WAL-MART’S E-COMMERCE STRATEGIC

APPROACHES

Introduction

Wal-Mart, Inc. may be a publicly traded company based within the us that
runs variety of supermarkets round the world. Wal-Mart, which Sam Walton
founded in 1962, is that the biggest full-line discount retailer within the world in
terms of sales and earnings. Although it started off as a series of only physical and
mortar stores, the sales outlet has since expanded to a multimillion dollar
investment that no other firm has been able to match. It claims to be the
only biggest employer within the country. Its early efforts at rapid expansion were
focused on purchasing small enterprises within the surrounding areas of small
towns. However, the business has switched its growth strategies to e-commerce. so
as to facilitate the supplier-retailer business effort and address the difficulty of the
worldwide market's restricted penetration.

The company features a strong retail brand, and its value-for-money marketing
strategy is reflected within the phrase "Everyday cheap pricing." Its capacity to
use differing types of data technology to help its internal operations could be a key
component of its core competency. But Wal-Mart's scale has made it difficult for it
to specialise in a narrow niche market and specialise in particular products. It
implies that they may not specialise in particular goods and services, making it
difficult to carve out a marketplace for those particular services. Competitors who
are narrowly focused may so target specific areas of specialization and surpass
them.

Website and Online Services

Wal-Mart's website is the inspiration for its online retail offerings. The business
has been successful in implementing website visitor analysis programs, which they
employ to watch and study online consumer behavior. The e-Luminate marketing
tool software provides support for this initiative. It assists in determining what
items on store shelves are most in demand by customers. The marketing
department can acquire information about visitors through the analysis of website
visitors, which also aids within the convenience of online customer support.

Internet Marketing Alliance

As the number of internet companies grew toward the tip of the previous decade,
various marketing alliances between large shops arose. the largest retailer within
the world, Wal-Mart, teamed with American Online to create its services more
accessible to customers.

The two businesses decided to figure together to jointly advertise their respective
offerings while also creating a low-cost Web solution for users who lacked access.
As a result, Wal-Mart customers received software that enabled them to configure
the service using AOL's CompuServe service. To drive as many shoppers as
possible to its freshly developed website was Wal-goal. Mart's The targeted
services were those within the pharmacy, photo center, and travel industries.
Wal-Mart’s Business Strategy

Wal-Mart adopted engineering which has been rising over the years,
consequently resulting in success on several of its activities. Basically, most of its
products are advertised over the web, thus increasing accessibility by its clients.
Wal-Mart’s superior online marketing strategy complements its mission statement
and has seen its product being well positioned within the market. The company’s
reputable brand could be a source of competitive advantage because it lures
customer traffic on its website. Wal-Mart’s low cost strategy offers also are an
efficient marketing tool being implemented through it e-commerce
structure. like how Wal-Mart's pricing strategy looks to be its essential component,
as evidenced by the company's rapid turnover growth. although Wal-Mart gains
from marketing synergy through its venture co-branding, it runs the danger of
developing a reputation for being untrustworthy, as was exposed after the
partnership broke down.
 Wal-Mart’s E-Commerce Operational Strategies

[Link], which was founded in 2000 as a definite independent business, was

a venture between Wal-Mart and Accel Partners. so as to enable [Link] to
make the close integration of its e-commerce and physical business, the
corporation bought out all of the minority interests in [Link] in 2001. this
type of integration was expensive for the organization and wasn't initially a part
of its plans and ambitions.

Through vertical and consolidation, Wal-Mart has changed the structure of its
value chain. for example, internet direct purchases from manufacturers have
quickly proven successful in their efforts to lower production costs. Additionally,
the business has solidified its key competencies in its patented software
technology. This helps them provide a good connection between the business'
value-creating operations and also increases corporate efficiency by speeding up
transactions and ensuring that services are given little to no error. Order
processing, outbound transportation, and customer assistance are some of the
foremost transactions. they're a vital component of the long-term growth plan.
One of Wal-Mart's major strengths is its intense customer focus, with low-cost
production and pricing being their primary strategy for fulfillment . E-commerce is
assessed into two types: business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer
(B2C) (B2C). Wal-primary Mart's strategy is one amongst cost leadership, which
focuses on customer satisfaction. during this regard, products are sold at a
mean price so as to appeal to an oversized mass market, leading to higher profit
margins.

However, Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce has been the most emphasis of

Wal-Mart's e-commerce strategy. B2B e-commerce is that the practice of
supporting business-to-business exchanges across public and
personal networks, the net, and therefore the Web. This contrasts with its
customer-focused policy, which has dominated its strategies since since the
company's founding. Wal-Mart that specialize in B2B e-commerce could also
be explained by their conviction that this tactic is more advantageous because it
allows them to chop costs and provides them a competitive edge. In industries
including the acquisition of raw materials for product production, tools and
machine components, office equipment, and transportation and shipping services,
B2B has proven to be crucial.

Wal-Mart also distinguishes its products through its internet operation. This
differentiation strategy aids the business in implementing a number of integrated
actions that are meant to enhance the provision of goods and services. Because
there are so many things sold under the Wal-Mart brand, despite the fact that this
strategy is aimed at customers who should be able to perceive that these goods and
services are distinctive and different, it has not been able to significantly influence
their opinions. But thus far, this method has made sure that both its product
production and profitability have improved. Its products are regarded as distinctive
and reasonably priced, providing it a competitive advantage both domestically and
abroad.

Strategies and Processes to Correct the Deficiencies

As previously said, one of Wal-Mart's cooperate strategy is to expand globally by

putting a strong customer focus. It's possible that the business did not properly
apply other tactics, such customer relations. Due to the business's inability to adjust
to the positive employee relations, a number of lawsuits and protests have surfaced
subsequently. How do human resources fit into the e-commerce strategies of the
company. The organization must use web technologies that would improve internal
process management in addition to accelerating external business transaction
processes. For instance, a well-integrated web design will contain an intranet that
is completely functional and gives staff access to a range of human resource data,
email, and applications from desk computers. This would speed up the process and
cut down on paper work. More crucially, staff members have the option to voice
grievances to top management, have online discussions about problems, and come
to mutual agreements on a range of matters relating to work and advancement.

From a different angle, Wal-Mart may implement its incongruous business plans.
Notably, the organization has always used pricing management to target its
business strategies at its clients. The internet company, however, is more interested
in business-to-business e-commerce, which prevents it from achieving its long-
term objective of a customer-based business plan. Additionally, the company's e-
commerce has not benefited from the differentiation strategy, which has veered the
strategic approach a little from the intended course. In order to lessen the price
sensitivity of such commodities, differentiation strategy entails differentiating the
introduction of products and services. Wal-Mart jeopardized its development
potential by failing to distinguish its items based on the makeup of its consumer
base. In truth, the business made the mistake of assuming that a large portion of its
online clientele was homogeneous in nature, which has never been the case in the
real world of a diversified marketing environment. As in the case of its physical
stores, it is crucial for the firm to establish a more differentiated approach through
additional collaborations. Once again, in order to align the entire company aim of
customer pleasure, there is a need to investigate more of the business to consumer
e-commerce strategy.

Because its offline locations are where most customers make their purchases, Wal-
online Mart's shopping plan may be challenging to implement. Therefore, it makes
logical to predict that an integration plan could require additional offline clients to
revive its business. For instance, it is projected that 99 percent of all business
transactions take place offline, thus it is necessary to concentrate more on these
clients in order to support its worldwide expansion objectives. Additionally, a more
strategic market segmentation will be required due to the worldwide growth. The
clients being serviced by each market segment should be used to define how each
region should be designed offline.

Conclusion

Wal-Mart offers highly sophisticated offline marketing solutions. The organization

has successfully increased the scope of its product and service offerings. They have
also broadened the scope of their product and service offerings through
technologically accelerated service retail processes, great brand development,
proper product positioning, competitive pricing strategy, and physically well-
designed services.
The retailer has expanded into e-commerce on its internet side of the company by
using more integrated B2B tactics. The company's overall corporate strategy,
which places a strong emphasis on the human element of their increased service
market mix, has not been matched by this type of e-business approach. To start,
they haven't differentiated their products to meet the needs of their diverse internet
client base. Second, the segmentation of their market is only improved in their
offline business and does not transfer to their internet operation. Thirdly, the
requirement to include employees' demands in e-commerce operations has not
been taken into account by online company plans. As a result, employees are not
able to communicate their problems via the intranet.

Wal-Mart must adopt a strategic approach to online trade in order to expand the
accessibility of its e-commerce, which includes having an intranet service to foster
employee connection and make it simple for employees to express their opinions.