Walmart Marketing Strategy | Simplilearn (2024)

Walmart's Target Audience

The target audience of Walmart is low to middle-class rural families. These people want to shop conveniently in a single location. The price and discounts are something they look for while shopping. Walmart has been able to understand the target audience and created its stores as per the demand trends.

Overall, we'll look at Walmart's 4Ps marketing mix to discover its unique and interesting ways to market its business in this time of stiff competition.

Importance of Price in Competitive Retail Business

Price determines how successful and long-lasting a product will be in the future. It tells how much money will be made from the sale and how competitive the product will be on the market. If you charge a high price, the sales volume will decrease. On the other hand, if you charge a very low price, the volume will increase. All companies strive to achieve the correct mix between the price and volume. Walmart has perfected its pricing strategy via the following methods:-

• Instead of charging too much for the products, Walmart maximises its income by making prices customer-friendly and focusing on bulk sales.
• Walmart is known for its superior procurement methods in negotiating prices to keep the costs low.
• Diversification makes sure that if one product doesn't get enough attention, other products that go well with it can help boost sales of other products.
• Universal barcoding and stock-keeping unit (SKU) systems make the supply chain run more smoothly, letting prices go down.
• Walmart allows the financing of big-ticket items like appliances and furniture. This keeps the initial outlay of the consumer law.

Product Marketing

There are a lot of things for sale at Walmart stores. They give the market what the people want. It is easier to sell and promote a product that people want than to bring something new to the market. Walmart chooses what products to sell by using the following methods:

• They have a huge number of items in almost every category. Some of these are food, tools, furniture, appliances, health and wellness products, and fun things to do.
• They buy bulk to save money and take advantage of economies of scale.
• They have an excellent working connection with their suppliers.
• Walmart's brand products are only sold in Walmart stores.

The methods an organization uses to get people interested in or learn about its product are known as promotions.

• Walmart has sales with discounts at different times of the year.
• The store uses phrases like "Save money, live better," "lowest price store," "worry-free fresh," and "everyday low pricing" to get the consumer excited.
• Walmart uses many different ways to advertise, such as commercials on TV, billboards, social media, and eCommerce websites.
• They offer safe shipping options that give online customers the best quality of service.
• Walmart backs up most of their products with reliable warranties and replacement policies, which gives customers peace of mind.

Store Location

Location is important for every business. Customers care a lot about where a business is and how easy it is to get to. Walmart uses several strategies to make sure that all aspects of location, which is part of the marketing mix, are effective and efficient:

• A powerful eCommerce platform lets people buy things without going to a real store.
• A well-organized network of distribution centers that makes it easy for businesses to pick up orders and send products straight to customers.
• The company can keep track of whether they are on the way or in stock.
• Walmart stores, mostly in the U.S., are strategically placed in places that are good for business.
• A fleet of delivery trucks makes it easy to get things from door to door.
• Walmart differentiates its different stores to generate high brand recall.

Conclusion

There are a few things to learn from Walmart's marketing mix:

• Getting people to buy something is all about setting prices right. Businesses must know where to put their items and how much to charge for them based on who they want to sell to.
• When intermediaries are taken out of the supply chain, merchants can save money and pass it on to their customers.
• New age businesses need to connect with the consumers with the help of their customer service. Promotions form an important part of putting out the message. For example, Walmart allows the return of its products, which induces consumer confidence.
• A digital presence is now nearly as crucial, if not more important, than a physical presence.

Walmart's marketing strategy is successful as it has built a brand based on trust. The confidence the consumers have while purchasing at Walmart allows it to stand ahead of the competition. With the right price, place, promotions and product, the company has been able to differentiate itself from the immense competition. The Walmart marketing strategy includes the other P's like people, process, etc. Their hiring strategy of choosing the right employees gives it an advantage, especially against Amazon, which is used to getting roiled up in controversies regarding the labor conditions.

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