Wallmart Summary

Wall-Mart is the biggest discount store in the world, started from being a folksy discount retailer in the boondocks of Arkansas. The first Wal-Mart discount city was opened on July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas. It was successful and Walton quickly began to look for opportunities to open stores in other small towns. The company went public in 1970, having 38 stores and sales of $44.2 million. In 1979, Wal-Mart became the first company to reach $1 billion in such a short time. From its earliest days and continuing to the present, Wal-Mart’s top executives had vigorously and successfully pursued a low-cost leadership strategy. Wal-Mart also executes the concept of everyday low pricing strategy. Their stores were largely seen be the consumers as the lowest among the entire retail store in the market. The company’s mission “Saving People Money So They Can Live Better” was lived up until todays because their prices were lower than most of all the other retail companies. Wal-Mart also developed customer-friendly store environment.

Despite of the success, controversies hit Wal-Mart. Several groups were created against Wal-Mart. The biggest complaint was about having substandard wages and insufficient medical benefits for US employees. In late 2003, Wal-Mart’s public image took a hit when 25 illegal immigrants caught working fo the company in 61 Wal-Mart Store. There are still a lot Wal-Mart faced over the decades but still they continue to do their advocacy, to give provide people with low priced items that could help them save up.