Walmart

As the world's largest retailer and the world's largest company, Walmart plays a significant role in the global economy. It is a U.S.-based company that has 4,100 stores and 2,800 “supercenters” in 14 nations and generates more than US$400 billion annually in sales.

Walmart is not a manufacturer. It sells such diverse household items as ketchup, cleanser, bicycles, electronics, cosmetics, clothing, toys, hardware, bedding, appliances, plants, dishes, toilet paper, and CDs. Sam's Club is a successful spin-off of the warehouse membership variety, while the larger Supercenters also carry groceries.

Sam Walton revolutionized the world of retailing when he founded Walmart in 1962. It is the old-time emporium brought into the modern world, according to Walton. Under his direction, as a model of American hometown virtues and values, Walmart has positioned itself as uniquely embedded in American lives. Walmart was the first major retailer to hire “greeters” to welcome customers as they entered the store, indicative of Sam Walton's idea of positioning Walmart as “hometown American-friendly.”

More than 2 million people a week shop at Walmart and almost 2 million people are employed by the company. In the midst of a recession, Walmart's profits continue to increase, and Walmart's marketing and business strategies have become models for much of the retail world. However, whereas many see the success of Walmart as a prototype for profit, others view the business practices of Walmart as being among the most egregious in the United States. Criticisms include noncompliance with environmental and labor policies, forcing U.S. manufacturers to outsource jobs and production, allegations of driving local small business under by undercutting costs, and forcing establishment of stores through local litigation.

Walmart argues that its benefits, such as bringing low-cost items to a beleaguered American populace, creating jobs, and contributing to local economies and community programs greatly outweigh any disadvantages to Americans, and actively promotes itself as innovative in finding solutions to these criticisms. Its use of improvements in containerization, transportation, and information technologies; its use of consumer demographics and preferences, and inventory tracking; and its offering low wages with few benefits are key elements of its success based on models of efficiency: cost cutting to maximize profit.

A quick look at how Walmart's advertising campaigns have changed over the years offers insight into how the goals and practices of the company have shaped its evolution into the monolithic retailing model it has become. Sam Walton's first marketing slogan reflected his original vision: “Buy American.” The company claimed that its [Page 1752]merchandise was “Made in the USA” and pitched its products to Americans through appeals to patriotism and “American” values. It continued to market its goods as such until 1992 when NBC's undercover cameras revealed “Made in Bangladesh” labels in clothing displayed directly under the slogan. In 1996, Charles Kernaghan and the National Labor Committee exposed the working conditions in factories producing the “Kathy Lee Gifford” label sold at Walmart. Employees at factories producing for this label in Honduras were found to include more than 200 children under age 11, allegedly working 12 to 14 hours a day, up to 7 days a week, for wages as low as 6.5 cents per hour. After these public exposures of working conditions and countries of origin, Walmart changed its slogan in 1998 to “Always Low Prices, Always.” Instead of selling by appeals to patriotism, Walmart shifted its focus to highlighting thrift as a traditional value, maintaining that it was dedicated to selling goods at the cheapest prices in the United States, thus saving Americans money.

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