Walmart is the American global trading corporation that runs the chain of green grocery and department stores and supermarkets which offer marked down products. It offers a wide range of products that includes electronic goods, jewellery, footwear, clothing and much more.
- Industry: Retail
- Founded: July 2, 1962
- Founder(s): Sam Walton
- Headquarters: Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S.
- Subsidiaries: Walmart Canada, Walmart Mexico, Walmar Chile, Asda, Amigo Supermarkets, Vudu, Massmart, Seiyu Group, Bompreco, Jet.com, Hayneedle, Moosejaw, Modcloth, Lider
- Website: walmart.com
History
The Walmart Company was founded on the 2nd of July, 1962 by Sam Walton. The Company operates in various countries under different names. For instance, it is known as ‘Asda’ in the United Kingdom and ‘Seiyu Group’ in Japan and ‘Best Price’ in India. It operates and owns the ‘Sam’s Club retail warehouses’ as well.
It is a family-owned business and among the largest Company in terms of revenue in the world. The Walton family owns it. It has made it to the list of the ‘Fortune Global 500’ in 2016. It is also the biggest private employer with about 2.3million workers.
The founder of Walmart, Sam Walton was a former employee at J.C. Penny in 1945. He bought a Ben Franklin branch store from ‘Butler Brothers’ for selling low priced products for getting high-volume sales at the low-profit margin. Initially, he faced setbacks and after his lease for the store expired he was unable to renew the agreement and thereby he set up another new store named as ‘Walton’s Five and Dime.’ This store is now the ‘Walmart Museum.’
Long Description
Walmart is a huge international American trading corporation with about 11,695 clubs and stores in 28 countries, under 63 banners. Within the first five years of being established, the Company had 24 stores in Arkansas. It even set up stores in Oklahoma, Missouri, Claremore, and Sikeston.
Sam Walton resigned as the CEO of Walmart in 1988 and his position was taken up by David Glass and Walton was the ‘Chairman of the Board.’ The ‘Wal-Mart Supercenter’ was established in Washington, Missouri and it surpassed the toy sales of Toys ‘R’ us in the 1990s. After the inception to its regional growth from 1969 to 1990, Walmart emerged as a multinational status from 1990 to 2005. Though it occupies the third position in the USA as a retailer, it became more profitable than its competitors Sears and Kmart by late 1980s. In October 1990 Walmart opened its stores in Pennsylvania and California. Walmart stores were set up all over the USA with Vermont being the last one. It set up its store in Vermont in 1995. Outside the North America the Company set up stores in Argentina, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Brazil.
The Company introduced the ‘Neighbourhood Market’ concept with the stores set up in Arkansas in 1998. H.Lee Scott became the CEO and President of Walmart in 2000. In June 2016 it announced the introduction of the grocery delivery service to the customer’s home with the help of Uber, Deliv and Lyft and the tests were carried out in Phoenix and Denver. Walmart contributed a lot to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in the month of September 2005.