Taking A Look At Wal-Mart

"Over the past ten years, Wal-Mart has become the world's largest and arguably most powerful retailer with the highest sales per square foot, inventory turnover, and operating profit of any discount retailer."( Lu, 2014, p.1) Wal-Mart was conceived with the aim of supplying customers with products anytime and anyplace they want them. They strived to build cost structures that allow them to offer everyday low prices and develop extremely controlled supply chain management strategies to take market leadership. "Wal-Mart stores offers retail expertise to forecast demand and manage inventory, logistics expertise to create efficient fulfillment, leverage with suppliers, and lower marketing costs (Knowledge@Wharton, 2000)."(Eidem, 2012, p.812)

Also, because Wal-Mart uses trucks and trailers it does elevate transportation expenses but is a trade-off with the reduction in inventory storage costs, by the use of cross docking. "Merchandise brought in by truck to distribution centers is sorted for delivery to stores within 24 to 48 hours." However, certain goods, such as automotive and drug products are delivered directly to stores by suppliers."(Lu, 2014, p.1) From personal experience as an order management liaison of one of Wal-Marts vendors, store orders are also packed and shipped directly to the store by the vendor. Wal-Mart seems to treat their individual brick-and-mortar stores as customers to their distribution

"It can provide SKU information and performance data by store, product, region, or any other number of useful methods."( Blanchard, 2008, p. 172) Wal-Mart developed this program for their suppliers to use to aid in the management of their product. Since product is not stored in their distribution centers and is stored in their stores, there is no need for supplier's to have onsite personnel. However, from professional experience, Wal-Mart does have some suppliers that do visit stores, in a regional fashion, to survey the inventory that Wal-Mart does carry, but there are very few. This is done so that the supplier can confirm that product is being shelved properly and to verify that enough merchandise is being ordered through the automated