive Strategy and Intensive Growth Strategies – Panmore Institute. Panmore Institute. (2020). Retrieved 10 December 2020, from http://panmore.com/walmart-generic-competitive-strategy-intensive-growth-strategies.