Mkt 421 - Walmart Marketing Mix Paper

Marketing Mix Paper

Cindy Chastain

MKT/421

May 7, 2012

Beth Carls

Marketing Mix Paper

In today's global market, marketing mix is the ultimate strategy of keeping a company ahead of the competition. To ensure the lead in the industry, a company must keep up with current trends and what appeals to target customers. According to Kerin, Hartley, and Rudelius (2011), marketing mix is the marketing manager's controllable factors; product, price, promotion, and place that is used to solve a marketing problem (p. 11). By using the four P's, as the marketing mix is often referred to, most companies can use the right combination that will serve the needs and wants of the customers. For a company to stay ahead of the competition, they must create a successful marketing mix through research and strategy. This marketing strategy is what has solidified the success of Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart History

Wal-Mart is no stranger to the success of effective marketing. Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart in 1962. According to "Wal-Mart" (n.d.), Wal-Mart grew substantially from 276 stores in the late 70s to more than 10,000 stores in 27 countries. The sales for the 2012 fiscal year are reported at approximately $444 billion. The website also states that Sam Walton wanted to give the customers what they wanted. He also stated to think about things from the customer point of view. Walton's down-to earth thinking and his sincere care of the customer's needs led him to build one of the largest retail chain stores in history. Walton knew how to use the marketing mix to gain success and, eventually, dominate the retail industry.

Product

Product is one of the top priorities in the marketing mix. "Business Dictionary" (2012) website defines product as a good or service that most closely meets the requirements of a particular market and yield enough profit to justify its continued existence. Wal-Mart carries a huge inventory of various products. These products are designed to meet the needs of different target groups. This will ensure that customers will continue to return to Wal-Mart for their needs. Wal-Mart carries name brand products as well as "Sam's Choice" products. Sam's Choice products are a name brand product of Wal-Mart. Because Wal-Mart is the largest retail store they can afford to purchase large volumes of products. This will help keep the products on the shelves so they will always be readily available to the customer.

Price

Price is an amount a customer is willing to pay for a product. When Sam Walton decided to open the Wal-Mart chain, his main purpose was to save people money. Walton envisioned the customers of Wal-Mart saving money and having a better life. According to "Wal-Mart" (n.d.), they know that price matters to the customers regardless of where they live. Wal-Mart strives to offer the best prices on the products the customers need the most so they can afford a little something extra. The website also states that millions of customers return to Wal-Mart every day because they trust the retail giant to provide everyday low prices. The Wal-Mart Effect is a term applied by economists. At "Business Dictionary" (2012), it defines the Wal-Mart Effect as the