Walmart Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Walmart - Research Paper Example Walmart headquarters are based in Arkansas, US. Under the leadership of Robson Walton and Mike Duke, the chairman and the President respectively, the company has embarked on diversification of its product portfolio in order to face off its key competitors in the market. Some of the notable products that the company provides include warehouse clubs, superstore, Apparel, Shoes & Accessories footwear and food products among others. Walmart Stores opened its first store in 1970 in its home country. Based on its good financial performance during its establishment, the store became a public held company in 1970. Based on the need to strengthen its capital base and bring more investors on board, the company was listed in the New York Stock Exchange thus making it to freely sell its stock to the local and foreign investors. Due to Walmart establishment of stores in various market and strong positive relationship with the customers, the store has for a long time enjoyed increase in revenue. F or example, in 2012-2013 financial year, the company revenue stood at US$ 469.162 billion. The net income was US$ 16.999Â  billion while the company operating income stood at US$ 27.801Â  billion. In the same year, the company total assets were US$ 203.105Â  billion. ... One of the major divisions is the Walmart Stores US. Being the largest, the store consists of there key retail outlets namely supercenters, Walmart markets and discount stores. Walmart plays in the monopolistic market structure. One of the major aspects that make the store to emulate a monopolistic economic model is that it emulates product differentiation in its operations. Additionally, the firm operates in an industry with many firms locally and in the global market. Based on its significant market share, it is worth to note that Walmart has some degree of market power an aspect that is characterizes firm in a monopolistic market structure. Major competitors Based on the free entry aspect of the retail industry, Walmart is faced by various competitors in the US market and in the UK market as well as in other countries. For example, in the North America market major competitors are Target, Meijer, Kmart, Big Lots, Costco and ShopKo. In UK, the company is faced with stiff competitio n from Tesco. In their efforts to face off Walmart in the market, the competitors have embarked on extensive marketing strategies that include selling of products that are low priced as well as similar to those provided by Walmart. For example, Target, the second largest retail shop in US, offers direct competition to Walmart by opening more that 1,920 distribution centers in US. Additionally, Target differentiates its products from those of Walmart and other competitors by offering upscale merchandise at lower prices. On its part, Tesco maintains a 30% of the UK market due to its extensive market strategies and provision of wide range of products that includes Tesco mobile, food products, clothing, financial services and