GIANT RETAILER
FEBRUARY 6, 2022
The Long Timeline Of Walmart History
Read about the long timeline of Walmart history which put them as one of the biggest retailers in the world today.
Walmart Inc. marketed as Walmart, is an American company that manages a chain of convenience stores. The Walmart embryo has been around since 1950 when the founder, Sam Walton opened his first store in Bentonville, Arkansas, United States under the name Walton’s 5-10. Bentonville was chosen because his wife, Helen Robson, wanted to live in a small town.
Founded on October 31, 1962 by Sam Walton, the company is the world’s largest publicly traded company by revenue according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500.
On July 2, 1962, Walton opened his first Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas. Walton reasoned this was to avoid direct competition with other retail giants such as Sears and Kmart. Because most well-known retailers gather and compete in big cities.
At the time, Walton was an entrepreneur and former JCPenney employee when he purchased a branch of the Ben Franklin store from Butler Brothers. His focus was on selling products at low prices to get higher sales with lower profit margins.
He described it as a sacrifice for consumers. He suffered setbacks at first, as the rent and purchase prices of the branches were very high, but he was able to find a supplier who provided lower prices than those used by other shops.
Walmart became a public company in 1970 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange two years later, in 1972 with the code NYSE: WMT. The Walmart’s first stock sold for $16.5 per share.
Walmart has an EDLP (Every Day Low Price) strategy. Walmart is more focused on selling products at low prices and conducting product selection. Walmart continues to focus on branded goods but at low prices that consumers/customers will definitely be interested in.
Wal-Mart’s competitive advantage is cost leadership. The basis on which Wal-Mart builds its competitive advantage is corporate management control, organizational structure, human resource management, and culture.
The company’s stores in the United States and Canada are named Walmart while stores in Mexico and Central America are named as Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica.
On June 30, 2008, Walmart unveiled the company’s new logo, stylized as “Walmart” with a splash at the back of it. This is the evolution of the Walmart logo since its founding in the 1950s.
Walmart was once opened in Indonesia in July, 1996 but closed in 1998. The main reason for Walmart’s failure is that Indonesian customers take advantage of the 30-day return policy to the point where they do what they want. As a result, sales are always low and Indonesians do not have high purchasing power like Americans.
Now with the slogan, “Save money, Live better” Wal-Mart stores continue to prioritize ways to help people save money and provide a better life for their customers’ families.
As of 2019, Walmart has more than 11,300 stores worldwide, of which 4,750 are Walmart branded stores; 599 Sam’s Club grocery stores; more than 120 billion US dollars in international sales; and has more than 2 million employees. Currently the company is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Walmart earns an average of about $1.8 million per hour. This means that Walmart’s revenue is far greater than the re-launched retail chains including Home Depot, Kroger, Target, Sears, Costco, and K-Mart collectively in terms of revenue.
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