Wal-Mart has been known for its cheap prices and ability to keep those prices low so that consumers will keep coming back to Wal-Mart for their shopping needs. However how Wal-Mart does this is a whole different beast altogether as they use their own intricate networks in order to keep the cost of their items low in cost, while also making a large profit through constant purchasing by consumers. This paper examines the intricate networks used in Wal-Mart to achieve its ability to have constant low prices while also making a sizable profit from its consumers. Wal-Mart: Beginnings Built by Sam Walton in 1962, Wal-Mart was just a budding business that would soon become a major superpower in retail with almost no equal. By 1967 Walmart had up to …show more content…
One of its more recent purchases is SAP S/4 HANA, this has allowed Wal-Mart to in a sense multi-task when it comes to their Merchants. “Our merchants want to know the impact of the cost of bananas in Phoenix on the business,” said Terrell. “They want to simultaneously know the response of customers in China and India. At the execution level, it’s underpinned by technology. Wal-Mart’s business craves it.” (Dan Berthiaume, 2015). Wal-Mart has also purchased SAP Financials which is showing that Wal-Mart is moving towards packaged software or a better explanation would be software with multiple components to it. As Wal-Mart continues to expand globally, it needs to become more current with any recent technology it can get its hands …show more content…
In the past, Walmart had other ERP systems that are still in use to this day, one of which being the barcode scanner, what the barcode scanner did was allow companies to manage their inventories more efficiently and easily show what items have been purchased, and what items need to be replenished. Then Walmart implemented its Voice based ordering system which led to reduced costs in both missed picks and product labeling costs. This system was given to those who pick the products that were needed for an order, this order based system allowed a person to order a product, without the need of looking at labels and those taking the order were less likely to pick out the wrong item. “The VOF system also verified quantities picked and could respond to a variety of requests such as providing product detail (type, price, barcode number, etc.)” (Walmart IS, May