Session 1 & 2 - Walmart Case Learnings

This was the first session of our retail management class, we all had our own reasons of choosing this subject and just like all profs the professor asked us our expectation from the course. While most of us had taken this course thinking it as a marketing course we realized that this course has got a lot to do with finance and operations as well.
The discussion started with understanding what Unique Value Proposition is, we tried to look at it from the point of view of a company and answer three basic questions: 1. Who we are? 2. Who is our customer? 3. Who are our competitors?
The major learning that emerged from this discussion was that when we have a unique value proposition we do not have any competitor. Another important point to be noted was that value proposition is unique for a particular market.
After this we tried to understand the various form of retail stores – the prof explained the differences between the supermarkets, discount stores, department stores and wholesale club. With this idea we went into the Walmart case. We tried to understand who their target customers were and what their unique value proposition was. Another key learning that emerged from this discussion was that ‘customers segment themselves before the company does’. This learning was supported with the example of the five star hotels (which was that we the students don’t enter the five start hotels even if we can afford a coffee in it). The case discussion stressed upon the point that for gaining superior buying power the company must purchase in bulk and this is what Sam Walton used.
Another major learning that emerged with the discussion was that to serve the same target segment the company can introduce brand line extensions but for serving a different customer segment the company must come up with a new brand.