Segment 1 – Wal-Mart’s Revolutionary Power
1. How much was Wal-Mart’s sales figure quoted in the beginning of the segment?
Wal-Mart recorded $256 Billion in sales and is the first company in the world to record such a figure on sales.
2. How many Americans stream into Wal-Mart on a weekly basis?
One hundred million customers stream every week into Wal-Mart’s 3400 stores.
3. How does the Telxon unit help Wal-Mart better understand its customers’ buying behavior/patterns?
The Texlon unit is a device that helps to keep track of products. It can record the sale price, the number of available stock and as well as the history of a product. This information helps in forecasting sales and helps with future planning. All the information
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Thus, Wal-Mart can track all information about a product, which helps them stock the correct mix of products.
With this information, Wal-Mart can track specific items, on specific weeks, on specific days and even at specific times of the day. They can then track the spikes during the year at specific season periods all with the use of the Telxon Unit.
4. What are the differences between a push strategy and a pull strategy?
The push system – it is when manufacturers decide what they are going to produce and then try to get retailers to purchase it and sell it for them.
The pull systems – is when the retailers decide what is going to be sold. The retailers will collect data on what is being sold and then will tell manufacturers what to produce and when to produce it based on this information.
5. What is “Vendorville?”
Vendorville is a group of Wal-Mart vendors in satellite offices. The focus for Vendorville is what matters most to Wal-Mart:
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Segment 3 – The Strategy: Low Costs and Go Global
1. What are opening price points?
Opening price points are the lowest prices that Wal-Mart showcases in special displays. The opening price points is a foundation of who Wal-Mart is and how they interact with their customers. It is the heart of Wal-Mart pricing strategy.
2. What is the strategy associated with opening price points? How do they work, what is the goal of using this strategy?
Wal-Mart puts a lot of planning, organization, and thought into what their opening price points are going to be. The opening price points are based on the sales of the previous year and as well as customer requests. Every line of goods has an opening price point.
3. Is the strategy ethical?
The strategy that Wal-Mart administers is not ethical as the item that is on the opening price point is only there to lure you onto other products. These other products may not be better priced than Wal-Mart’s competitors.
4. How did Wal-Mart address its falling sales in profits in the early 1990s? What specifically did it