Wal-Mart Marketing Mix
Wal-Mart Stores (|NYSE: WM) closed it latest fiscal year with $103.8B in revenues, growing 4% over the previous fiscal year (WalMart Investor Relations, 2012), a remarkable accomplishment given the recessionary climate of the U.S. And other westernized nations. Wal-Mart's ability to withstand economically challenging times is directly linked to how well they synchronize their product, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies using an extensive information systems architecture (Wang, 2006). Wal-Mart is unique as discount retailer as their corporate culture is very focused on analytics and real-time use of data from its more than 3,700 retail locations globally (Ritson, 2005).

Product Considerations and Strategies at Wal-Mart

he cornerstone of Wal-Mart's strength in product strategies globally is in their ability to manage supplier relationships to pricing and margin targets while at the same time requiring the highest quality of any mass merchandiser in business today (Lee, 2006). Holding suppliers accountable for exceptionally high…...

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The aspect of the marketing mix that Wal-Mart is best known for, the LPED value proposition is actually made possible by every other area of their value chain supporting a lean sourcing and distribution network (Ritson, 2005). Pricing strategies are also dictated through the use of analytics, where Wal-mart calculates the demand curve for all best-selling products every night based on uploaded salsa data via satellite links at their stores (Cocheo, 2003) (WalMart Investor Relations, 2012). The satellite dishes on their stores uplink sales data daily to Bentonville, Arkansas daily for analysis over night. By 10AM Eastern Time every day, pricing decisions on literally thousands of products have been defined and implemented regionally, nationally or globally. This extreme price agility that Wal-mart has is one reason why Target has failed to displace them in clothing and high-end consumer electronics (Lee, 2006). Increasingly with the use analytics, Wal-Mart is also able to track the product introduction and product strategy progress across distribution centers and also evaluate quickly which promotional programs are best and worst performing (WalMart Investor Relations, 2012). Pricing strategies at Wal-Mart may be seen as predatory yet the company has a keen sense through the use of analytics what the optimal price is for each of their best-selling products.

Promotion Strategies

The primary focus of promotional strategies at Wal-Mart is to connect with and reinforce the customer loyalty of their most active and profitable customers. Wal-Mart is a heavily analytics-driven company and this includes their intense focus on customer research as well. Wal-Mart has progressed beyond segmenting their markets using demographics and today segment using psychographics, which is the study of how people assign themselves to groups who share their values (Frazier, 2006). A recent study released by

Marketing Strategies
Walmart retail chain is ranked as the number one and top most retail chain not only in the United States, but also in the world (Farfan, 2016). Starting out as a single store, Walmart has developed to turn out to be the biggest company in the world in terms of revenues. The business undertaken by Walmart as a company encompasses restaurants, superstores, retail stores and also warehouse clubs. The company also undertakes e-commerce through its website Walmart.com. In terms of retail products, the merchandises being sold in Walmart's retail stores include baby products, healthcare products, household goods, electronics, books, automotive products, clothing, furnishings and decor, alcohol, grocery, paper products and so much more (Walmart Website, 2016).

Actions to Build and Sustain Relationships

In order for a retailer to become successful, the organization has to undertake the application of concepts of value and building relations so that consumers attain the belief that…...

Marketing Information system is a management information system that supports decision making processes in marketing (Kotler & Keller, 2006). Marketing data is gathered, stored, and analyzed within this system and distributed on timely basis to managers to enhance decision making processes (Kotler, 1988). It is a continuing and an interactive structure of people, equipment and procedures to gather information that is used in decision making processes in an organization. The major components of management information system are internal reporting systems, marketing research system, marketing intelligence system, and marketing models. Information touching on finances, production, manpower, marketing, stockholding, and logistical data are normally stored in marketing information system. Orders received, stockholdings and sales are also stored in the marketing information system. Other than the above named information, marketers can also get information related to product type, size, and pack by territory, type of account, industry, and customer; average value and volume…...

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References List

Anonymous (2011). Marketing. Retrieved from http://www.freezingblue.com/iPhone/flashcards/printPreview.php?fileid=119645

Doherty, M. (1994) Probability vs. Non-Probability Sampling in Sample Surveys. The New

Zealand Statistics, 21-28.

Jeff Anderson Consulting (2013). Interviewing and Research Methods. Retrieved http://www.jeffandersonconsulting.com/marketing-research.php/survey-research/research-methods

almart
al-Mart's Domestic and Global Marketing Challenges

al-Mart is at once one of the most visible retail firms in the world and one of the most consistently criticized. Due to its poor record on labor rights, its deleterious impact on local communities and businesses, and its various ethical sacrifices in the name of everyday low prices, al-Mart's marketing challenges generally center on these shortcomings in its domestic and global reputation. A consideration of the environmental circumstances impacting al-Mart's marketing conditions reveals a company a number of vulnerabilities to public impression but also with great opportunities to make improvements in this area.

One area in which balance is needed is that of global trade. In this context, al-Mart has established a level of global interdependence that demands relatively unregulated production in developing world contexts. It is this interdependence -- whereby its low everyday prices rely on the undercutting of labor and environmental costs --…...

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Works Cited:

Humes, E. (2011). Wal-Mart's Green Hat. Los Angeles Times.

Savage, C. (2012). With Wal-Mart Claims, Greater Attention On a Law. The New York Times.

Virginian-Pilot. (2012). The Discounting of Integrity. PilotOnline.com.

Marketing
A comparison between two major department stores, Nordstrom and Wal*Mart can illustrate the concepts of pricing and distribution. The research shows that both Nordstrom and Wal*Mart use pricing and distribution strategically, but with different means, methods, and end results.

Pricing and distribution are integral parts of an overall marketing strategy. Pricing refers to the cost of the item, and is related to product positioning, perceived value, and the profitability of the company. Distribution refers to the methods by which the company delivers its goods and services to the consumer, and signals how consumers first come into contact with the items for sale. A comparison between Wal*Mart and Nordstrom helps to illustrate the interrelated concepts of pricing and distribution. Nordstrom and Wal*Mart are both major department stores that depend on strategic pricing and distribution strategies. However, their pricing strategies are completely different. Nordstrom lures customers with perceived quality and status, whereas Wal*Mart…...

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References

Bertini, M., and Wathieu, L. (2010). How to Stop Customers from Fixating on Price. Harvard Business Review Vol. 88 (May), p. 84-91

Burnsed, B. (2009, August 3). Where Discounting Can Be Dangerous . Business Week. New York. 49.

Florissen, A., Maurer, B., Schmidt, B. & and Vahlenkamp, T. (2001, August). The race to the bottom: When industries deregulate, their managers face unfamiliar challenges. Price wars are often the unfortunate -- and unnecessary -- result. McKinsey Quarterly. McKinsey & Company.

Henricks, M. (2010 November 19). Price-Cutting Peril: Do You Know What You're Doing -- Really? The Debunker. BNet.

almart
al-Mart

al-Mart is one of the renowned and established retailing stores of the world. It is a non-governmental company and operates in a number of countries around the globe. The basic aim of al-Mart is to provide goods at a cheaper rate and due to this reason; it gained popularity in the domestic as well as international countries. This retail store is highly successful in various countries like China, Brazil, United Kingdom, Canada etc. However, the operation of al-Mart did not gain success in South Korea and Germany. There are a number of reasons for this success and failure (Roberts and Berg, pg. 45).

Since entering, a foreign market requires a deep analysis of political stability, culture, taste and fashion of people, many other factors, al-Mart did this analysis greatly, and due to this reason, al-Mart acquired different names in different countries. The names acquired by al-Mart were the names of the…...

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Works cited

Onkvisit, Sak. International Marketing. Chicago: Taylor & Francis, 2008.

Roberts, Bryan and Natalie Berg. Walmart. London; Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page, 2012.

Schenk, Thorben. Foreign Market Servicing Strategies . London: GRIN Verlag, 2004.

Spotts, Greg. Wal-Mart. New York, N.Y.: Disinformation, 2005.

The first new market to be opened would probably be Canada or Mexico (considering the fact that the United States is the company's home market). This decision is made easier by observing the beating that alMart took in Europe and in Asia a short while ago when attempting to enter those markets.
An article in "The Times" on July 29, 2006 stated the following; "al Mart, the world's largest retailer, abruptly pulled out of Germany yesterday....In a humbling admission of defeat, al Mart said it would sell its 85 German stores to the rival supermarket chain Metro and book a pre-tax loss of about $1 billion on the failed venture." (Times 2006)

Since al Mart is one of the world's largest companies, and still took a beating, it might behoove the company to concentrate more on creating new products, while building strong markets that are conducive to drinking our product than…...

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Works Cited

Brady, D. (2004) Pepsi's Thousand and One Noshes, Business Week, June 14.

Faust, D., (2004) Things go Better with Juice, Business Week, May 17

Wal-Mart Pulls out of Germany at cost of $1 Billion, (2006), The Times,   Accessed October 7, 2006http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,13129-2290398,00.html ,

WalMart Corporation
Mission and Vision tatement Analysis

Linking Wal-Mart's Mission and Vision to Their trategic Goals and Objectives

Assessing the Link Between Wal-Mart's Financial Performance And Its trategic Goals

Wal-Mart Competitive and Marketing Analysis

Wal-Mart Marketing Analysis

Potential Wal-Mart Merger & Acquisition trategy

Incentive and Reward trategies for Wal-Mart Employees

Evaluating How Current trategies Define Ethicacy Levels at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Ratio Analysis

Income tatement Analysis, 2007 -- 2012

Analysis of WalMart Corporation

Mission and Vision tatement Analysis

All internal systems, processes, external stakeholder management initiatives, supply chain management, sourcing, quality management and merchandising initiatives in WalMart revolve around the fulfillment of the expectations they create with their customers daily. Their Low Price Everyday (LPED) value proposition permeates their entire value chain, galvanizing it around the mission of delivering exceptional value on a consistent basis to customers. The mission and vision of WalMart rely on LPED as the catalyst and unifying force across their large, diverse corporate culture. WalMart is known for also…...

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Sources: (Wal-Mart, 2012) (Sodhi, Son, 2009) (Gosman, Kohlbeck, 2009)

Selecting the Best Possible Strategy for Maximizing Return to Shareholders

For WalMart to deliver the greatest potential value to shareholders, they need to pursue a mid-tier market strategy that differentiates store product

Peer Discussion I think you make a very important point that without intermediaries many organizations cannot thrive. Depending upon the reputation of the product and the industry of the organization, marketing intermediaries are often necessary for the organization to access consumers. eaching the target customer via a retailer or other distributor is often necessary (Kotler & Keller, 2016). However, some companies or products have been very successful using direct marketing via websites and social media, particularly if they sell a niche product to a specific consumer demographic and can cultivate a distinct social media persona. As you also note that ecommerce allows a smaller organization to save on costs and not sacrifice money to an intermediary. The downside of intermediaries is that unless a company is very prominent (like Coca-Cola, which you cite), it can be challenging to ensure that the company doing the distributing ensures the placement of the…...

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ReferenceKotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). A framework for marketing management (6th ed.). UpperSaddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Octagon Sports Marketing Plan
Octagon Sports Marketing

Octagon Sports Company has been proud to be an industry leader in terms of events management, sports and entertainment marketing, and representation of athletes and personalities al over the world. It was founded in the year 1983 and after wards acquired as sports and entertainment event marketing arm of the Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG) in 1997 by the same company (IPG). Currently Octagon Company is able to employ more than 1000 professionals in the more than 60 offices across the globe.

Octagon Sports Marketing Company has been a pioneer in terms of full service sports and entertainment corporate consulting, bringing together various marketing disciplines and services in a single roof for the benefit of our clients. The in-house resources that our company offers are efficiency and convenience and this is apart from traditional and specialized services offered. In several occasion the company connects brands to…...

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References

Davis. The business of sports agents. University of Pennsylvania Press. Retrieved 14 July 2011.

Frank Craighili (2000) Despite costs, buying binge not over yet Retrieved March 15, 2014.  http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2000/05/20000529/No-Topic-Name/Despite-Costs-Buying-Binge-Not-Over-Yet.aspx 

Los Angeles (CA) 2009) Entertainment PR/Marketing/Celebrity Consulting (First Call). Retrieved March 15, 2014 www.octagonfirstcall.com

McLean (2013) Athlete and Property Marketing. Retrieved March 15, 2014 www.octagon.com/AthletesPersonalities/13.

Marketing
Walmart

Type of Service (Profit, not-for-profit, public service, routine, rare

Profit

Date, time, length, and precise location of Service Encounter:

March 1, 2013, 7am. 30 minutes

What did you choose to mystery shop this particular organisation (purpose, location, choice of provider, expectations)?

convenience

Exactly what did you and the employee(s) say and do?

Ask the employee where I could find Lava soap. She took me to the where it was located and told me if I need more help to let her know.

Describe and analyse the physical location, surroundings, decor, and general atmosphere of the outlet where the encounter took place:

Clean, friendly atmosphere, fairly clean parking lot

What could you and/or the employee(s) have done to increase the level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this Service Encounter?

Ask if there was anything else the customer needed.

How likely is it that you will return to this Service Provider?

Extremely Unlikely...

...Extremely Likely

1?

2?

3?

4?

5?X

Identify and closely apply three (3) marketing…...

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Bibliography

Anon., 2013. Customer Interface. [Online]

Available at: http://www.nowsell.com/marketing-guide/customer-interface.html

[Accessed 18 Mar 2013].

Bhave, A., n.d. Customer Satisfaction Measurement. [Online]

Introduction
Wal-Mart, the biggest global retail chain, may be counted among the largest organizations worldwide, with regard to its size, financial performance and business value. This paper aims at examining Wal-Mart’s Subsystem and HR Management change, with particular emphasis on personnel selection, development, performance, training, and compensation management (Thompson 2016). Further it will address the key stakeholders of the organization.

Organization and Major Subsystem in Need of Change

Numerous factors contribute to a company’s success, and a few of them critical to the success of Wal-Mart are personnel selection, development and training (Thompson 2016). The organization needs to ensure its HR department receives adequate support to maintain its reputation and satisfy its business expectations and needs. Its major subsystems include Adaptive, Maintenance, and Management.

Stakeholders

Investors:
Investors’ chief concern is profits. They desire more revenue generation by the company, which would increase their dividends. They also desire minimization of operational expenses, as profits increase with decreased…...

Wal Mart
Comparison of Financial Performance esults for WalMart

Comparison to Target

Financial atios for Walmart

Evaluation of Other Areas of Financial Analysis

Analysis of One year ratio of Walmart and Comparison with Target

Walmart

Walmart has been in business for more than 50 years and at present has a footfall every week of more than 260 million customers in the 11,500 stores under 65 banners in 28 countries and the e-commerce sites in 11 countries. The net sale of the company in 2014 was $476.29 billion. The company has 2.2 million associated across the world. The group recorded a net sale increase of 1.9% in the fiscal year ended January 30, 2015 and it returned $7.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases (Annualreports.com, 2015).

Target -- Walmart's Competitor

Target offers perishables, dry grocery, dairy and frozen items and all food items comparable to traditional supermarkets. The company has three primary types of stores -- SuperTarget, CityTarget…...

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References

Annualreports.com,. (2015). Wal-Mart Stores Inc. - AnnualReports.com. Retrieved 5 December 2015, from  http://www.annualreports.com/Company/wal-mart-stores-inc 

Corporate.target.com,. (2015). Annual Reports. Retrieved 5 December 2015, from  https://corporate.target.com/annual-reports/2012/10-k/10-K-Part-IV/Item-15-Exhibits-and-Financial-Statement-Schedules#financial-statements 

Corporate.target.com,. (2015). Financial Summary: Target 2012 Annual Report -- Target Corporate. Retrieved 5 December 2015, from  https://corporate.target.com/annual-reports/2012/financials/financial-summary 

Helfert, E., & Helfert, E. (2001). Financial analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Financial ManagementIntroductionBasing the analysis according to the financial statements of Walmart, the purpose of this financial analysis is to provide a report. The report to be provided may help the investors to know if Walmart is either a buy or a sell stock. The complete report will interpret various trends supported by some of the main ratios; this analysis will include liquidity analysis, horizontal and vertical analysis, solvency, and profitability analysis. Through those mentioned ratios, one can determine how Walmart is performing compared to the industry and the additional information that could influence the investment decision. The main ratios in this analysis are vertical and horizontal analysis, whereby about vertical analysis, an expression of every item in each statement for a period equal to a base figure. In the case of horizontal analysis, evaluation of trends is done over some time.A. Interpretation of TrendsHorizontal and Vertical AnalysisHorizontal analysis is given…...

COMPANY ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION POJECTCompany Analysis and Evaluation ProjectWalmartDescription of the OrganizationThe organization selected for this undertaking is Walmart. Walmart happens to be one of the largest multinational retail corporations in the world. The company has grown from humble beginnings to essentially become an immensely profitable enterprise with operations in multiple locations across the world. Although the retailer has largely operated in brick and mortar locations since its establishment in 1962 by an entrepreneur known as name Sam Walton, it has partially embraced an online retail model in recent times so as to cope with the competition from online retailers such as Amazon. Indeed, as the Walmart points out on its website, it is committed to the creation of a seamless experience to let customers shop anytime and anywhere online, through mobile devices and in stores (Walmart, 2021). At present, the company is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The current chairman…...

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ReferencesBryan, C. (2014). Handbook of Research on Global Business Opportunities. IGI Global. Foxall, G. (2014). Strategic Marketing Management. Routledge. Kaplan, R.S. & Norton, D.P. (1996). The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. Harvard Business Press. Walmart (2021). Our Business. (2020). FORM 10-K. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/104169/000010416920000011/wmtform10-kx1312020.htmWilkinson, T.J. & Kannan, V.R. (2013). Strategic Management in the 21st Century. ABC-CLIO. https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-businessWalmart