Supermarket

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This article is about the type of food store. For the 2006 comic Supermarket, see Supermarket (comics). For the album, see Supermarket (album).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010) The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this articleand discuss the issue on the talk page. (October 2010)

Produce section in a supermarket

Packaged food aisles in a hypermarket.

A supermarket, a large form of the traditional grocery store, is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food and household products, organized into aisles. It is larger in size and has a wider selection than a traditional grocery store, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or bigbox market.

The supermarket typically comprises meat, fresh produce, dairy, and baked goods aisles, along with shelf space reserved for canned and packaged goods as well as for various non-food items such as kitchenware, household cleaners, pharmacy products and pet supplies. Some supermarkets also sell a variety of other household products that are consumed regularly, such as alcohol (where permitted), medicine, and clothes, and some stores sell a much wider range of non-food products: DVDs, sporting equipment, board games, and seasonal items (e.g., Christmas wrapping paper in December). The traditional supermarket occupies a large amount of floor space, usually on a single level. It is usually situated near a residential area in order to be convenient to consumers. The basic appeal is the availability of a broad selection of goods under a single roof, at relatively low prices. Other advantages include ease of parking and frequently the convenience of shopping hours that extend into the evening or even 24 hours a day. Supermarkets usually allocate large budgets to advertising, typically through newspapers. They also present elaborate in-shop displays of products. The shops are usually part of corporate chains that own or control (sometimes by franchise) other supermarkets located nearbyeven transnationallythus increasing opportunities for economies of scale. Supermarkets typically are supplied by the distribution centres of their parent companies, usually in the largest city in the area. Supermarkets usually offer products at relatively low prices by using their buying power to buy goods from manufacturers at lower prices than smaller stores can. They also minimise financing costs by paying for goods at least 30 days after receipt and some extract credit terms of 90 days or more from vendors. Certain products (typically staple foods such as bread, milk and sugar) are very occasionally sold as loss leaders, that is, with negative profit margins so as to attract shoppers to their store. There is some debate as to the effectiveness of this tactic. To maintain a profit, supermarkets make up for the lower margins by a higher overall volume of sales, and with the sale of higher-margin items bought by the intended higher volume of shoppers. Customers usually shop by placing their selected merchandise into shopping carts (trolleys) or baskets (self-service) and pay for the merchandise at the check-out. At present, many supermarket chains are attempting to further reduce labor costs by shifting to self-service check-out machines, where a single employee can oversee a group of four or five machines at once, assisting multiple customers at a time. A larger full-service supermarket combined with a department store is sometimes known as a hypermarket. Other services offered at some supermarkets may include those ofbanks, cafs, childcare centres/creches, photo processing, video rentals, pharmacies and/or petrol stations.

Contents
[hide]

1 History 2 Growth in developing countries

3 Typical supermarket merchandise 4 Typical store architecture 5 Criticisms 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

History[edit source | editbeta]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

A supermarket in Sweden in 1941

Consumers shopping for fresh produce and fruit.

In the early days of retailing, all products generally were fetched by an assistant from shelves behind the merchant's counter while customers waited in front of the counter and indicated the items they wanted. Also, most foods and merchandise did not come in individually wrapped consumer-sized packages, so an assistant had to measure out and wrap the precise amount desired by the consumer. This also offered opportunities for social interaction: many regarded this style of shopping as "a social occasion" and would often "pause for conversations with the staff or other customers."[1] These practices were by nature very labor-intensive and

therefore also quite expensive. The shopping process was slow, as the number of customers who could be attended to at one time was limited by the number of staff employed in the store. The concept of an inexpensive food market relying on large economies of scale was developed by Vincent Astor. He founded the Astor Market in 1915, investing $750,000 of his fortune into a 165' by 125' corner of 95th and Broadway, Manhattan, creating, in effect, an open air mini-mall that sold meat, fruit, produce and flowers. The expectation was that customers would come from great distances ("miles around"), but in the end even attracting people from ten blocks away was difficult, and the market folded in 1917.[2][3][4] The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by entrepreneur Clarence Saunders and his Piggly Wiggly stores. His first store opened in 1916. Saunders was awarded a number of patents for the ideas he incorporated into his stores.[5][6][7][8] The stores were a financial success and Saunders began to offer franchises. The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which was established in 1859, was another successful early grocery store chain in Canada and the United States, and became common in North American cities in the 1920s. The general trend in retail since then has been to stock shelves at night so that customers, the following day, can obtain their own goods and bring them to the front of the store to pay for them. Although there is a higher risk of shoplifting, the costs of appropriate security measures ideally will be outweighed by reduced labor costs.[citation needed] Early self-service grocery stores did not sell fresh meats or produce. Combination stores that sold perishable items were developed in the 1920s.[9] Historically, there was debate about the origin of the supermarket, with King Kullen and Ralph's of California having strong claims.[10]Other contenders included Weingarten's Big Food Markets and Henke & Pillot.[11] To end the debate, the Food Marketing Institute in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institutionand with funding from H.J. Heinz, researched the issue. It defined the attributes of a supermarket as "self-service, separate product departments, discount pricing, marketing and volume selling." [citation needed] It has been determined that the first true supermarket in the United States was opened by a former Kroger employee, Michael J. Cullen, on August 4, 1930, inside a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) former garage in Jamaica, Queens in New York City.[12] The store, King Kullen, (inspired by the fictional character King Kong), operated under the slogan "Pile it high. Sell it low." At the time of Cullen's death in 1936, there were seventeen King Kullen stores in operation. Although Saunders had brought the world self-service, uniform stores and nationwide marketing, Cullen built on this idea by adding separate food departments, selling large volumes of food at discount prices and adding a parking lot.

A Safeway advertisement from the 1950s

Other established American grocery chains in the 1930s, such as Kroger and Safeway at first resisted Cullen's idea, but eventually were forced to build their own supermarkets as the economy sank into the Great Depression, while consumers were becoming price-sensitive at a level never experienced before.[13] Kroger took the idea one step further and pioneered the first supermarket surrounded on all four sides by a parking lot.[citation needed] Supermarkets proliferated across Canada and the United States with the growth of automobile ownership and suburban development afterWorld War II. Most North American supermarkets are located in suburban strip shopping centers as an anchor store along with other smaller retailers. They are generally regional rather than national in their company branding. Kroger is perhaps the most nationally oriented supermarket chain in the United States but it has preserved most of its regional brands, including Ralphs, City Market, King Soopers, Fry's, Smith's, and QFC.[citation needed] In Canada, the largest such chain is Loblaw, which operates stores under a variety of regional names, including Fortinos, Zehrs, No Frills, the Real Canadian Superstore, and the largest, Loblaws, (named after the company itself). Sobeys is Canada's second largest supermarket with locations across the country, operating under many banners (Sobeys IGA in Quebec).[citation needed] Qubec's first supermarket opened in 1934 in Montral, under the banner Steinberg's.[14] In the United Kingdom, self-service shopping took longer to become established. Even in 1947, there were just ten self-service shops in the country.[1] In 1951, ex-US Navy sailor Patrick Galvani, son-in-law of Express Dairies chairman, made a pitch to the board to open a chain of supermarkets across the country. The UK's first supermarket under the newPremier Supermarkets brand opened in Streatham, South London,[15] taking ten times as much per week as the average British general store of the time. Other chains caught on, and after Galvani lost out to Tesco's Jack Cohen in 1960 to buy the 212 Irwin's chain, the sector underwent a large amount of consolidation, resulting in 'the big four' dominant UK retailers of today: Tesco, Asda (owned by WalMart), Sainsbury's and Morrisons. In the 1950s, supermarkets frequently issued trading stamps as incentives to customers. Today, most chains issue store-specific "membership cards," "club cards," or "loyalty cards". These typically enable the card holder

to receive special members-only discounts on certain items when the credit card-like device is scanned at check-out.[citation needed]. Sales of selected data generated by clubcards is becoming a significant revenue stream for some supermarkets. Traditional supermarkets in many countries face intense competition from discount retailers such as Wal-Mart, and Tesco in the UK, which typically are non-union and operate with better buying power. Other competition exists from warehouse clubs such as Costco that offer savings to customers buying in bulk quantities. Superstores, such as those operated by Wal-Mart and Asda, often offer a wide range of goods and services in addition to foods. The proliferation of such warehouse and superstores has contributed to the continuing disappearance of smaller, local grocery stores; increased dependence on the automobile; suburban sprawl because of the necessity for large floorspace and increased vehicular traffic. Some critics consider the chains' common practice of selling loss leaders to be anti-competitive. They are also wary of the negotiating power that large, often multinationalretailers have with suppliers around the world.[citation needed]

Growth in developing countries[edit source | editbeta]

There has been a rapid transformation of the food retail sector in developing countries, beginning in the 1990s. This applies particularly to Latin America, South-East Asia, China and South Africa. However, growth is being witnessed in nearly all countries. With growth, has come considerable competition and some amount of consolidation.[16] The growth has been driven by increasing affluence and the rise of a middle class; the entry of women into the workforce; with a consequent incentive to seek out easy-to-prepare foods; the growth in the use of refrigerators, making it possible to shop weekly instead of daily; and the growth in car ownership, facilitating journeys to distant stores and purchases of large quantities of goods. The opportunities presented by this potential have encouraged several European companies to invest in these markets (mainly in Asia) and American companies to invest in Latin America and China. Local companies also entered the market.[17] Initial development of supermarkets has now been followed by hypermarket growth. In addition there were investments by companies such as Makro and Metro in large-scale Cash-and-Carry operations. While the growth in sales of processed foods in these countries has been much more rapid than the growth in fresh food sales, the imperative nature of supermarkets to achieve economies of scale in purchasing, means that the expansion of supermarkets in these countries has important repercussions for small farmers, particularly those growing perishable crops. New supply chains have developed involving cluster formation; development of specialized wholesalers; leading farmers organizing supply; and farmer associations or cooperatives.[18] In some cases supermarkets have organized their own procurement from small farmers; in others wholesale markets have adapted to meet supermarket needs.[19]

Typical supermarket merchandise[edit source | editbeta]

Inside an Asda supermarket in Keighley,West Yorkshire.

Sainsbury's supermarket front end

Fruit on display in a supermarket inJapan.

Inside a Serbian supermarket

Larger supermarkets in North America and in Europe typically sell a great number of items among many brands, sizes and varieties, including:

Alcoholic beverages (as state/provincial and/or local laws allow) Baby foods and baby-care products such as disposable diapers Breads and bakery products (many stores may have a bakery on site that offers specialty and dessert items)

Books, newspapers, and magazines, including supermarket tabloids Bulk dried foods such as legumes, flour, rice, etc. (typically available for self-service) Canned goods and dried cereals CDs, Audio cassettes, DVDs, and videos (including video rentals) Cigarettes and other tobacco products (as country/state/provincial and/or local laws allow) Confections and candies Cosmetics Dairy products and eggs Delicatessen foods (ready-to-eat) Diet foods Electrical products such as light bulbs, extension cords, etc. Feminine hygiene products Financial services and products such as mortgages, credit cards, savings accounts, wire transfers, etc. (typically offered in-store by a partnering bank or other financial institution)

Flowers Frozen foods and crushed ice Fresh produce, fruits and vegetables Greeting cards

House-cleaning products Housewares, Dishware and cooking utensils, etc. (typically limited) Laundry products such as detergents, fabric softeners, etc. Lottery tickets (where operational and legal) Luggage items (typically limited) Meats, fish and seafoods (some stores may offer live fish and seafood items from aquarium tanks) Medicines and first aid items (primarily over-the-counter drugs, although many supermarkets also have an on-site pharmacy) (ascountry/state/provincial and/or local laws allow)

Nonalcoholic beverages such as soft drinks, juices, bottled water, etc. (some stores may have a juice bar that prepares ready-to-drink freshly squeezed juices, smoothies, etc.)

Personal hygiene and grooming products Pet foods and products Seasonal items and decorations Snack foods Tea and Coffee (some stores may have a commercial-style grinder, typically available for self-service, and/or a staffed coffee bar that prepares ready-to-drink coffee and tea beverages)

Toys and novelties

In some countries, the range of supermarket merchandise is more strictly focused on food products, although the range of goods for sale is expanding in many locations as typical store sizes continue to increase globally.

Typical store architecture[edit source | editbeta]

A Kroger store, Kroger of the Villages, inHedwig Village, Texas (Greater Houston)
While branding and store advertising will differ from company to company, the layout of a supermarket remains virtually unchanged. Although big companies spend time giving consumers a pleasant shopping experience, the design of a supermarket is directly connected to the in-store marketing that supermarkets must conduct in order to get shoppers to spend more money while there.

Every aspect of the store is mapped out and attention is paid to colour, wording and even surface texture. The overall layout of a supermarket is a visual merchandising project that plays a major role in retailing. Stores can creatively use a layout to alter customers perceptions of the atmosphere. Alternatively, they can enhance the stores atmospherics through visual communications (signs and graphics), lighting, colours, an d even scents.[20] For example, to give a sense of the supermarket being healthy, fresh produce is deliberately located at the front of the store. In terms of bakery items, supermarkets usually dedicate 30 to 40 feet of store space to the bread aisle.[21] Supermarkets are designed to "give each product section a sense of individual difference and this is evident in the design of what are called the anchor departments; fresh produce, dairy, delicatessen, meat and the bakery" .[22] Each section has different floor coverings, style, lighting and sometimes even individual services counters to allow shoppers to feel as if there are a number of markets within this one supermarket.[23]

Exterior of a supermarket in Kulim,Kedah, Malaysia.

Marketers use well researched techniques to try control purchasing behaviour. The layout of a supermarket is considered by some to consist of a few rules of thumb and three layout principles.[24] The high draw products are placed in separate areas of the store to keep drawing the consumer through the store. High impulse and high margin products are placed in the most predominant areas to grab attention. Power products are placed on both sides of the aisle to create increased product awareness, and end caps are used to receive high exposure of a certain product whether on special, promotion or in a campaign, or a new line. The first principle of layout is circulation. Circulation is created by arranging product so the supermarket can control the traffic flow of the consumer. Along this path there will be high-draw, high-impulse items that will influence the consumer to purchase which he or she did not intend to. Service areas such as rest rooms are placed in a location which draws the consumer past certain products to create extra buys. Necessity items such as bread, milk are found at the rear of the store to increase the start of circulation. Cashiers desks are placed in a position to promote circulation. The entrance will be on the right hand side because research has shown that consumers who travel in a clockwise direction spend more (Browne, p. 60).

The second principle of layout is coordination. Coordination is the organised arrangement of product that promotes sales. Products such as fast-selling and slow-selling lines are placed in strategic positions in aid of the overall sales plan. Managers sometimes place different items in fast selling places to increase turnover or to promote a new line. The third principle is consumer convenience. The layout of a supermarket is designed to create a high degree of convenience to the consumer to make the shopping experience pleasant. This is done through the character of merchandising and product placement. There are many different ideas and theories in relation to layout and how product layout can influence the purchases made. One theory[25] suggests that certain products are placed together or near one another that are of a similar or complementary nature to increase the average customer spend. This strategy is used by retailers to create cross-category sales similarity. In other words, the tooth paste is next to or adjacent the tooth brushes and the tea and coffee are down the same isle as the sweet biscuits. These products complement one another and placing them near is one way marketers try to increase purchases.[25] Consumer psychologists suggest that most buyers tend to enter the store and shop to their right first.[26] suggests supermarket marketers use this theory to their advantage by placing their temporary displays of products on the right hand side to entice you to make an un-planned purchase. Furthermore aisle ends are extremely popular with product manufacturers, who pay top dollar to have their products located there (Browne, 2010). These isle ends are used as major draw cards to lure customers into making a snap purchase and to also entice them to shop down the isle. The most obvious place supermarket layout has an impact on consumers is at the checkout. Small displays of chocolates, magazines and drinks are located at each checkout to tempt shoppers while they wait to be served.[26]

Criticisms[edit source | editbeta]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

Supermarket, in general, tend to narrow the choices of fruits and vegetables by stocking only varieties with long storage lives.

Supermarkets often generate a lot of food waste. Supermarkets can generally retail at lower prices than traditional corner shops and markets due to higher volume throughput. This has led to small businesses losing customers and closing in many areas, which can be seen as an adverse effect on the local infrastructure.[27]

In the United States, major-brand supermarkets often demand slotting fees from suppliers in exchange for premium shelf space and/or better positioning (such as at eye-level, on the checkout aisle or at a shelf's

"end cap"). This extra supplier cost (up to $30,000 per brand for a chain for each individual SKU) may be reflected in the cost of the products offered. Some critics have questioned the ethical and legal propriety of slotting fee payments and their effect on smaller suppliers [2] [3] [4].

In Britain supermarkets have been accused of squeezing prices to farmers, forcing small shops out of business, and often favouring imports over British produce. [5]

In New Zealand, supermarkets have been accused of buying fresh produce from growers at low prices and selling with ridiculously high mark-ups, sometimes as high as 500%[6].

References[edit source | editbeta]

1. ^ a b Hamlett, Jane (April 2008). "Regulating UK supermarkets: an oral-history perspective". History & Policy (in English). United Kingdom: History & Policy. Retrieved 9 December 2010. 2. ^ "The Retailer". The Western Fruit Jobber IV (3). July 1917. 3. ^ Gray, Christopher (Sept 10, 2006). "The Astor Legacy in Brick and Stone". The New York Times. 4. ^ Gray, Christopher (July 5, 1987). "Streetscapes: Thalia Theater; a closed revival house that may itself be revived". The New York Times. 5. ^ CLABENCB SAOTTDEBS, CLABENCB SAOTTDEBS 6. ^ http://www.google.com/patents?id=dPdNAAAAEBAJ 7. ^ http://www.google.com/patents?id=HjBBAAAAEBAJ&dq=Clarence+Saunders 8. ^ http://www.google.com/patents?id=2dd5AAAAEBAJ&dq=Clarence+Saunders 9. ^ Strasser, Susan Never Done: A History of American Housework Holt Paperbacks, 2000. 10. ^ http://www.groceteria.com/store/regional-chains/p-t/ralphs/ 11. ^ Supermarket News, 29 August 2005, p10 12. ^ Anonymous, "The place where supermarketing was born," Mass Market Retailers 19, no. 9 (17 June 2002): 172. 13. ^ Ryan Mathews, "1926-1936: entrepreneurs and enterprise: a look at industry pioneers like King Kullen and J. Frank Grimes, and the institution they created (Special Report: Social Change & the Supermarket)," Progressive Grocer 75, no. 12 (December 1996): 39-43. 14. ^ http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0 007691

15. ^ Helen Gregory (2001-11-03). "It's a super anniversary: it's 50 years since the first full size self-service supermarket was unveiled in the UK". The Grocer. Retrieved 2010-0630. 16. ^ Thomas Reardon, Peter Timmer and Julio Berdegue, 2004. "The rapid rise of supermarkets in developing countries". Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics, Vol 1 No 2. 17. ^ Reardon et al, op cit 18. ^ Kevin Chen, Andrew W. Shepherd & Carlos A. da Silva, "Changes in food retailing in Asia". 19. ^ Andrew W. Shepherd and Eva Glvez. "The response of traditional marketing channels to the growth of supermarkets and to the demand for safer and higher quality fruit and vegetables, with particular reference to Asia". Proceedings of the International Symposium on Fresh Produce Supply Chain Management, Chiang Mai 2006. pp.304313. FAO, Bangkok.[1] 20. ^ Gajanayake, R., Gajanayake, S., Surangi, H 2011, The impact of selected visual merchandising techniques on patronage intentions in supermarkets, International Conference on Business and Economic Research, p1130-1165 21. ^ NACS Magazine | Category Close Up: Take Bread to the Bank 22. ^ Browne, Karen (April 2010). "Trolley Psychology: Choice unlocks the psychological secrets of the supermarket and shows you how to avoid spending more than you mean to". Australian Consumer's Association Choice Magazine (4): p60. 23. ^ 2 Browne, K 2010, Trolley Psychology: Choice unlocks the psychological secrets of the supermarket and shows you how to avoid spending more than you mean to, Choice, Australasian Consumers Association, Chippendale, NSW, Australia, no. 4, April, p60, retrieved 14 October, Expanded Academic Database 24. ^ Aghazedah, S 2005, Layout strategies for retail operations, Management Research News, vol. 28, no. 10, pp. 31-46, retrieved 8 May 2012, Business Source Complete, EBSCO host. 25. ^ a b Bezawada, R Balachander, S Kannan, PK Venkatesh, S 2009, Cross-category effects of aisle and display placements: a spatial modeling approach and insights, Journal of Marketing, vol. 73, no. 3, p.99-117, 3 May 2012, business source complete. 26. ^ a b Browne, K 2012, Trolley psychology: choice unlocks the psychological secrets of the supermarket and shows you how to avoid spending more than you mean to, Choice, no. 4, p60, 3 May 2012, expanded academic database.

27. ^ Bucklin, Louis P. (Nov 1967). "Competitive Impact of a New Supermarket". Journal of Marketing Research 4 (4): 356361.

Further reading[edit source | editbeta]

Henry Petroski, Shopping By Design: Supermarkets, like other inventions, didn't just happen; they were designed, developedand patented., American Scientist Volume: 93 Number: 6 Page: 491 [7].

William Greer, America the Bountiful: How the supermarket came to main street, Food Marketing Institute, 1986. ISBN 999925568X OCLC 14357784

Sowell, Thomas. Basic Economics (Third Edition, 2007 Basic Books). Pages 9294 describe the competition between the dominant grocery chains in the United States through the 20th century and beyond.

Mack, Adam. "The Politi

The Supermarket and Everything in It

Symbol Analysis We don't know about you, but Shmoop would love to see an episode ofSupermarket Sweep featuring a showdown between Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg. But that would probably involve a lot of slow meandering and pondering over which brand of ice cream to pack in their carts, so then again, maybe not. In any case, "A Supermarket in California" has got all the goods they'll ever need. In this poem, the market (and all of its delicious fruits and vegetables) seems to represent traditional family values, a consumerist culture obsessed with buying, and even America itself. As far as symbols go, the supermarket is a pretty all-encompassing one for American culture.

Line 2: The speaker enters the supermarket because he's "hungry for images." Not food, but images. Well that's new. It's like he's been brainwashed by the media and its tantalizing pictures of food. His hunger isn't bodily; it's a mental hunger for pictures and visual stimulation. There's also a poetic element to this line, though. Perhaps those images he's hungry for are poetic ones. Maybe he's in the market, looking for a little inspiration. Good thing Federico and Walt are in the building.

Line 3: The speaker sees American families shopping together husbands, wives, babies. In stark contrast, the speaker is alone, with only his imaginary friend Walt to keep him company. Lines 4-5: Someone else is alone in the poem: the imaginary Walt Whitman. Like the speaker, he's lurking around the supermarket alone. And he's checking out the grocery boys, looking out for sex, or maybe even love. Lines 6-7: The speaker imagines that he and Whitman are being stalked through the supermarket by a detective, perhaps because they're breaking the rules, in that they're stealing little snack for themselves. This is a slightly darker side of the supermarket. It's not all babies and tomatoes. A little paranoia enters the poem. Line 8: The closing time of the supermarket acts as a catalyst for the speaker's big questions about life. Where will he go when the store closes? Not just literally, but figuratively, too. Where will his life take him? Who can he follow?

Symbol Analysis It's pretty clear to Shmoop that Walt Whitman is the driving force of this poem. The whole thing is addressed to him, he makes numerous appearances, and the poem ends with a haunting vision of him being left on a foggy riverbank of forgetfulness. So what's up with him? Why Whitman? Well, to begin with, Ginsberg was a really big fan of his, and he borrowed much of his writing style from the 19th-century poet. So it makes sense, then, that Ginsberg's speaker looks to Whitman as a kind of poetic father. And not just in terms of poetry, but in terms of life. Like Ginsberg, Whitman was a gay man living in an America that was often, if not almost always, hostile to gay men and women. The speaker's relationship with Whitman is not just about poetry, then. Whitman comes to represent a lifestyle as well.

Line 1: The poem begins with an address to Walt Whitman. Most of the poem is spoken directly to him by our speaker. Line 2: The speaker brings up Whitman's "enumerations," or catalogues or lists of things, in his poems. Ginsberg's poems, like Whitman's, are filled with lots of these enumerations. Lines 4-5: The speaker imagines that he sees Whitman wandering, as he is, alone through the supermarket, checking out the grocery clerks as he goes. He overhears Whitman's sexually suggestive questions. His last

question"Are you my Angel?"seems less suggestive, and frankly, quite sad and a little desperate. Is Walt going to find his soulmate in a grocery store? Well, hey, we guess you never know. There have been weirder love stories. Lines 6-7: The speaker and Walt steal food from the supermarket, and the speaker imagines that they're being followed by the supermarket detective. Is this paranoia? Are they outlaws? Line 8: The speaker asks Whitman which direction they're heading in. Not just once the store closes, but in a bigger way. He wants to know which way to go in life. He wants to follow Whitman's beard (which, we have to admit, is pretty funny). Line 9: The speaker, holding Whitman's book, realizes the absurdity of the entire supermarket fantasy. Line 10-11: The speaker asks more questions. He both insists that he and Whitman are "solitary" and "together." He has Whitman, and yet, he's still alone. This contrasts with the "blue automobiles in driveways," which seem to represent a suburban way of life, with happy families in happy neighborhoods. He and Whitman are outcasts in 1950s culture. Line 12: The speaker asks if Whitman's America was really all that different from his own. He imagines Whitman in mythological terms, standing on a smoking bank of Lethe, the river of forgetting and oblivion.

TECHNOLOGY

Out: researching dietary concerns at home In: using smartphone apps in stores If you follow a special diet, a trip to the supermarket usually starts with advance planning and research. But the growing number of smartphone apps will make grocery shopping infinitely easier, predicts Jeff Weidauer of retail marketing-services firm Vestcom. You'll be able to scan the barcode of a food item and check if it contains nuts, or confirm that it's vegan or certified gluten-free. "Many will also include user reviews, so you can find out on the spot what people think," he adds. How to grocery shop online >>

PACKAGING
Out: less plastic In: no plastic Sustainable options like cardboard tetra packaging and compostable pouches are projected to swell 40 percent over the next five years; Coca-Cola has already introduced a plastic-free bottle made partly from sugarcane. "A lot of companies will abandon plastic bottles entirely," trend forecaster Faith Popcorn predicts. Easy eco-friendly green tips >>

FLAVORS
Out: Americanized ethnic cuisines In: authentic ethnic cuisines Thanks to the popularity of food TV, consumers (especially Gen Xers and Yers) are hungry for bold new flavors -- and they want the real thing, says Craig Julius, senior culinologist with

Sterling Culinary Inc. "Indian is going to be the next big trend in packaged foods," retail foodindustry consultant Michael Sansolo predicts. The timing couldn't be better for the mostly vegetarian cuisine, considering the popularity of the flexitarian diet. Plus, it's usually low-fat and packed with immune-boosting spices like coriander, cumin and turmeric, says Marisa Moore of the American Dietetic Association. Condiments from around the world >>

HEALTH
Out: nutritionally boosted foods In: minimally processed foods Last year food manufacturers added protein, omega-3s and other nutritional enhancements to pretty much everything (even water!). But now there's a push to get back to basics. "People are avoiding processed foods made with unrecognizable ingredients," says Lynn Dornblaser, newproduct analyst at Mintel International Group. In response, companies will start using more real foods and fewer lab-created nutrients -- and they'll tout these changes on the labels, predicts culinary trends expert Suzy Badaracco of Culinary Tides. 4 healthy shopping habits >>

RETAIL STORES
Out: no-frills supermarkets In: supermarkets with VIP perks Because of increasing competition from online retailers, warehouse clubs and convenience stores, supermarkets will need new ways to entice shoppers. Pretty soon your local grocery store will tempt you with spa treatments and consultations with in-store nutritionists, Sansolo says. (Already, big chains like Wegmans and Kroger have introduced upscale restaurants and bars.) "Most of us are busy and stressed, so an enjoyable shopping experience will be a huge draw," he says. Supermarket food treasures >>

MARKET CLAIMS
Out: "all-natural" In: "artisan" There's no shortage of breakfast cereals, fruit snacks and other foods labeled "all-natural." But our interest in these products is dwindling as we learn the claim is unregulated. Food manufacturers are adopting a new buzzword: "artisan." Because it implies "handmade," the claim appeals to shoppers who seek out quality and want to support small producers, explains Kara Nielsen, trendologist with the Center for Culinary Development. Of course, big brands will jump on the bandwagon, too, plastering "artisan" on mass-produced products. They'll even use minimalist or retro designs to evoke a sense of nostalgia, packaging expert Jonathan Asher says. How to read nutrition labels >>

List of supermarket chains in India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of supermarket chains in India.

Current Indian supermarkets[edit source | editbeta]

Bangalore Central Big Bazaar Easyday D-Mart Food Bazaar Foodworld HyperCity Lulu Hypermarket Margin Free Market Maveli Stores Metro Cash & Carry More. Namdhari's Fresh Nilgiri's Reliance Fresh Spar Spencer's Subhiksha Supplyco Star Bazaar (TATA Group) Triveni Supermarket

Defunct Indian supermarkets[edit source | editbeta]

Subhiksha Varkeys

[hide]
V

List of supermarket chains in As

Sovereign states Afghanistan

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Bhutan

Brunei

Burma (Myanmar)

Cambodia

China

Cyprus

East Timor (Timor-Leste)

Egypt

Georgia

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

North Korea

South Korea

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Lebanon

Malaysia

Maldives

Mongolia

Nepal

Oman

 States with limited recognition

Pakistan Philippines

Qatar

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Sri Lanka

Syria

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 Dependencies and other territories

Categories:

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Lists of supermarkets India-related lists Supermarkets of India Economy of India lists

Category:Supermarkets of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Starbazar (Tata) in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Mumbai Starbazar (Tata) in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Mumbai Starbazar (Tata) in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Mumbai Fact file The beginning: The first store opened in Ahmedabad in 2004. The store: Operates in the hypermarket space. It stocks a whole range of products from food and grocery, to apparel, home and personal grooming products. The spread: Four stores in three cities (Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Mumbai).

Pages in category "Supermarkets of India"

The following 15 pages are in this category, out of 15 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).

H
List of supermarket chains in India

HyperCity

K
Big Bazaar

Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation

M
D-Mart

Margin Free Market

N
Easyday

Namdhari's Fresh Nilgiris 1905

Foodworld

Pantaloon Retail India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Bangalore Central)

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited

Type

Public (BSE: 523574)

Industry

Retail

Founded

India

Headquarters

Mumbai

Area served

India

Key people

Kishore Biyani, MD & CEO

Products

Discount Stores Supercenters

Revenue

60.190 billion (US$960 million) [1]

Employees

35,000 [2]

Parent

Future Group

Website

pantaloonretail.in, Pantaloon.com

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, is a large Indian retailer, part of the Future Group, and operates in multiple retail formats in both, value and lifestyle, segments of the Indian consumer market. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company has over 1,000 stores across 71 cities in India and employs over 35,000 people, [3] and as of 2010, it was the country's largest listed retailer by market capitalization and revenue.[4] The company separated its discount store business, which includes the Big Bazaar hypermarket and the Food Bazaar supermarket businesses, into Future Value Retail Ltd., its wholly owned subsidiary, so that the company may be listed independently.[4][5][6] The companys brands include Pantaloons, a chain of fashion outlets, Big Bazaar, a hypermarket chain, and Food Bazaar, a supermarket chain. Some of the company's other regional brands include Depot, Shoe Factory, Brand Factory, Blue Sky, aLL, Top 10 and Star and Sitara. A subsidiary company, Home Solutions Retail (India) Limited, operates Home Town, a large-format home solutions store, Collection i, selling home furniture products and E-Zone in the consumer electronics segment.

Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd (ABNL), part of Kumar Mangalam Birla-led group, through a subsidiary has acquired a majority of Pantaloon format business from Kishore Biyani-led Future group.[7] Pantaloon Retail India Limited is now Future Retail Limited.

Contents
[hide]

1 Lines of Business 2 Stock Information 3 Company Timeline 4 References 5 External links

Lines of Business[edit source | editbeta]

The Pantaloons store at South City Mall, Kolkata.

The company is present across several lines of business which have various formats (stores) Plywood, The Dollar Store (JV)

Fashion - Pantaloons, Central, aLL, Brand Factory, Blue Sky, Top 10, Fashion Station, Big Bazaar, Lee Cooper (JV)

General Merchandise - Big Bazaar, Shoe Factory, Navras, Electronics Bazaar, Furniture Bazaar, KB'S FAIR PRICE, Food Rite

Electronics - eZone, Electronic Bazzaar, Koryo , Sensei, STAPLES (JV) Home Improvement - Home Town, Home Town Express Furniture - Collection i, Furniture Bazaar, Home Bazaar E-tailing (online shopping) Books and music - Depot Leisure and entertainment - Bowling Co., F123, TGIF (Thank God it's Friday!) Wellness - Star & Sitara, Tulsi Telecom and IT - Gen M, M Bazaar, M-Port, ConvergeM, Future Axiom, T 24, One Mobile (in alliance with TATA Teleservices)

Consumer durables - Koryo, Sensei, IPAQ Service - E Care, H Care, Design & Service Malls - Central (Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai,Kochi, Vadodara, Gurgaon, Indore, Ahmedabad, Thane, Surat)

Investment and savings - Insurance: ULIP, Pension, Endowment, etc.

Stock Information[edit source | editbeta]

Listed on: Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange of India Stock Code:523574

Company Timeline[edit source | editbeta]

1987 Company incorporated as Manz Wear Private Limited, launch of Pantaloons trouser, Indias first formal trouser brand

1992 An initial public offer (IPO) was made in the month of May. 1997 Pantaloons, Indias family store, launched in Kolkata. 2001 Big Bazaar, Is se sasta aur accha kahi nahin, Indias first hypermarket chain, launched. 2002 Food Bazaar, the supermarket chain, is launched. 2007 Future Group crosses the $1 billion turnover mark.

Big Bazaar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article appears to be written like an advertisement. (April 2011) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (April 2011)

Big Bazaar
Type Public

Industry

Retailing

Founded

2001

Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Products

Hypermarket

Revenue

11000 crore (US$1.7 billion) crores (in 2012) (Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar combined)
[1]

Employees

~ 36000 people

Parent

Future Group

Divisions

~ 214

Website

http://www.pantaloonretail.in/businesses/bigbazaar.html]

Big Bazaar is the largest hypermarket chain in India. As of June 2, 2012 there are 214 stores across 90 cities and towns in India covering around 16 million sq.ft. of retail space. Big Bazaar is designed as an agglomeration of bazaars or Indian markets with clusters offering a wide range of merchandise including fashion and apparels, food products, general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast food and leisure and entertainment sections. Big Bazaar stores are aimed at providing a local marketplace feel to the shoppers. They offer a wide variety of household items including retail apparels, food products, general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast food, etc. Several stores also have leisure and entertainment sections. The hypermarket chain crossed the 100 store mark in 2008. Future Group also owns Central Hypermarket, Brand Factory, Pantaloons, eZONE, HomeTown, futurebazaar.com, and KB's Fair Price, apart from Big Bazaar.

Contents
[hide]

1 History

o o

1.1 2001 to 2010 1.2 2010 to present

2 Strategy
o

2.1 3-C Theory

3 Operations
o o

3.1 Various formats and store concept 3.2 CSR activities

4 Schemes and innovations

o o o o

4.1 Wednesday Bazaar 4.2 Sabse Sasta Din 4.3 Maha Bachat 4.4 The Great Exchange Offer

5 Advertising campaigns and marketing initiatives

o o

5.1 New Logo 5.2 Advertising initiatives

6 Timeline 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

History[edit source | editbeta]

2001 to 2010[edit source | editbeta]
Big Bazaar was introduced by the Future Group in September 2001 with the opening of its first four stores in Kolkata, Indore, Bengaluru and Hyderabad within a period of 22 days. Started by Kishore Biyani, Big Bazaar was launched mainly as a fashion format selling apparel, cosmetics, accessories and general merchandise. Over the years, the retail chain has included in its portfolio a wide range of products and services, ranging from grocery to electronics. The current retail formats of the Future Group include Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Electronic Bazaar and Furniture Bazaar. According to Kishore Biyani, the inspiration behind this entire retail format was from Saravana Stores, a local store in T. Nagar, Chennai. Big Bazaar is popularly known as the Indian Walmart today.

In the second year of operations, Big Bazaar tied up with Indian banking giant ICICI Bank and launched the Big Bazaar ICICI Bank Card. In the same year, the first Food Bazaar store was also launched at High Street Phoenix mall in Mumbai, marking the retailers entry into dedicated food retail. In 2003, Big Bazaar made its foray into small towns and cities. The first store in this category was launched that year in Nagpur. The franchise also welcomed its 10 millionth customer at its new store in Gurgaon in the same year. Over the next two years, Big Bazaar consolidated its position in the Indian retail landscape. This phase of growth included the setting up of the Mumbai store in Lower Parel, which registered a record Rs 10 million turnover in a single day on Diwali-eve in 2004. In 2005, the first Big Bazaar Exchange Offer was launched, which has quickly gained popularity among customers. In 2006, further changes in loyalty marketing took place with the launch of the housewife-centric credit card, Shakti. Jewellery store Navaras was also launched that year within Big Bazaar stores which became the first store-in-store concept to be launched by the brand. Another dedicated retail format launched in 2006 is Furniture Bazaar. In 2007, Big Bazaar partnered with a shopping portal Futurebazaar.com and expanded its retail footprint to 50 stores. The following year, 2008, witnessed by far the fastest growth in terms of retail expansion for Big Bazaar, with the launch of the 101st store. Joining the league of Indias Superbrands and voted among the top ten service brands in the country by the Pitch-IMRB international survey, Big Bazaar became much more than a household name. The year also saw the launch of the Monthly Bachat Bazaar (Monthly Budget Market) campaign, which provided significantly low prices and gave discounts on bulk purchases in the first week of the month. Over the next two years, Big Bazaar carved its own niche in modern retail and became the largest brand in the hypermarket format. Capturing one-third of the food and grocery market in modern retail, celebrity endorsements and tie-ups with other brands allowed it to enhance its retail footprint. In 2009, Big Bazaar won the CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards for the third consecutive year. It was adjudged the Most Preferred Multi Brand Food & Beverage Chain, Most Preferred Multi Brand Retail Outlet and Most Preferred Multi Brand One Stop Shop.

2010 to present[edit source | editbeta]

On successful completion of 10 years in the Indian retail industry, in 2011, Big Bazaar came up a new logo with a new tag line: Naye India Ka Bazaar(New Indias Market), replacing the earlier one: 'Isse Sasta Aur Accha Kahin Nahin' (Nothing is cheaper and better than here). In 2012, Big Bazaar signed a multi-million dollar deal with Cognizant Technology Solutions for the development of an IT infrastructure, encompassing Future Groups entire network of stores, warehousing and data centres.

Recently, Big Bazaar announced its plans to add more retail services to its portfolio such as grinding, deseeding and cutting of fruits and vegetables.

Strategy[edit source | editbeta]

3-C Theory[edit source | editbeta]
According to Kishore Biyani's 3-C theory, Change and Confidence among the entire population is leading to rise in Consumption, through better employment and income which in turn is creating value to the agricultural products across the country.[2] Big Bazaar has divided India into three segments: 1. India one: Consuming class which includes upper middle and lower middle class (14% of India's population). 2. India two: Serving class which includes people like drivers, household helps, office peons, liftmen, washermen, etc. (55% of India's population) and 3. India three: Struggling class (remaining 31% of India's population). While Big Bazaar is targeted at the population across India one and India two segments, Aadhaar Wholesale is aimed at reaching the population in India three segment. With this,Future Group emerged as a retail destination for consumers across all classes in the Indian society.

Operations[edit source | editbeta]

Various formats and store concept[edit source | editbeta]
Most Big Bazaar outlets are multi-levelled stores and are located in stand-alone buildings in city centres as well as within shopping malls. These stores have more than 2,00,000 Stock Keeping Units (SKU) in a wide range of categories, led primarily by fashion and food products. The retail space of these stores in the metros range between 50,000 and 1,60,000 sq. ft. Since its launch in 2001 in metro cities like Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Big Bazaar is the largest Hypermarket chain with presence in 90 cities and towns across the country

CSR activities[edit source | editbeta]

As a part of Future Group, Big Bazaar is involved in various social activities that include green initiatives for the community, blood donation camps, Diwali celebrations with orphanages, visits to orphanages and other NGOs helping underprivileged children. These activities usually involve all members of the management as well as staff of Big Bazaar. In September 2011, Future Group signed a strategic partnership with the Himachal Pradesh Government to directly source, market and promote the states products and services through its Big Bazaar stores under the

brand Himachal. The aim of this partnership is to aid the development of various source-to-market initiatives to enhance livelihoods for more than 25,000 families in the state. Big Bazaar created a platform called Yatra to provide women of self -help groups across various towns and regions of Maharashtra and Gujarat the opportunity to market their wide assortment of indigenous food and non-food products. As part of the programme, women from over 30 regional self-help groups were invited, encouraged and helped to set up stalls to exhibit their products at Big Bazaar stores. Big Bazaar Mysore started offering a free wholesome meal to all its customers, who in return contribute Shraddha Anussar for a community cause. In other words, the customers donate any amount for the meal which would be used for a local, regional or topical cause.

Schemes and innovations[edit source | editbeta]

The introduction of Sabse Sasta Din (Cheapest Day) in the year 2005 was a turning point for the Big Bazaar franchise. As part of this effort, the Republic Day holiday was used to ensure that consumers visited Big Bazaar outlets across the country in large numbers to get required household items at cheaper rates. Taking cue from this highly successful concept, another initiative was introduced, named the Purana do aur naya lo (give old and get new) scheme. In this scheme, consumers were asked to bring and sell old clothes, utensils and other household items in exchange of discount coupons. The concept proved to be a success yet again as people from across the country responded spontaneously, in spite of the different preconditions associated with it. The franchise further inaugurated the concept of Hafte ka sabse sasta din (Cheapest Day of the Week), wherein Wednesday was designated to be the day when special discounts were offered to consumers during a week.

Wednesday Bazaar[edit source | editbeta]

The concept of Wednesday Bazaar was promoted as Hafte Ka Sabse Sasta Din (Cheapest Day of the Week). Initiated in January 2007, the idea behind this scheme was to draw customers to stores on Wednesdays, the day when consumer presence is usually less. According to the chain, the aim of the concept was to give home makers the power to save the most.[3]

Sabse Sasta Din[edit source | editbeta]

Big Bazaar introduced Sabse Sasta Din (Cheapest Day) with the intention of attaining a sales figure of Rs 26 crore in a single day. The concept became such a hit that the time period for the offer had to be increased from one day to three days in 2009 (January 24 to 26) and to five days in 2011 (January 22 to 26).

Maha Bachat[edit source | editbeta]

The concept of Maha Bachat (Mega Saving) was introduced in the year 2006 as a single day campaign with attractive promotional offers across the company outlets. Over the years, the concept has grown to become a six-day biannual campaign. During this campaign, attractive offers are given in all the value formats including Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Electronic Bazaar and Furniture Bazaar.[4]

The Great Exchange Offer[edit source | editbeta]

Introduced on February 12, 2009, The Great Exchange Offer allows customers to exchange their old goods for Big Bazaar coupons. The coupons can be redeemed later for buying brand new goods from Big Bazaar outlets across the nation.[5]

Advertising campaigns and marketing initiatives[edit

source | editbeta]
In view of the increasing competition in the retail market, Big Bazaar has introduced certain steps to keep itself updated and continue promoting the band.

New Logo[edit source | editbeta]

On the occasion of successful completion of 10 years in the Indian retail industry (in 2011) Big Bazaar came up with a new logo for the company with a new tag line that says: Naye India Ka Bazaar (Market for New India). This replaces the earlier tag line: Isse Sasta Aur Kahin Nahin (Nothing is Cheaper than Here).

Advertising initiatives[edit source | editbeta]

Big Bazaar has recently launched a 360-degree promotion drive covering the three prime media, television, print and social media, to mark the launch of the new logo. The entire media campaign was developed by Mudra Communications. Big Bazaar celebrating April Utsav on 2013. They Offering Rs. 50 off on Rs. 500 or Rs. 100 off on Rs. 500 or Rs. 200 off on Rs. 500 coupon through missed call.[6]

Timeline[edit source | editbeta]

2001

Three Big Bazaar stores launched within a span of 22 days in Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad[7]

2002

Big Bazaar - ICICI Bank Card is launched. Food Bazaar becomes part of Big Bazaar with the launch of the first store in Mumbai at High Street Phoenix

2003

Big Bazaar enters Tier II cities with the launch of the store in Nagpur Big Bazaar welcomes its 10 million-th customer at its new store in Gurgaon

2004

Big Bazaar wins its first award and national recognition. Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar awarded the countrys most admired retailer award in value retailing and food retailing segment at the India Retail Forum

A day before Diwali, the store at Lower Parel becomes the first to touch Rs 10 million turnover on a single day

2005

Initiates the implementation of SAP and pilots a RFID project at its central warehouse in Tarapur Launches a unique shopping program: the Big Bazaar Exchange Offer, inviting customers to exchange household junk at Big Bazaar

Electronic Bazaar and Furniture Bazaar are launched Big Bazaar and ICICI Bank launched ICICI Bank-Big Bazaar Gold credit card program to reward its loyal customers.

2006

Mohan Jadhav sets a national record at Big Bazaar Sangli with a Rs 1,37,367 shopping bill. The Sangli farmer becomes Big Bazaars largest ever customer.

Big Bazaar launches Shakti, Indias first credit card program tailored for housewives Navaras the jewellery store launched within Big Bazaar stores

2007

The 50th Big Bazaar store is launched in Kanpur Big Bazaar partners with Futurebazaar.com to launch India's most popular shopping portal Big Bazaar initiates the "Power of One" campaign to help raise funds for the Save The Children India Fund.

Pantaloon Retail wins the International Retailer of the Year at US-based National Retail Federation convention in New York and Emerging Retailer of the Year award at the World Retail Congress held in Barcelona.

2008

Big Bazaar becomes the fastest growing hypermarket format in the world with the launch of its 101st store within 7 years of launch

Big Bazaar dons a new look with a fresh new section, Fashion@Big Bazaar Big Bazaar joins the league of Indias Business Super brands. It is voted among the top ten service brands in the country in the latest Pitch-IMRB international survey

Big Bazaar initiated the Mega Saving "Monthly Bachat Bazaar" campaign, to provide exceptional deals on groceries and food items during the first week of every month.

2009

Big Bazaar opens its second store in Assam at Tinsukia Big Bazaar initiates Maha Annasantarpane program at its stores in South India a unique initiative to offer meals to visitors and support local social organizations

Big Bazaar captures almost one-third share in food and grocery products sold through modern retail in India

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Asin, youth icons of India, were chosen as the brand ambassadors of Big Bazaar

Big Bazaar announced the launch of 'The Great Exchange Offer' Formed a joint venture with Hidesign to launch Holii, a new brand of handbags, laptop bags and other accessories.

2010

Future Value Retail Limited is formed as a specialized subsidiary to spearhead the groups value retail business through Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and other formats.

Big Bazaar wins CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards for the third consecutive year. Adjudged the Most Preferred Multi Brand Food & Beverage Chain, Most Preferred Multi Brand Retail Outlet and Most Preferred Multi Brand One Stop Shop

Big Bazaar connects over 30,000 small and medium Indian manufacturers and entrepreneurs with around 200 million customers visiting its stores

Big Bazaar opens its third store in Kanpur at Z Square Mall Big Bazaar opens its fourth store in Kanpur at Jajmau which is the largest leather tannery garrison of Asia Vidya Balan was chosen as the brand ambassador of Big Bazaar's Price Challenge exercise Ranked 6 among the Top 50 Service Brands in India.[8]

2011

Big Bazaar forays into the rural wholesale and distribution business through Aadhaar Wholesale store at Kalol, Gujarat.

Big Bazaar has come up a new logo with a new tag line: Naye India Ka Bazaar.[9]

200th store opened in India [10] Future Group has launched its latest venture, Foodhall a premium food destination across 10 metros in India [11]

For the convenience of the online customers, Big Bazaar has started free shipping on all orders above Rs. 1000 [12]

Entered into an agreement with Hindustan Unilever to co-develop and co-brand bakery products, which would be sold exclusively at Big Bazaar stores.[13]

2012

Big Bazaar entered into a five year multi-million dollar deal with Cognizant Technology Solutions for IT infrastructure services that support Future Group's network of stores, warehouses, offices, and data centers.[14]

Partnered with Disney to launch "Kidz Cookies", exclusively for kids across India. [15] Big Bazaar is planning to add further value to its retail services by offering Value added services like grinding, de-seeding, vegetables cutting at free of cost.[16]

Big Bazaar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Food Bazaar)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article appears to be written like an advertisement. (April 2011) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (April 2011)

Big Bazaar
Type Public

Industry

Retailing

Founded

2001

Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Products

Hypermarket

Revenue

11000 crore (US$1.9 billion) crores (in 2012) (Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar combined)
[1]

Employees

~ 36000 people

Parent

Future Group

Divisions

~ 214

Website

http://www.pantaloonretail.in/businesses/bigbazaar.html]

Big Bazaar is the largest hypermarket chain in India. As of June 2, 2012 there are 214 stores across 90 cities and towns in India covering around 16 million sq.ft. of retail space. Big Bazaar is designed as an agglomeration of bazaars or Indian markets with clusters offering a wide range of merchandise including fashion and apparels, food products, general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast food and leisure and entertainment sections. Big Bazaar stores are aimed at providing a local marketplace feel to the shoppers. They offer a wide variety of household items including retail apparels, food products, general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast food, etc. Several stores also have leisure and entertainment sections. The hypermarket chain crossed the 100 store mark in 2008. Future Group also owns Central Hypermarket, Brand Factory, Pantaloons, eZONE, HomeTown, futurebazaar.com, and KB's Fair Price, apart from Big Bazaar.

Contents
[hide]

1 History
o o

1.1 2001 to 2010 1.2 2010 to present

2 Strategy
o

2.1 3-C Theory

3 Operations
o o

3.1 Various formats and store concept 3.2 CSR activities

4 Schemes and innovations

o o o o

4.1 Wednesday Bazaar 4.2 Sabse Sasta Din 4.3 Maha Bachat 4.4 The Great Exchange Offer

5 Advertising campaigns and marketing initiatives

o o

5.1 New Logo 5.2 Advertising initiatives

6 Timeline 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

History[edit source | editbeta]

2001 to 2010[edit source | editbeta]
Big Bazaar was introduced by the Future Group in September 2001 with the opening of its first four stores in Kolkata, Indore, Bengaluru and Hyderabad within a period of 22 days. Started by Kishore Biyani, Big Bazaar was launched mainly as a fashion format selling apparel, cosmetics, accessories and general merchandise. Over the years, the retail chain has included in its portfolio a wide range of products and services, ranging from grocery to electronics. The current retail formats of the Future Group include Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Electronic Bazaar and Furniture Bazaar. According to Kishore Biyani, the inspiration behind this entire retail format was from Saravana Stores, a local store in T. Nagar, Chennai. Big Bazaar is popularly known as the Indian Walmart today. In the second year of operations, Big Bazaar tied up with Indian banking giant ICICI Bank and launched the Big Bazaar ICICI Bank Card. In the same year, the first Food Bazaar store was also launched at High Street Phoenix mall in Mumbai, marking the retailers entry into dedicated food retail.

In 2003, Big Bazaar made its foray into small towns and cities. The first store in this category was launched that year in Nagpur. The franchise also welcomed its 10 millionth customer at its new store in Gurgaon in the same year. Over the next two years, Big Bazaar consolidated its position in the Indian retail landscape. This phase of growth included the setting up of the Mumbai store in Lower Parel, which registered a record Rs 10 million turnover in a single day on Diwali-eve in 2004. In 2005, the first Big Bazaar Exchange Offer was launched, which has quickly gained popularity among customers. In 2006, further changes in loyalty marketing took place with the launch of the housewife-centric credit card, Shakti. Jewellery store Navaras was also launched that year within Big Bazaar stores which became the firs t store-in-store concept to be launched by the brand. Another dedicated retail format launched in 2006 is Furniture Bazaar. In 2007, Big Bazaar partnered with a shopping portal Futurebazaar.com and expanded its retail footprint to 50 stores. The following year, 2008, witnessed by far the fastest growth in terms of retail expansion for Big Bazaar, with the launch of the 101st store. Joining the league of Indias Superbrands and voted among the top ten service brands in the country by the Pitch-IMRB international survey, Big Bazaar became much more than a household name. The year also saw the launch of the Monthly Bachat Bazaar (Monthly Budget Market) campaign, which provided significantly low prices and gave discounts on bulk purchases in the first week of the month. Over the next two years, Big Bazaar carved its own niche in modern retail and became the largest brand in the hypermarket format. Capturing one-third of the food and grocery market in modern retail, celebrity endorsements and tie-ups with other brands allowed it to enhance its retail footprint. In 2009, Big Bazaar won the CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards for the third consecutive year. It was adjudged the Most Preferred Multi Brand Food & Beverage Chain, Most Preferred Multi Brand Retail Outlet and Most Preferred Multi Brand One Stop Shop.

2010 to present[edit source | editbeta]

On successful completion of 10 years in the Indian retail industry, in 2011, Big Bazaar came up a new logo with a new tag line: Naye India Ka Bazaar(New Indias Market), replacing the earlier one: 'Isse Sasta Aur Accha Kahin Nahin' (Nothing is cheaper and better than here). In 2012, Big Bazaar signed a multi-million dollar deal with Cognizant Technology Solutions for the development of an IT infrastructure, encompassing Future Groups entire network of stores, warehousing and data centres. Recently, Big Bazaar announced its plans to add more retail services to its portfolio such as grinding, deseeding and cutting of fruits and vegetables.

Strategy[edit source | editbeta]

3-C Theory[edit source | editbeta]
According to Kishore Biyani's 3-C theory, Change and Confidence among the entire population is leading to rise in Consumption, through better employment and income which in turn is creating value to the agricultural products across the country.[2] Big Bazaar has divided India into three segments: 1. India one: Consuming class which includes upper middle and lower middle class (14% of India's population). 2. India two: Serving class which includes people like drivers, household helps, office peons, liftmen, washermen, etc. (55% of India's population) and 3. India three: Struggling class (remaining 31% of India's population). While Big Bazaar is targeted at the population across India one and India two segments, Aadhaar Wholesale is aimed at reaching the population in India three segment. With this,Future Group emerged as a retail destination for consumers across all classes in the Indian society.

Operations[edit source | editbeta]

Various formats and store concept[edit source | editbeta]
Most Big Bazaar outlets are multi-levelled stores and are located in stand-alone buildings in city centres as well as within shopping malls. These stores have more than 2,00,000 Stock Keeping Units (SKU) in a wide range of categories, led primarily by fashion and food products. The retail space of these stores in the metros range between 50,000 and 1,60,000 sq. ft. Since its launch in 2001 in metro cities like Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Big Bazaar is the largest Hypermarket chain with presence in 90 cities and towns across the country

CSR activities[edit source | editbeta]

As a part of Future Group, Big Bazaar is involved in various social activities that include green initiatives for the community, blood donation camps, Diwali celebrations with orphanages, visits to orphanages and other NGOs helping underprivileged children. These activities usually involve all members of the management as well as staff of Big Bazaar. In September 2011, Future Group signed a strategic partnership with the Himachal Pradesh Government to directly source, market and promote the states products and services through its Big Bazaar stores under the brand Himachal. The aim of this partnership is to aid the development of various source-to-market initiatives to enhance livelihoods for more than 25,000 families in the state.

 Big Bazaar created a platform called Yatra to provide women of self-help groups across various towns and regions of Maharashtra and Gujarat the opportunity to market their wide assortment of indigenous food and non-food products. As part of the programme, women from over 30 regional self-help groups were invited, encouraged and helped to set up stalls to exhibit their products at Big Bazaar stores. Big Bazaar Mysore started offering a free wholesome meal to all its customers, who in return contribute Shraddha Anussar for a community cause. In other words, the customers donate any amount for the meal which would be used for a local, regional or topical cause.

Schemes and innovations[edit source | editbeta]

The introduction of Sabse Sasta Din (Cheapest Day) in the year 2005 was a turning point for the Big Bazaar franchise. As part of this effort, the Republic Day holiday was used to ensure that consumers visited Big Bazaar outlets across the country in large numbers to get required household items at cheaper rates. Taking cue from this highly successful concept, another initiative was introduced, named the Purana do aur naya lo (give old and get new) scheme. In this scheme, consumers were asked to bring and sell old clothes, utensils and other household items in exchange of discount coupons. The concept proved to be a success yet again as people from across the country responded spontaneously, in spite of the different preconditions associated with it. The franchise further inaugurated the concept of Hafte ka sabse sasta din (Cheapest Day of the Week), wherein Wednesday was designated to be the day when special discounts were offered to consumers during a week.

Wednesday Bazaar[edit source | editbeta]

The concept of Wednesday Bazaar was promoted as Hafte Ka Sabse Sasta Din (Cheapest Day of the Week). Initiated in January 2007, the idea behind this scheme was to draw customers to stores on Wednesdays, the day when consumer presence is usually less. According to the chain, the aim of the concept was to give home makers the power to save the most.[3]

Sabse Sasta Din[edit source | editbeta]

Big Bazaar introduced Sabse Sasta Din (Cheapest Day) with the intention of attaining a sales figure of Rs 26 crore in a single day. The concept became such a hit that the time period for the offer had to be increased from one day to three days in 2009 (January 24 to 26) and to five days in 2011 (January 22 to 26).

Maha Bachat[edit source | editbeta]

The concept of Maha Bachat (Mega Saving) was introduced in the year 2006 as a single day campaign with attractive promotional offers across the company outlets. Over the years, the concept has grown to become a

six-day biannual campaign. During this campaign, attractive offers are given in all the value formats including Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Electronic Bazaar and Furniture Bazaar.[4]

The Great Exchange Offer[edit source | editbeta]

Introduced on February 12, 2009, The Great Exchange Offer allows customers to exchange their old goods for Big Bazaar coupons. The coupons can be redeemed later for buying brand new goods from Big Bazaar outlets across the nation.[5]

Advertising campaigns and marketing initiatives[edit

source | editbeta]
In view of the increasing competition in the retail market, Big Bazaar has introduced certain steps to keep itself updated and continue promoting the band.

New Logo[edit source | editbeta]

On the occasion of successful completion of 10 years in the Indian retail industry (in 2011) Big Bazaar came up with a new logo for the company with a new tag line that says: Naye India Ka Bazaar (Market for New India). This replaces the earlier tag line: Isse Sasta Aur Kahin Nahin (Nothing is Cheaper than Here).

Advertising initiatives[edit source | editbeta]

Big Bazaar has recently launched a 360-degree promotion drive covering the three prime media, television, print and social media, to mark the launch of the new logo. The entire media campaign was developed by Mudra Communications. Big Bazaar celebrating April Utsav on 2013. They Offering Rs. 50 off on Rs. 500 or Rs. 100 off on Rs. 500 or Rs. 200 off on Rs. 500 coupon through missed call.[6]

Timeline[edit source | editbeta]

2001

Three Big Bazaar stores launched within a span of 22 days in Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad[7]

2002

Big Bazaar - ICICI Bank Card is launched. Food Bazaar becomes part of Big Bazaar with the launch of the first store in Mumbai at High Street Phoenix

2003

Big Bazaar enters Tier II cities with the launch of the store in Nagpur Big Bazaar welcomes its 10 million-th customer at its new store in Gurgaon

2004

Big Bazaar wins its first award and national recognition. Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar awarded the countrys most admired retailer award in value retailing and food retailing segment at the India Retail Forum

A day before Diwali, the store at Lower Parel becomes the first to touch Rs 10 million turnover on a single day

2005

Initiates the implementation of SAP and pilots a RFID project at its central warehouse in Tarapur Launches a unique shopping program: the Big Bazaar Exchange Offer, inviting customers to exchange household junk at Big Bazaar

Electronic Bazaar and Furniture Bazaar are launched Big Bazaar and ICICI Bank launched ICICI Bank-Big Bazaar Gold credit card program to reward its loyal customers.

2006

Mohan Jadhav sets a national record at Big Bazaar Sangli with a Rs 1,37,367 shopping bill. The Sangli farmer becomes Big Bazaars largest ever customer.

Big Bazaar launches Shakti, Indias first credit card program tailored for housewives Navaras the jewellery store launched within Big Bazaar stores

2007

The 50th Big Bazaar store is launched in Kanpur Big Bazaar partners with Futurebazaar.com to launch India's most popular shopping portal Big Bazaar initiates the "Power of One" campaign to help raise funds for the Save The Children India Fund.

Pantaloon Retail wins the International Retailer of the Year at US-based National Retail Federation convention in New York and Emerging Retailer of the Year award at the World Retail Congress held in Barcelona.

2008

Big Bazaar becomes the fastest growing hypermarket format in the world with the launch of its 101st store within 7 years of launch

Big Bazaar dons a new look with a fresh new section, Fashion@Big Bazaar

Big Bazaar joins the league of Indias Business Super brands. It is voted among the top ten service brands in the country in the latest Pitch-IMRB international survey

Big Bazaar initiated the Mega Saving "Monthly Bachat Bazaar" campaign, to provide exceptional deals on groceries and food items during the first week of every month.

2009

Big Bazaar opens its second store in Assam at Tinsukia Big Bazaar initiates Maha Annasantarpane program at its stores in South India a unique initiative to offer meals to visitors and support local social organizations

Big Bazaar captures almost one-third share in food and grocery products sold through modern retail in India

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Asin, youth icons of India, were chosen as the brand ambassadors of Big Bazaar

Big Bazaar announced the launch of 'The Great Exchange Offer' Formed a joint venture with Hidesign to launch Holii, a new brand of handbags, laptop bags and other accessories.

2010

Future Value Retail Limited is formed as a specialized subsidiary to spearhead the groups value retail business through Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and other formats.

Big Bazaar wins CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards for the third consecutive year. Adjudged the Most Preferred Multi Brand Food & Beverage Chain, Most Preferred Multi Brand Retail Outlet and Most Preferred Multi Brand One Stop Shop

Big Bazaar connects over 30,000 small and medium Indian manufacturers and entrepreneurs with around 200 million customers visiting its stores

Big Bazaar opens its third store in Kanpur at Z Square Mall Big Bazaar opens its fourth store in Kanpur at Jajmau which is the largest leather tannery garrison of Asia Vidya Balan was chosen as the brand ambassador of Big Bazaar's Price Challenge exercise Ranked 6 among the Top 50 Service Brands in India.[8]

2011

Big Bazaar forays into the rural wholesale and distribution business through Aadhaar Wholesale store at Kalol, Gujarat.

Big Bazaar has come up a new logo with a new tag line: Naye India Ka Bazaar.[9] 200th store opened in India [10]

Future Group has launched its latest venture, Foodhall a premium food destination across 10 metros in India [11]

For the convenience of the online customers, Big Bazaar has started free shipping on all orders above Rs. 1000 [12]

Entered into an agreement with Hindustan Unilever to co-develop and co-brand bakery products, which would be sold exclusively at Big Bazaar stores.[13]

2012

Big Bazaar entered into a five year multi-million dollar deal with Cognizant Technology Solutions for IT infrastructure services that support Future Group's network of stores, warehouses, offices, and data centers.[14]

Partnered with Disney to launch "Kidz Cookies", exclusively for kids across India. [15] Big Bazaar is planning to add further value to its retail services by offering Value added services like grinding, de-seeding, vegetables cutting at free of cost.[16]

References[edit source | editbeta]

1. ^ "Future Group trims workforce". Times of India. 2012-02-21. Retrieved 2012-02-24. 2. ^ "SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai". SPJIMR. 2006-08-04. Retrieved 2012-02-15. 3. ^ "We

Trent (Westside)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trent (Westside)

Type

Subsidiary

Industry

Retail

Founded

1998

Headquarters

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Parent

Tata Group

Website

Official Website

Trent is the retail arm of the Tata group. Started in 1998, Trent operates Westside, one of the many growing retail chains in Indiabased in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Landmark, a bookstore chain with Brick and mortar stores in various locations of India.[1]

History[edit source | editbeta]

In 1998 Tata sold of their 50% stake in the cosmetic products company Lakm to HLL for Rs 200 Crore (approx. 45 million US$), and created Trent from the money it made through the sale. All shareholders of Lakm were given different shares in Trent. Simone Tata, the chairperson of Lakm, went on to head Trent. The reason behind the sale was that Simone Tata saw a greater growth potential in retail, and believed that it would be much more difficult for an Indian company to release new cosmetic products in a market that had opened up to global companies.

Business[edit source | editbeta]

The company has a turnover of Rs. 357.6 crores (FY 2005-2006) and currently operates more than 60 stores in the major metros and mini metros of India.[citation needed]

The company has retail stores in 32 major Indian cities under the Westside brand. Trent also operates the hypermarket Star Bazaar in 8 Indian cities.[2] In Aug, 2005 Trent acquired a 76% controlling stake in Landmark,[3] a Chennai-based privately owned books and music retailer and completed 100% acquisition in April 2008.[4]Landmark currently has 16 stores.

References[edit source | editbeta]

1. ^ "Fashion for ladies & latest mens fashion | Westside brand name clothing". Mywestside.com. Retrieved 2011-02-23. 2. ^ "Trent's Star Bazaar comes to Bangalore". Tata.com. 2008-01-14. Retrieved 2011-0223.

3. ^ "Trent acquires 76% stake in Landmark for Rs 103.6 cr". The Hindu Business Line. 2005-08-31. Retrieved 2011-02-23. 4. ^ "Trent buys out Landmark promoter". The Hindu Business Line. 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2011-02-23.

Triveni Supermarkets
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Triveni Supermarket)
Triveni Supermarkets is a chain of retail supermarkets operating in the co-operative sector in the state of Kerala, India.[1][2] This system is at large controlled by the Government of Kerala. Hence this chain is in principle used as part of the governmental intervention in the retail market in the state to control retail prices.[1] Presently there are a total of 200 outlet throughout the state.[1] The chain is operated by the Kerala State Co-operative Consumers Federation Limited.[3][4]

Reliance Fresh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

Reliance Fresh

Type

Supermarket

Industry

Retail

Founded

October 30, 2006

[citation needed]

Headquarters

Mumbai, India

Key people

Mukesh Ambani

Website

www.ril.com

A Reliance retail at Guntur.

Reliance Fresh is the convenience store format which forms part of the retail business of Reliance Industries of India which is headed by Mukesh Ambani[citation needed]. Reliance plans to invest in excess of billion in the next 4 years in their retail division. across the country.
[citation needed] [citation needed]

250

The company already has 453 Reliance Fresh outlets

These stores sell fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, groceries, fresh juice, bars

and dairy products. A typical Reliance Fresh store is approximately 30004000 square feet and caters to a catchment area of 2 3 km.[citation needed]

Contents
[hide]

1 History 2 Controversy 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

History[edit source | editbeta]

After launch, in a dramatic shift in its positioning and mainly due to the circumstances prevailing in UP, West Bengal and Orissa, it was mentioned recently[when?] in news dailies that Reliance Retail is moving out of stocking fruits and vegetables[citation needed]. Reliance Retail has decided to minimise its exposure in the fruit and vegetable business. The company may not stock fruit and vegetables in some states. Though Reliance Fresh is not exiting the fruit and vegetable business altogether, it has decided not to compete with local vendors partly due to political reasons, and partly due to its inability to create a robust supply chain. This is quite different from what the firm had originally planned. When the first Reliance Fresh store opened in Hyderabad last October[citation needed], not only did the company say the stores main focus would be fresh produce like fruits and vegetables at a much lower price, but also spoke at length about its farm-to-fork" theory[citation needed]. The idea the company spoke about was to source from farmers and sell directly to the consumer, removing middlemen out of the way. Reliance Fresh, Reliance Mart, Reliance Digital, Reliance Trends, Reliance Footprint, Reliance Wellness, Reliance Jewels, Reliance Timeout and Reliance Super are various formats that Reliance has rolled out. [citation
needed]

In addition, Reliance Retail has entered into an alliance with Apple for setting up a chain of Apple Specialty Stores branded as iStore, starting with Bangalore.[citation needed]

Controversy[edit source | editbeta]

Recently their stores in Jharkand faced the ire of mobs of local vegetable vendors. They vandalised and attacked the stores claiming that they were stealing their livelihoods.[1] In August 2007, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati ordered to close 10 new stores keeping view of Law & order situation. In November 2007, Reliance Fresh stores were attacked by Bharatiya Janshakti Party supporters headed by Uma Bharti.[citation needed]

See also[edit source | editbeta]

List of Indian companies Namdhari's Fresh Reliance Footprint Reliance Jewel

Walmart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the retail chain. For other uses, see Walmart (disambiguation).

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Type

Public

Traded as

NYSE: WMT Dow Jones Industrial Average Component S&P 500 Component

Industry

Retail

Founded

1962 - Rogers, Arkansas, United States

Founder(s)

Sam Walton

Headquarters Bentonville, Arkansas, United States

Number of locations

8,970 (2011)

Area served

Worldwide

Key people

S. Robson Walton, Chairman Mike Duke, President/CEO

Products

Apparel/footwear specialty, cash & carry/warehouse club, discount

store,hypermarket/supercenter/superstore,supermarket
[1]

Revenue

US$ 469.162 billion (FY 2013)

Operating income

US$ 27.801 billion (FY 2013)

[1]

Net income

US$ 16.999 billion (FY 2013)

[1]

Total assets

US$ 203.105 billion (FY 2013)

[1]

Total equity

US$ 76.343 billion (FY 2013)

[1]

Owner(s)

Walton family
[1]

Employees

2.2 million (2013)

Divisions

Walmart Canada

Subsidiaries

Asda, Sam's Club, Seiyu Group,Walmex

Website

Corporate.Walmart.com Walmart.com
[2][3][4]

References:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., branded as Walmart, is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's third largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2012, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and is the largest retailer in the world. Walmart remains a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own a 48 percent stake in Walmart.[5][6] It is also one of the world's most valuable companies.[7] The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart is also the

largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, it generated 51 percent of its US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from grocery business.[8] It also owns and operates theSam's Club retail warehouses in North America.[9][10] In the late 1980s and early 1990s the company rose from a regional to national giant. By 1988, Wal-Mart was the most profitable retailer in the US [11] and by October 1989 it had become the largest in terms of revenue. [12] Geographically limited to the South and Lower Midwest up to the mid 1980s, by the early 1990s Walmart's presence spanned coast to coast - Sam's Club opened in New Jersey in November 1989 and the first California outlet opened in Lancaster on July 28, 1990. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania was opened in October 1990 bringing the main store into the Northeast. [13] Walmart has 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names.[14] The company operates under the Walmart name in the United States, including the 50 states and Puerto Rico. It operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Walmart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America, and China are highly successful, whereas ventures in Germany and South Korea were unsuccessful.

Contents
[hide]

1 History
o o o o

1.1 Early years (19451969) 1.2 Incorporation and growth as a regional power (19691990) 1.3 Retail hegemony and rise to multinational status (1990-present) 1.4 Initiatives (2005present)

2 Operating divisions
o

2.1 Walmart Stores U.S.

2.1.1 Walmart Discount Stores 2.1.2 Walmart Supercenter 2.1.3 Walmart Market 2.1.4 Supermercado de Walmart 2.1.5 Walmart Express

o o o

2.2 Sam's Club 2.3 Walmart International 2.4 Vudu

o o

2.5 Private label brands 2.6 Entertainment

3 Corporate affairs
o o o o o o

3.1 Finance and governance 3.2 Competition 3.3 Customer base 3.4 Economic impact 3.5 Employee and labor relations 3.6 Gender and sexual orientation

4 Problems with business operations 5 Charity 6 Criticism 7 Logos 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

History
Main article: History of Walmart

Early years (19451969)

Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime store in Bentonville, Arkansas now serving as the Walmart Visitor Center
In 1945 a businessman and former J. C. Penney employee, Sam Walton, purchased a branch of the Ben Franklin Stores from the Butler Brothers.[15] Sam's focus was on selling products at low prices to get higher-

volume sales at a lower-profit margin. He portrayed it as a crusade for the consumer. He experienced setbacks, because the lease price and branch purchase were unusually high, but he was able to find lower-cost suppliers than the ones used by other stores. He passed on the savings in the product pricing. [16] Sales increased 45 percent in his first year of ownership to $105,000 in annual revenue, which increased to $140,000 the next year and $175,000 the year after that. Within the fifth year, the store was making $250,000 in revenue. When the lease for the location expired, he couldn't reach an agreement for renewal, so he opened a new Ben Franklin franchise in Bentonville, Arkansas and called it "Walton's Five and Dime." [16][17] On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Walmart Discount City store located at 719 W. Walnut Street in Rogers, Arkansas. The building is now occupied by a hardware store and an antique mall, while the company's "Store #1" since converted to a Supercenter concept is located several blocks west down Walnut Street as of 2013. Within its first five years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas and reached $12.6 million in sales.[18] In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri andClaremore, Oklahoma.[19]

Incorporation and growth as a regional power (19691990)

The company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31, 1969. In 1970, it opened its home office and first distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas. It had 38 stores operating with 1,500 employees and sales of $44.2 million. It began trading stock as a publicly held company on October 1, 1970, and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The first stock split occurred in May 1971 at a market price of $47. By this time, Walmart was operating in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma; it entered Tennessee in 1973 and Kentucky and Mississippi in 1974. As it moved into Texas in 1975, there were 125 stores with 7,500 employees and total sales of $340.3 million.[19] Walmart opened its first Texas store in Mount Pleasant on November 11, 1975.[20] In the 1980s, Walmart continued to grow rapidly, and by its 25th anniversary in 1987 there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates.[19] This year also marked the completion of the company's satellite network, a $24 million investment linking all operating units of the company with its Bentonville office via two-way voice and data transmission and one-way video communication. At that time, it was the largest private satellite network, allowing the corporate office to track inventory and sales and to instantly communicate to stores.[21] In 1988, Sam Walton stepped down as CEO and was replaced by David Glass.[22] Walton remained as Chairman of the Board, and the company also rearranged other people in senior positions.

Inside a Walmart Supercenter in West Plains, Missouri

In 1988, the first Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Washington, Missouri.[23] Thanks to its superstores, it surpassed Toys "R" Us in toy sales in the late 1990s.[24] The company also opened overseas stores, entering South America in 1995 with stores in Argentina and Brazil; and Europe in 1999, buying Asda in the UK for $10 billion.[25]

Retail hegemony and rise to multinational status (1990-present)

By 1988 Walmart was more profitable than its rivals Kmart and Sears and was the dominant retailer in the Bible Belt; by 1990 it outsold both in terms of revenue and became the US' largest retailer in sales revenue. Prior to the summer of 1990 Walmart had no foothold on the West Coast or Northeast (aside from a single Sam's Club in New Jersey opened in November 1989), but in July and October that year it opened its first stores in California and Pennsylvania respectively, making the corporation present from coast to coast. By the mid-1990s it was far and away the most powerful retailer in the US and spread to Mexico in 1991 and Canada in 1994. [26] It spread to New England, Maryland, Delaware, Hawaii, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest last, Vermont being the last state to get a store in 1996. In 1998, Walmart introduced the "Neighborhood Market" concept, now known as "Walmart Market", with three stores in Arkansas.[27] By 2005, estimates indicate that the company controlled about 20 percent of the retail grocery and consumables business.[28] In 2000, H. Lee Scott became President and CEO, and Walmart's sales increased to $165 billion. [29] In 2002, it was listed for the first time as America's largest corporation on theFortune 500 list, with revenues of $219.8 billion and profits of $6.7 billion. It has remained there every year, except for 2006 and 2009.[30][31][32][33][34][35] In 2005, Walmart had $312.4 billion in sales, more than 6,200 facilities around the world including 3,800 stores in the United States and 2,800 elsewhere, employing more than 1.6 million "associates" worldwide. Its

U.S. presence grew so rapidly that only small pockets of the country remained further than 60 miles (100 km) from the nearest Walmart.[36] As Walmart grew rapidly into the world's largest corporation, many critics worried about the effect of its stores on local communities, particularly small towns with many "mom and pop" stores. There have been several studies on the economic impact of Walmart on small towns and local businesses, jobs, and taxpayers. In one, Kenneth Stone, a Professor of Economics at Iowa State University, found that some small towns can lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Walmart store opening.[37] However, in another study, he compared the changes to what small town shops had faced in the past including the development of the railroads, the advent of the Sears Roebuck catalog, as well as the arrival of shopping malls and concluded that shop owners who adapt to changes in the retail market can thrive after Walmart arrives.[37] A later study in collaboration withMississippi State University showed that there are "both positive and negative impacts on existing stores in the area where the new supercenter locates."[38] In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, Walmart was able to use its logistical efficiency in organizing a rapid response to the disaster, donating $20 million in cash, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals, as well as the promise of a job for every one of its displaced workers. [39] An independent study by Steven Horwitz of St. Lawrence University found that Walmart, The Home Depot and Lowe's made use of their local knowledge about supply chains, infrastructure, decision makers and other resources to provide emergency supplies and reopen stores well before FEMA began its response.[40] While the company was overall lauded for its quick response amidst the criticisms of the Federal Emergency Management Agency several critics were nonetheless quick to point out that there still remain issues with the company's labor relations.[41]

Initiatives (2005present)
In October 2005, Walmart announced it would implement several environmental measures to increase energy efficiency. The primary goals included spending $500 million a year to increase fuel efficiency in Walmart's truck fleet by 25 percent over three years and double it within ten, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in seven years, reduce energy use at stores by 30 percent, and cut solid waste from U.S. stores and Sam's Clubs by 25 percent in three years. CEO Lee Scott said that Walmart's goal was to be a "good steward for the environment" and ultimately use only renewable energy sources and produce zero waste.[42] The company also designed three new experimental stores inMcKinney, Texas, Aurora, Colorado, and Las Vegas, Nevada. with wind turbines, photovoltaic solar panels, biofuel-capable boilers, water-cooled refrigerators, and xeriscapegardens.[43] Despite much criticism of its environmental record, Walmart took a few steps in what is viewed as a positive direction, which included becoming the biggest seller of organic milk and the biggest buyer of organic cotton in the world, as well as reducing packaging and energy costs.[44] Walmart also spent nearly a year working with outside consultants to discover the company's total environmental impact and find

where they could improve. They discovered, for example, that by eliminating excess packaging on their toy line Kid Connection, they could not only save $2.4 million a year in shipping costs but also 3,800 trees and a million barrels of oil.[44] Walmart has also recently created its ownelectric company in Texas, Texas Retail Energy, and plans to supply its stores with cheap power purchased at wholesale prices. Through this new venture, the company expects to save $15 million annually and also lays the groundwork and infrastructure to sell electricity to Texas consumers in the future.[45] In March 2006, Walmart sought to appeal to a more affluent demographic. The company launched a new Supercenter concept in Plano, Texas, intended to compete against stores seen as more upscale and appealing, such as Target.[46][47] The new store has wood floors, wider aisles, a sushi bar, a coffee/sandwich shop with free Wi-Fi Internet access, and more expensive beers, wines, electronics, and other goods. The exterior has a hunter green background behind the Walmart letters, similar to Neighborhood Market by Walmarts, instead of the blue previously used at its supercenters. On September 12, 2007, Walmart introduced new advertising with the slogan, "Save Money Live Better," replacing the "Always Low Prices, Always" slogan, which it had used for the previous 19 years. Global Insight, which conducted the research that supported the ads, found that Walmart's price level reduction resulted in savings for consumers of $287 billion in 2006, which equated to $957 per person or $2,500 per household (up 7.3 percent from the 2004 savings estimate of $2,329).[48]

The exterior of the Walmart store in West Hills, California.

On June 30, 2008, Walmart removed the hyphen from its logo and replaced the star with a symbol that resembles a sunburst or flower. The new logo received mixed reviews from some design critics, who questioned whether the new logo was as bold as competitors, such as the Target bullseye or as instantly recognizable as the former company logo, which was used for 18 years.[49] The new logo made its debut on the company's walmart.com website on July 1, 2008. Walmart's U.S. locations were to update store logos in the fall of 2008, as part of an ongoing evolution of its overall brand.[50] Walmart Canada started to adopt the logo for its stores in early 2009.[51]

On March 20, 2009, Walmart announced that it is paying a combined $933.6 million in bonuses to every full and part-time hourly worker of the company. An additional $788.8 million in profit sharing, 401(k) contributions, and hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandise discounts and contributions to the employees' stock purchase plan is also included in this plan. While the economy at large was in an ongoing recession, the largest retailer in the U.S. reported solid financial figures for the most recent fiscal year (ending January 31, 2009), with $401.2 billion in net sales, a gain of 7.2 percent from the prior year. Income from continuing operations increased 3 percent to $13.3 billion, and earnings per share rose 6 percent to $3.35. [52] However, during the same same decade it became clear that many millions of dollars are spent by US state or federal governments every year to provide basic health and welfare services to Walmart employees.
[53] [54][55]

On July 16, 2009, Walmart announced plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product index. [56] On February 22, 2010, the company confirmed it was acquiring video streaming company Vudu, Inc. for an estimated $100 million.[57] In January 2011, at the urging of Michelle Obama and her staff, Walmart announced a program to improve the nutritional values of its store brands over the next five years, gradually reducing the amount of salt and sugar, and eliminating trans fat. Walmart also promised to negotiate with suppliers such as Kraft with respect to nutritional issues. Reductions in the prices of whole foods and vegetables were also promised as well as efforts to open stores in low-income areas, "food deserts", where there are no supermarkets.[58] On April 23, 2011, the company announced that it was testing its new "Walmart To Go" home delivery system where customers will be able to order specific items offered on their website such as groceries, toiletries, and household supplies. The initial test is in San Jose, California, and the company has not said whether it will be rolled out nationwide.[59] On November 14, 2012, Walmart launched their first mail subscription service called Goodies. Customers pay a $7 monthly subscription for five to eight delivered food samples each month, so they can try new foods.[60] In August 2013, the firm announced it was in talks to acquire a majority stake in the Kenya-based supermarket chain, Naivas.[61]

Operating divisions
See also: List of assets owned by Walmart Walmart's operations are organized into three divisions: Walmart Stores U.S., Sam's Club, and Walmart International.[9] The company does business in nine different retail formats:supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, bodegas (small markets), cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants.[9]

A panoramic photo of a remodeled Walmart Supercenter in Laurel, Maryland.

Walmart Stores U.S.

Map of Walmart stores in the U.S., as of August 2010

Walmart Stores U.S. is the company's largest division, accounting for $258 billion, or 63.8 percent of total sales for financial year 2010.[9]It consists of three retail formats that have become commonplace in the United States: Discount Stores, Supercenters, and Walmart Markets. The retail department stores sell a variety of mostly non-grocery products, though emphasis has now shifted towards supercenters, which include more grocery items. This division also includes Walmart's online retailer, walmart.com. In September 2006, Walmart announced a pilot program to sell generic drugs at just $4 per prescription. The pilot program was launched at stores in the Tampa, Florida area, and expanded to all stores in Florida by January 2007. While the average price of generics is $29 per prescription, compared to $102 for name-brand drugs, Walmart maintains that it is not selling at a loss, or providing as an act of charity instead, they are using the same mechanisms of mass distribution that it uses to bring lower prices to other products.[62] Many of Walmart's low cost generics are imported from India and made by drug makers in the country, including Ranbaxy and Cipla.[63] On February 6, 2007, the company launched a "beta" version of a movie download service, which sold about 3,000 films and television episodes from all major studios and television networks. [64] The service was discontinued on December 21, 2007, due to low sales.[65]

From 2008 through 2011, Walmart operated a pilot program in the small grocery store concept called Marketside in the metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona area. They plan to take what they have learned from this concept and incorporate that into their newer Walmart Express stores which they are developing.[66]

Walmart Discount Stores

A typical Walmart discount department store in Laredo, Texas

Walmart discount stores are discount department stores with size varying from 51,000 square feet (4,738.1 m2) to 224,000 square feet (20,810.3 m2), with an average store covering about 102,000 square feet (9,476.1 m2).[9] They carry general merchandise and a selection of groceries. Many of these stores also have a garden center, a pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, a bank branch, a cell phone store and a fast food outlet. Some also have gasoline stations.[67] In 1990, Walmart opened its first Bud's Discount City location in Bentonville. Bud's operated as a closeout store, much like Big Lots. Many locations were opened to fulfill leases in shopping centers as Walmart stores left and moved into newly built Supercenters. All of the Bud's Discount City stores closed or converted into Walmart Discount Stores by 1997.[18][68] As of March 2012, there were 629 Walmart discount stores in the United States. In 2006, the busiest in the world was one in Rapid City, South Dakota.[69]

Walmart Supercenter

A remodeled Wal-Mart Supercenter inMiami, Florida.

Walmart Supercenters are hypermarkets with size varying from 98,000 to 261,000 square feet (9,104.5 to 24,247.7 m2), with an average of about 197,000 square feet (18,301.9 m2).[9] These stock everything a Walmart discount store does, and also include a full-service supermarket, including meat and poultry, baked goods, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Many Wal-Mart Supercenters also have a garden center, pet shop, pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, and numerous alcove shops, such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, video rental stores, local bank branches (newer locations have Woodforest National Bank branches), and fast food outlets. Many often featured McDonald'sstores, but starting in 2007, Walmart began replacing most in-store McDonald's with Subway.[70] Some also sell gasoline distributed byMurphy Oil Corporation (whose Walmart stations are branded as "Murphy USA"), Sunoco, Inc. ("Optima"), or Tesoro Corporation("Mirastar").[67] The first Supercenter opened in 1988, in Washington, Missouri. A similar concept, Hypermart USA, opened in Garland, Texas a year earlier. All of the Hypermart USA stores were later closed or converted into Supercenters, such as the first ones located in Garland TX and Bannister TX, which were both reopened as Walmarts. As of March 2012, there were 3,029 Wal-Mart Supercenters in the United States.[69] The largest Supercenter in the United States, covering 260,000 square feet (24,154.8 m2) and two floors, is located in Crossgates Commons in Albany, New York.[71] The "Supercenter" portion of the name on these stores has been phased out, simply referring to these stores as "Walmart," since the company introduced the new Walmart logo in 2008. The Supercentre portion of the name is still used on supercentres in Canada.

Walmart Market
Main article: Walmart Market

Walmart Neighborhood Market inHouston, Texas

Walmart Market is a chain of grocery stores that average about 42,000 square feet (3,901.9 m2).[9] They are used to fill the gap between discount store and supercenters, offering a variety of products, which include full lines of groceries, pharmaceuticals, health and beauty aids, photo developing services, and a limited selection of general merchandise. Previously branded as "Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market", the first store opened in 1998, in Bentonville, Arkansas. As of May 2012, there are 199 Walmart Markets.[69][72]

Supermercado de Walmart

Supermercado de Walmart in Spring Branch, Houston

Walmart opened "Supermercado de Walmart" locations to appeal to Hispanic communities in the United States.[73] The first one, a 39,000 square feet (3,600 m2) store in the Spring Branch area of Houston, opened on April 29, 2009.[74] The store was a conversion of an existing Walmart.[75][76] The opening was Wal-Mart's first entry in the Hispanic grocery market in Houston.[77] In 2009 another Supermercado de Walmart opened in Phoenix, Arizona.[78] Walmart also planned to open "Mas Club," a warehouse retail operation patterned after Sam's Club.[79]

Walmart Express
Walmart Express is a smaller discount store, with a range of services, from simple grocery shopping, to check cashing, and even gasoline service. The concept is focused on small towns that are not able to support a larger store, and in large cities where physical space is at a premium. Wal-Mart planned to build 15 to 20 Walmart Express stores, focusing on Arkansas, North Carolina and Chicago, by the end of its fiscal year in January 2012. "This is about access to breadth of assortment", says Walmart's Anthony Hucker, vice president of strategy and business development.

As of December 2011, Walmart Express opened in Richfield, North Carolina, Snow Hill, North Carolina,[80] Gentry, Arkansas,[81] Prairie Grove, Arkansas,[82] Gravette, Arkansas[83] and Chicago, Illinois.[84][85]

Sam's Club
Main article: Sam's Club

A typical Sam's Club store inMaplewood, Missouri

Sam's Club is a chain of warehouse clubs which sell groceries and general merchandise, often in large quantities. Sam's Club stores are "membership" stores and most customers buy annual memberships. However, non-members can make purchases either by buying a one-day membership or paying a surcharge based on the price of the purchase.[86] Some locations also sell gasoline.[67] The first Sam's Club opened in 1983 in Midwest City, Oklahoma[86] under the name "Sam's Wholesale Club". Sam's Club has found a niche market in recent years as a supplier to small businesses. All Sam's Club stores are open early hours exclusively for business members and their old slogan was "We're in Business for Small Business." Their current[when?] slogan is "Savings Made Simple" as Sam's Club attempts to attract a more diverse member base. In March 2009, the company announced that it plans to enter the electronic medical records business by offering a software package to physicians in small practices for $25,000. Wal-Mart is partnering with Dell and eClinicalWorks.com in this new venture.[87] Sam's Club's sales during 2010 were $47 billion, or 11.5 percent of Walmart's total sales.[9] As of March 2012, there are 611 Sam's Clubs in the United States.[10] Walmart also operates more than 100 international Sam's Clubs in Brazil, China, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.[10]

Walmart International

Walmart international locations. Former locations are shown in red.

Walmart's international operations currently[when?] comprise 4,263 stores and 660,000 workers in 15 countries outside the United States.[88] There are wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the UK. With 2.1 million employees worldwide, the company is the largest private employer in the U.S. and Mexico, and one of the largest in Canada.[3] In the financial year 2010, Walmart's international division sales were $100 billion, or 24.7 percent of total sales.[9] Walmart has operated in Canada since its acquisition of 122 stores comprising the Woolco division of Woolworth Canada, Inc in 1994. As of July 2010, it operates over 300 locations (including 100 Supercentres) and employs 82,000 Canadians, with a local home office inMississauga, Ontario.[89] Walmart Canada's first three Supercentres (spelled as in Canadian English) opened on November 8, 2006, inHamilton, London, and Aurora, Ontario. The 100th Canadian Supercentre opened on July 10, 2010, in Victoria, BC. In 2010, Walmart Canada Bank was introduced in Canada with the launch of the Walmart Rewards MasterCard.[90] In the mid-1990s Wal-mart tried with a large financial investment to get a foothold in the German retail market. In 1997 Wal-mart took over the supermarket chain Wertkauf with its 21 stores for DEM750 million (375 million)[91] and in 1998 Wal-mart took over 74 Interspar stores for DEM1.3 billion (750 million).[92][93] The German market at this point was an oligopoly with high competition among the companies which also used a similar low price strategy as Wal-mart. Because of this, Wal-mart's low price strategy yielded no competitive advantage. Also Wal-mart's corporate culture was not viewed positively among employees and customers in Germany, particularly Wal-mart's "statement of ethics", which restricted relationships between employees and led to a public discussion in the media, resulting in a bad reputation for Wal-mart among customers.[94][95] In July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal from Germany due to sustained losses. The stores were sold to the German company Metro during Wal-Mart's fiscal third quarter.[96][97] Wal-mart did not disclose its losses from its ill fated German investment, but they were estimated around 3 billion.[98]

Bompreo in Natal, Brazil.

In 2004, Walmart bought the 116 stores in the Bompreo supermarket chain in northeastern Brazil. In late 2005, it took control of the Brazilian operations of Sonae Distribution Group through its new subsidiary, WMS Supermercados do Brasil, thus acquiring control of the Nacional and Mercadorama supermarket chains, the leaders in the Rio Grande do Sul and Paran states, respectively. None of these was rebranded. As of April 2010, Wal-Mart operates 64 Super-Bompreo stores, 33 Hyper-Bompreo stores. It also runs 45 Wal-Mart Supercenters, 24 Sam's Club stores, and 101 Todo Dia stores. With the acquisition of Bompreo and Sonae, Walmart was in 2010 the third largest supermarket chain in Brazil, behind Carrefour and Po de Acar.[99] Wal-Mart Brasil, the operating company, has its head office in Barueri, So Paulo State, and regional offices in Curitiba, Paran; Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul; Recife, Pernambuco; andSalvador, Bahia.[100] In November 2006, the company announced a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to open retail stores in India. As foreign corporations were not allowed to directly enter the retail sector in India, Walmart operated through franchises and handled the wholesale end.[101] The partnership involves two joint ventures; Bharti manages the front end involving opening of retail outlets, while Walmart takes care of the back end, such as cold chains and logistics. Bharti Walmart operates stores in India under the brand name "Best Price Modern Wholesale". The first store opened in Amritsar in May 2012. On September 14, 2012, the Government of India approved 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retails, subject to approvals by individual states, effective September 20, 2012.[102][103] In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart Stores Inc President and CEO, Asia Scott Price, stated that Walmart would be capable of opening stores in India within a time frame of 2 years. Price also said that the company expects to continue its partnership with Bharti Enterprises in operating Best Price Modern Wholesale.[104] Expansion into India faced some significant problems. In November 2012, Walmart admitted to spending $25 million lobbying Congress[105] - lobbying is conventionally considered bribery in India.[106] Walmart is conducting an internal investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.[107] Bharti Walmart suspended a number of employees, which are rumored to include its CFO and legal team, to ensure "a complete and thorough investigation."[108] The suspension focused attention on Bharti Walmart as a part of the broader debate surrounding the desirability of allowing multi-brand FDI into India.[109][110] The September 20, 2012 approval of FDI was challenged by opposition parties and narrowly passed in a contentious parliamentary vote in early December.[111][112]

Walmart's UK subsidiary, Asda

Sales in 2006 for Walmart's UK subsidiary, Asda (which retains the name it had before acquisition by Walmart), accounted for 42.7 percent of sales of Walmart's international division. In contrast to the US operations, Asda was originally and still remains primarily a grocery chain, but with a stronger focus on non-food items than most UK supermarket chains other than Tesco. As of 2011, Asda had 523 stores, including 147 from the 2010 Netto acquisition. In addition to small suburban Asda stores, larger stores are branded Asda Walmart Supercentres, as well as Asda Superstores and Asda Living.[4][113][114] In addition to its wholly owned international operations, Walmart has joint ventures in China and several majority-owned subsidiaries. Walmart's majority-owned subsidiary in Mexico is Walmex. In Japan, Walmart owns 100 percent of Seiyu as of 2008.[96][115]Additionally, Walmart owns 51 percent of the Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), consisting of more than 360 supermarkets and other stores in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.[116] In 2008, Walmart named German retailing veteran Stephan Fanderl as the president of Walmart Emerging Markets-East in an effort to, "explore retail business opportunities in Russia and neighboring markets." The market is estimated to be worth more than US$140 billion per year in food sales alone.[117] In January 2009, the company acquired a controlling interest in the largest grocer in Chile, Distribucion y Servicio D&S SA.[118] On September 28, 2010, Walmart announced it would buy Massmart Holdings Ltd. of Johannesburg, South Africa in a deal worth over $4 billion, giving the company its first stores in Africa.[14] In December 2011, Walmart neither confirmed nor denied speculation that it was eyeing opportunities in Pakistan. "We have not made any announcements concerning Pakistan," said Megan Murphy, Walmart's international corporate affairs manager in an e-mail. Walmart does not comment on market entry speculation, she added. Murphy, however, said their priorities are to "concentrate on the markets where we already have

operations and look for growth opportunities in markets where customers want to see us and where it makes sense for our long-term growth."[119] In February 2012, Walmart announced that the company raises its stake to 51 percent in Chinese Online Supermarket Yihaodian to tap rising consumer wealth and help the company offer more product. The stake expansion is subject to Chinese government regulatory approval.[120] An April 2012 investigative report in The New York Times reported that a former executive of Walmart de Mexico alleged that, in September 2005, Walmart de Mexico had paidbribes via local fixers called gestores to officials throughout Mexico in order to obtain construction permits, information, and other favors. Walmart investigators found credible evidence that Mexican and American laws had been broken. Concerns were raised that Walmart executives in the United States "hushed up" the allegations. Reportedly, bribes were given to rapidly obtain construction permits, which gave Walmart a substantial advantage over its business competitors.[121] A follow-up investigation by The New York Times,published December 17, 2012, revealed evidence that regulatory permission for siting, construction, and operation of nineteen stores had been obtained through bribery. There was evidence that a bribe of $52,000 was paid to change a zoning map, which enabled the opening of a Walmart store a mile from a historical site in San Juan Teotihuacn.[122] After the initial article was released, Walmart released a statement denying the allegations and describing its anti-corruption policy. While an official Walmart report states that they found no evidence of corruption, the article alleges that previous internal reports had indeed turned up such evidence before the story became public. [123] Forbes magazinecontributor, Adam Hartung, also alluded that the bribery scandal was a reflection of Walmart's "serious management and strategy troubles," stating, "[s]candals are now commonplace ... [e]ach scandal points out that Walmart's strategy is harder to navigate and is running into big problems."[124] As of December 2012, internal investigations ongoing into possible violations of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act.[125] Walmart has invested $99 million in the internal investigations, which have expanded beyond Mexico to implicate operations in China, Brazil, and India.[126][127] The case has added fuel to the debate as to whether foreign investment will result in increased prosperity, or if it merely allows local retail trade and economic policy to be taken over by "foreign financial and corporate interests."[109][128]

Vudu
In February 2010, the company agreed to buy Vudu, a Silicon Valley start-up whose three-year-old online movie service is being built into an increasing number of televisions and Blu-ray players. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but a person briefed on the deal said the price for the company, which raised $60 million in capital, was over $100 million.[129] It is the third most popular online movie service, with a market share of 5.3 percent.[130]

Private label brands

Main article: List of Walmart brands About 40 percent of products sold in Walmart are private label store brands, or products offered by Walmart and produced through contracts with manufacturers. Walmart began offering private label brands in 1991 with the launch of Sam's Choice, a brand of drinks produced by Cott Beverages exclusively for Walmart. Sam's Choice quickly became popular, and by 1993 was the third most popular beverage brand in the United States.[131] Other Walmart brands include Great Value and Equate in the US and Canada, and Smart Price in Britain. A 2006 study talked of "the magnitude of mind-share Walmart appears to hold in shoppers' minds when it comes to awareness of private label brands and retailers."[132]

Entertainment
In 2010, the company teamed with Procter & Gamble to produce Secrets of the Mountain and The Jensen Project, two-hour family movies which featured the characters using Walmart and Procter & Gamble branded products. The Jensen Project also featured a preview of a product to be released in several months in Walmart stores.[133][134] A third movie, A Walk in My Shoes, also aired in 2010 and a fourth is in production[when?].[135] Walmart's director of brand marketing also serves as co-chair of the Association of National Advertisers's Alliance for Family Entertainment.[136]

Corporate affairs

Walmart Home Office in Bentonville,Arkansas.

Walmart is headquartered in the Wal-Mart Home Office complex in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company's business model is based on selling a wide variety of general merchandise at "always low prices."[9] They refer to their employees as "associates". All Wal-Mart stores in the US and Canada also have designated "greeters" at the store entrance, a practice pioneered by founder Sam Walton and later copied by other retailers. Greeters are trained to help shoppers find what they want and answer their questions. [137] For many years, associates were identified in the store by their signature blue vest, but this was discontinued in

June 2007 and replaced with more modern and professional khaki pants and polo shirts. The wardrobe change was part of a larger corporate overhaul for the store in an effort to increase sales and rejuvenate its stock price.[138] Unlike many other retailers, Wal-Mart does not charge a slotting fee to suppliers for their products to appear in the store.[139] Instead, it focuses on selling more popular products and provides incentives for store managers to drop unpopular products, as well as asking manufacturers to supply more popular products.[139] On September 14, 2006, the company announced that it would phase out its layaway program, citing declining use and increased costs.[140] Layaway ceased to be offered on November 19, 2006, and required merchandise pickup by December 8, 2006. Wal-Mart now focuses on other payment options, such as increased use of sixand twelve-month, zero-interest financing. The layaway location in most stores is now used for Wal-Mart's SiteTo-Store program, which was introduced in March 2007. This enables walmart.com customers to buy goods online with a free shipping option, and have goods shipped to the nearest store for pickup. [141] Maggie Sans, representing Walmart, sat on the Private Enterprise Board as Secretary of the American Legislative Exchange Council.[142] On May 31, 2012, Walmart announced they were suspending their membership in the organization. Sans said: "Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission 'to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets.' We feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide. To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC."[143]

Finance and governance

For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2011, Wal-Mart reported a net income of $15.4 billion on $422 billion of revenue with a 24.7 percent gross profit margin. The corporation's international operations accounted for $109.2 billion, or 26.1 percent of total sales.[2] It is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000 list, and the largest public corporation when ranked by revenue.[144] Wal-Mart is governed by a fifteen-member Board of Directors, which is elected annually by shareholders. Robson Walton, the eldest son of founder Sam Walton, serves asChairman of the Board. Michael T. Duke serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Lee Scott, formerly CEO, serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board. Other members of the board include Ada lvarez, Jim Breyer, M. Michele Burns, James Cash, Roger Corbett, Douglas Daft, David Glass, Marissa Mayer, Gregory B. Penner, Allen Questrom, Arne M. Sorenson, Jim Walton, Christopher J. Williams, and Linda S. Wolf.[2][145] Sam Walton died in 1992. After Walton's death, Don Soderquist, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice Chairman, became known as the "Keeper of the Culture."[146]

Notable former members of the board include Hillary Clinton (19851992)[147] and Tom Coughlin (20032004), the latter having served as Vice Chairman (this is a different Tom Coughlin than the football coach). Clinton left the board before the 1992 U.S. Presidential Election, and Coughlin left in December 2005 after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wal-Mart.[148] On August 11, 2006, he was sentenced to 27 months of home confinement, five years of probation, and ordered to pay US$411,000 in restitution.[149]

Competition
In North America, Wal-Mart's primary competition includes department stores like Kmart, Target, ShopKo and Meijer, Canada's The Real Canadian Superstore and Giant Tiger, and Mexico's Comercial Mexicana and Soriana. Competitors of Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division are Costco, and the smaller BJ's Wholesale Club chain operating mainly in the eastern US. Wal-Mart's move into the grocery business in the late 1990s also set it against major supermarket chains in both the United States and Canada. Several smaller retailers, primarily dollar stores, such as Family Dollar and Dollar General, have been able to find a small niche market and compete successfully against Wal-Mart for home consumer sales.[150] In 2004, Wal-Mart responded by testing its own dollar store concept, a subsection of some stores called "Pennies-nCents."[151] Wal-Mart also had to face fierce competition in some foreign markets. For example, in Germany it had captured just 2 percent of the German food market following its entry into the market in 1997 and remained "a secondary player" behind Aldi with a 19 percent share.[152] When in July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal from Germany, its stores were sold to German company Metro.[97] Wal-Mart continues to do well in the UK, and its Asda subsidiary is the second largest chain after Tesco.[153] In May 2006, after entering the South Korean market in 1998, Wal-Mart withdrew and sold all 16 of its South Korean outlets to Shinsegae, a local retailer, for $882 million. Shinsegae re-branded the Wal-Marts as Emart stores.[154] Wal-Mart struggled to export its brand elsewhere as it rigidly tried to reproduce its model overseas. In China, Wal-Mart hopes to succeed by adapting and doing things preferable to Chinese citizens. For example, it found that Chinese consumers preferred to select their own live fish and seafood; stores began displaying the meat uncovered and installed fish tanks, leading to higher sales.[155]

Customer base

A price of 15 cents on folders and notebooks

Walmart customers give low prices as the most important reason for shopping there, reflecting the "Low prices, always" advertising slogan that Wal-Mart used from 1962 until 2006.[156] The average US Wal-Mart customer's income is below the national average, and analysts recently estimated that more than one-fifth of them lack a bank account, twice the national rate.[citation needed] A Wal-Mart financial report in 2006 also indicated that WalMart customers are sensitive to higher utility costs and gas prices.[157] A poll indicated that after 2004 US Presidential Election, 76 percent of voters who shopped at Wal-Mart once a week voted for George W. Bush, while only 23 percent supported senator John Kerry.[158] When measured against other similar retailers in the U.S., frequent Wal-Mart shoppers were rated the most politically conservative.[159] In 2006, Wal-Mart took steps to expand its US customer base, announcing a modification in its US stores from a "one-size-fits-all" merchandising strategy to one designed to "reflect each of six demographic groups African-Americans, the affluent, empty-nesters, Hispanics, suburbanites and rural residents."[160] Around six months later, it unveiled a new slogan: "Saving people money so they can live better lives". This reflects the three main groups into which Wal-Mart categorizes its 200 million customers: "brand aspirationals" (people with low incomes who are obsessed with names like KitchenAid), "price-sensitive affluents" (wealthier shoppers who love deals), and "value-price shoppers" (people who like low prices and cannot afford much more).[156] Wal-Mart has also made steps to appeal to more liberal customers, for example, by rejecting the American Family Association's recommendations and carrying the DVD Brokeback Mountain, a love story between two gay cowboys in Wyoming.[161]

Economic impact
Kenneth Stone, Professor of Economics at Iowa State University, in a paper published in Farm Foundation in 1997, found that some small towns can lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Wal-Mart store opening.[37] He compared the changes to previous competitors small town shops have faced in the past from the development of the railroads and the Sears Roebuck catalog to shopping malls. He concludes that small

towns are more affected by "discount mass merchandiser stores" than larger towns and that shop owners who adapt to the ever changing retail market can "co-exist and even thrive in this type of environment."[37] One study found Wal-Mart's entry into a new market has a profound impact on its retail competition. When a Wal-Mart opens in a new market, median sales drop 40 percent at similar high-volume stores, 17 percent at supermarkets and 6 percent at drugstores, according to the June 2009 study by researchers at several universities and led by the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.[162] A Loyola University Chicago study suggested that the impact a Wal-Mart store has on a local business is correlated to its distance from that store. The leader of that study admits that this factor is stronger in smaller towns and doesn't apply to more urban areas saying "It'd be so tough to nail down what's up with Wal-Mart".[163] A 2004 paper by two professors at Pennsylvania State University found that U.S. counties with Wal-Mart stores suffered increased poverty compared with counties without Wal-Marts.[164] They hypothesized that this could be due to: the displacement of workers from higher-paid jobs in the retailers customers no longer choose to patronize, Wal-Mart providing less local charity than the replaced businesses, or a shrinking pool of local leadership and reduced social capital due to a reduced number of local independent businesses.[164] Dr Raj Patel, author of "Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System", said in a lecture at the University of Melbourne on September 18, 2007, that a study in Nebraska looked at two different Wal-Marts, the first of which had just arrived and "was in the process of driving everyone else out of business but, to do that, they cut their prices to the bone, very, very low prices". In the other Wal-Mart, "they had successfully destroyed the local economy, there was a sort of economic crater with Wal-Mart in the middle; and, in that community, the prices were 17 percent higher".[165] A June 2006 article published by the libertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute suggested that Wal-Mart has a positive impact on small business.[166] It argued that while Wal-Mart's low prices caused some existing businesses to close, the chain also created new opportunities for other small business, and so "the process of creative destruction unleashed by Wal-Mart has no statistically significant impact on the overall size of the small business sector in the United States."[167] The Economic Policy Institute estimates that between 2001 and 2006, Wal-Mart's trade deficit with China alone eliminated nearly 200,000 U.S. jobs.[168] Another study at theUniversity of Missouri found that a new store increases net retail employment in the county by 100 jobs in the short term, half of which disappear over five years as other retail establishments close.[169] A 2005 story in The Washington Post reported that "Wal-Mart's discounting on food alone boosts the welfare of American shoppers by at least $50 billion per year."[170] A study in 2005 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) measured the effect on consumer welfare and found that the poorest segment of the population benefits the most from the existence of discount retailers.[171]

American newspaper columnist George Will named Wal-Mart "the most prodigious job-creator in the history of the private sector in this galaxy" and that "[b]y lowering consumer prices, Wal-Mart costs about 50 retail jobs among competitors for every 100 jobs Wal-Mart creates". In terms of economic effects, Will states that "WalMart and its effects save shoppers more than $200 billion a year, dwarfing such government programs as food stamps ($28.6 billion) and the earned income tax credit ($34.6 billion)".[172] A 2001 McKinsey Global Institute study of U.S. labor productivity growth between 1995 and 2000 concluded that "Wal-Mart directly and indirectly caused the bulk of the productivity acceleration" in the retail sector.[173] Robert Solow, a Nobel laureate in economics and an adviser to the study, stated that "[b]y far the most important factor in that [growth] is Wal-Mart."[174]

Employee and labor relations

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Wal-Mart workers speak during Occupy Wall Street.

With close to 2.2 million employees worldwide, Walmart has faced a torrent of lawsuits and issues with regards to its workforce. These issues involve low wages, poor working conditions, inadequate health care, as well as issues involving the company's strong anti-unionpolicies. Critics point to Walmart's high turnover rate as evidence of an unhappy workforce, although other factors may be involved. Approximately 70% of its employees leave within the first year.[175] Despite the turnover rate the company still is able to affect unemployment rates. This was found in a study by Oklahoma State University which states, "Walmart is found to have substantially lowered the relative unemployment rates of blacks in those counties where it is present, but to have had only a limited impact on relative incomes after the influences of other socio-economic variables were taken into account."[176] Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the United States, employing almost five times as many people as IBM, the second largest employer in the U.S.[177]

Gender and sexual orientation

In 2007, a gender discrimination lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., was filed against Walmart, alleging that female employees were discriminated against in matters regarding pay and promotions. A class action suit was sought, which would have been the nation's largest in history, covering 1.5 million past and current employees of Wal-Mart.[178] On June 20, 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Wal-Mart's favor, stating that the plaintiffs did not have enough in common to constitute a class.[179] The court ruled unanimously that because of the variability of the plaintiffs' circumstances, the class action could not proceed as presented, and furthermore, in a 54 decision that it could not proceed as any kind of class action suit. [180] However, several plaintiffs, including Ms. Dukes, still intend to file individual discrimination lawsuits separately. [181] According to a consultant hired by plaintiffs in a sex discrimination lawsuit, in 2001, Wal-Mart's EEOC filings showed that female employees made up 65 percent of Wal-Mart's hourly paid workforce, but only 33 percent of its management.[182][183] Just 35 percent of its store managers were women, whereas 57 percent were at comparable retailers.[183]Wal-Mart says comparisons with other retailers are unfair, because it classifies employees differently; if department managers were included in the totals, women would make up 60 percent of the managerial ranks.[183] Others have criticized the lawsuit as without basis in the law and as an abuse of the class action mechanism.[184][185][186] In 2007, Wal-Mart was named by the National Association for Female Executives as one of the top 35 companies for Executive Women.[187] Wal-Mart's rating on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, a measure of how companies treat LGBT employees and customers, has fluctuated widely during the past decade, from a low of 14 percent (2002) to 65 percent (2006). They were praised for expanding their antidiscrimination policy protecting gay and lesbian employees,[188] as well as for a new definition of "family" that included same-sex partners.[189][190] However, they have been criticized by the HRC in other areas, such as not renewing its membership in the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.[191] In January 2006, Wal-Mart announced that "diversity efforts include new groups of minority, female and gay employees that meet at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville to advise the company on marketing and internal promotion. There are seven Business Resource Groups: women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Gays and Lesbians, and a disabled group."[192]

Problems with business operations

In an April 2013 Time Business & Money article, Bill Saporito presented a case that Walmart has cut costs so much, its stores are having trouble getting merchandise from delivery areas onto the shelves. Saporito argues, in an interesting analysis, that this is more than an immediate loss of money, but also sidetracks Walmart from its main business strategy. For the quicker a retailer can sell goods, the less carry time they (or their suppliers) have to finance and the lower prices they can offer customers, which will speed up sales still more. Saporito

refers to this as a "virtuous circle." And globally, Walmart turns over its inventory 8 times a year, compared to 6.4 for Target. Walmart states that it has 90 to 95% in-stock, which is both an immediate loss of money and may be a future drag on this low-cost model.[193] A Bloomberg news article in March 2013 reported that in February 2013, Walmart placed last among department and discount stores in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, marking the sixth year in a row the company has either finished last or tied for last.[194] According to Zeynep Ton, a retail researcher and associate professor of operations management at MIT's Sloan School of Management, Walmart is entangled in the "vicious cycle" of understaffing, in which too few workers lead to operational problems, which lead to lower sales, and these lower sales are then used as rationale to further lower labor budgets.[194][195] In the 2013 Bloomberg article, an employee in Missouri asked, Why cant we have enough hours to make the store work? She was told that it's orders from the home office. A customer in California trying to buy paint said, You wait 20, 25 minutes for someone to help you, then the person was not trained on mixing paint. It was like, you have to help them help you.[194]

Charity
Founder Sam Walton held the belief that the company's contribution to society was the fact that it operated efficiently, thereby lowering the cost of living for its customers, and therefore in that sense was a "powerful force for good", despite his refusal to contribute cash to philanthropic causes.[196] Having begun to feel that his wealth attracted people who wanted nothing more than a "handout", he explained that while he believed his family had been fortunate and wished to use his wealth to aid worthy causes like education, they could not be expected to "solve every personal problem that comes to [their] attention". He explained later in his autobiography, "We feel very strongly that Wal-Mart really is not, and should not be, in the charity business." Citing the fact that "any debit has to be passed along to somebody - either shareholders or our customers."[197] Since Sam Walton's death in 1992 however, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation dramatically increased charitable giving.[198] In 2008, Forbes ranked Wal-Mart Stores at 6th place when evaluating donations by corporations as a percentage of income.[199]

Criticism
Main article: Criticism of Walmart Wal-Mart has been subject to criticism by numerous groups and individuals. Among these are labor unions, community groups, grassroots organizations, religious organizations, environmental groups and Wal-Mart customers. They have protested against Wal-Mart, the company's policies and business practices, including

charges of racial and gender discrimination.[200][201][202] Other areas of criticism include the corporation's foreign product sourcing, treatment of product suppliers, employee compensation and working conditions, environmental practices, the use of public subsidies, and the company's security policies.[203] Wal-Mart denies doing anything wrong and maintains that low prices are the result of efficiency.[204][205][206]

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Wal-Mart continues lobbying in US for India entry

The global retail giant Wal-Mart has continued to lobby with the American lawmakers on the issue of entering Indian market. PTI | Feb 3, 2013, 02.44PM IST

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: Amid a probe being initiated into Wal-Mart's US lobbying with regard to its India entry, the global retail giant has continued to lobby with the American lawmakers on this issue, as also others, and spent a total amount of $6.13 million on the same during 2012. As per the latest Congressional records of lobbying disclosure reports, the USbased Wal-Mart Stores spent a total amount of $1.48 million (about Rs 8 crore) on lobbying for various issues, including on "discussions related to FDI in India", during the last quarter ended December 31, 2012. This has taken the total lobbying bill of the company for entire 2012 to $6.13 million (about Rs 33 crore), the lobbying disclosure records available with the US Senate show.

Wal-Mart has been lobbying with the US lawmakers on dozens of issues every quarter, whose disclosures it is mandatorily required to make under the American regulations. Recently, the Indian government initiated a probe into the lobbying activities by Wal-Mart in the US for gaining access to Indian market, after disclosures about these activities caused a furore and a political debate in India. The company has, however, maintained that these disclosures have nothing to do with political or governmental contacts with India government officials and

they only show that Wal-Mart's business interest in India was discussed with the US government officials along with many more other topics. Wal-Mart has been waiting for years to open its supermarkets in India and it has been lobbying with the US lawmakers since at least 2008 to facilitate its entry into the highly lucrative Indian market. Its total bill on these activities has now crossed $34 million (about Rs 180 crore) since 2008, which has been incurred on account of lobbying for more than 50 issues every quarter, including the issues related to "enhanced market access for investment in India". However, the amount spent by Wal-Mart in last quarter was lower than $1.65 million incurred in the previous three- month period ended September 30, 2012, when also one of its lobbying issues was "discussions related to FDI in India". Its annual lobbying bill also fell to $6.13 million in 2012, from $7.84 million in 2011. Prior to that, it had spent $6.16 million in 2010, $7.39 million in 2009 and $6.59 million in 2008. Wal-Mart has lobbied for its various business interests with the US Senate, the US House of Representatives, the US Trade Representative (USTR) and the US department of state, among other organisations and departments. The companies are allowed to lobby for their cases in various departments and agencies in the US, but they are required to file their lobbying disclosure reports every quarter with the US Senate. As per Wal-Mart's lobbying disclosure reports, the company has continuously lobbied for its India entry since 2008, except for a few quarters in 2009. Indian government recently opened up its multi-brand retail sector for foreign companies after years of political opposition and a Parliament motion against this decision was defeated last week in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

The US-based supermarket chain operator Wal-Mart Stores, which has an annual turnover of $444 billion and a world- wide headcount of 2.2 million, has been waiting for a long time to enter India. The Indian retail market is estimated to be worth about USD 500 billion currently and is pegged to cross $one trillion mark by 2020, given the rising personal income and growing consumer spending trends. India is one of the most favourable destinations for international retailers and an accelerated retail growth of 15-20 per cent is expected over the next five years.

How the Entry of Walmart and Big Retail Chains Will Change India
The Indian government's decision to open up its retail sector will have far-reaching consequences for its billion-plus population

Employees arrange products at a Bharti Walmart store on the outskirts of Chandigarh, India, on Sept. 16, 2012

Has Manmohan Singh got his mojo back? The Indian Prime Minister has recently suffered the indignity of being called overwhelmed and out of steam in the Indian magazine Caravan; a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat by the Washington Post; and an underachiever on the cover of TIME.

And yet, there he was on Sept. 14, boldly pushing a major economic reform that would open up Indias vast retail market to greater participation by foreign companies. Singh tried the same move last fall, only to be shouted down by populists within his coalition, who threatened to bring down the government, claiming that the measure would threaten the livelihood of small shopkeepers. Unable to make his case, Singh backed down. This time, he all but dared them to call his bluff. Whos dithering now?

(MORE: India Allows Walmart and Friends in)

What looks like boldness is actually a deft finesse from a leader who has rarely been comfortable playing the role of politician. By leaving the implementation of this new reform up to the countrys states, Singh avoids having to push too hard while still getting credit for taking a proreform, progrowth stance that plays well with the foreign investors who have cooled on India.

Its a canny move. States with big urban centers and enough middle-class consumers to actually shop at foreign retail outlets are likely to move forward on retail reform. Poorer, less urbanized states and those where Indias traders and merchant castes are politically powerful can opt out. So far, the two most vocal critics of the new measure are ideological opposites Mamata Banerjee, a left-leaning populist, and Narendra Modi, a right-wing Hindu nationalist who styles himself as a businessfriendly reformer. The rest of Indias ambitious chief ministers will end up competing with one another for a limited pool of big-ticket investment, creating an incentive to implement the reforms quickly.

(MORE: The 2012 TIME 100 Mamata Banerjee)

Once the reforms take hold, India could see some profound changes. India lacks the infrastructure like refrigeration and warehousing that most big retailers are used to, so Walmart, Carrefour, Tesco, et al. would have to build it themselves. That would benefit the entire retail-supply chain in India, decreasing spoilage and reducing time to market. To take advantage of economies of scale, those retailers will also as Walmart does now on a limited scale deal directly with farmers.

Dont be fooled: these big-box stores will not suddenly replace Indias mom-and-pop stores by undercutting their prices. Thats the experience of retail in the U.S.: the small retailers that once

served the middle classes could not match Walmarts much lower prices. The Indian retail market is different. Yes, they may be locally owned, but those small retailers keep their prices low because they use only the cheapest possible casual labor and invest next to nothing in their stores. Prices cannot get any lower; in India, Walmart can compete only by offering higher prices and better quality to attract the middle-class consumers who are able to pay. A handful of Indian big-box retailers and high-end specialty stores are already using that strategy.

The same goes for farmers. Under the current system, they are forced to sell their produce in government-supported wholesale markets where they have no pricing power at all. If big companies like Walmart enter the market, farmers can only benefit from the competition for the goods they supply.

Of course, no single company or single piece of economic reform has the scale to transform the lives of 800 million struggling farmers. Once Walmart is a full-fledged part of Indias market, it will become clear that even the largest company in the world isnt big enough to change India. It will take broad-based change in everything from water and electricity to education to lift their livelihoods. Singhs bold move is just a small first step.

I am no economist but as a middle class consumer, I would not dislike it if giants like Walmart come to India. The so-called mom and pop stores are mostly worthless; many don't store more than a few common items, in many cases their wares turn out not of the best quality or sometimes expired and rotten. The few good ones do not have the money to make a world class marketing experience available to us (and by that I mean good wares with lots of choices, not a air conditioned or music-playing glass-fitted premises) The Mom and Pop stores will not lose out if some reasonable restrictions are imposed on the giants, eg how many stores allowed in the rural areas, extensive study of the cities whereby mostly residential and "traditional" districts are demarcated and made "mom and pop area only" etc. And its not as if the MNC's aren't going to absorb some mom and pop store people...they do need veteran marketing campaigners and who better available?
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vimal_mp Featured Sep 27, 2012

IT has both positives and negatives. In the long run storage infrastructure will improve but farmers will suffer. one needs to go and see the research in the US on the percentage of sales realisation that was plowed back by the giant retailers to the farmers. Initially it was high but as the years went by it progressively got lowered and today is at a low. The objective of getting better storage infrastructure could have been solved through public sector corporation or semi private bodies established for the specific purpose of putting up silos etc. A perpetual with tax savings could have been floated in the local market to get thefunds required. teh cost of storage could have been determined througha formula linked to guaranteeinga return of say 10 -12% on capital invested. Everyone would have been happy except the government which is desparately short of ideas to revive its own image and the economy.
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vimal_mp Featured Sep 27, 2012

IT has both positives and negatives. In the long run storage infrastructure will improve but farmers will suffer. one needs to go and see the research in the US on the percentage of sales realisation that was plowed back by the giant retailers to the farmers. Initially it was high but as the years went by it progressively got lowered and today is at a low. The objective of getting better storage infrastructure could have been solved through public sector corporation or semi private bodies established for the specific purpose of putting up silos etc. A perpetual with tax savings could have been floated in the local market to get thefunds required. teh cost of storage could have been determined througha formula linked to guaranteeinga return of say 10 -12% on capital invested. Everyone would have been happy except the government which is desparately short of ideas to revive its own image and the economy.
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Nirmal Kant Dalapati Featured Sep 23, 2012

INDIA KO AAGE BADHNA HAI, PAR APNE DUM PAR, NA KISI WALLMART YA AUR KOI, INDIA KO INDIA REHNO DO WESTERN... MAT BANAO.
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Nirmal Kant Dalapati Featured Sep 23, 2012

INDIA KO AAGE BADHNA HAI, PAR APNE DUM PAR NA KI WALMART YA AUR KOI...
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MYusuf Advani Featured Sep 22, 2012

Walmart employs a few thousands and millions lost job.As bearorduck had said " Walmart will change India the same way it changed life in America. It will ruin it" In India most of the chronically poor are wage earners in formal. Productivity appears to have a negative impact on job creation. Our present Govt. denied FDI in multi-brand retailing untill, 2011 and announced retail reforms for both multi-brand and single-brand retailing in November,2011. India is one of the top five retail market in the world by economic value and one of the fastest growing retail market in the world with 1.26 billion people. Indian born Nobel prize winning economist Dr.Amartya Sen says-FDI in multi-brand retail can be good thing or bad thing depending on the nature of investment. Other Indian leaders have

their own comments. Our PM has defended,hike in diesel rate,limiting domestic gas refills to 6 per year and also retail reforms. Let's see how the present decision allowing FDI in multi-brand retailing will help common Indian and what is the impact on local employment.
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TyrantInShorts Featured Sep 21, 2012

Walmart and large multinational corporations will turn India into Latin America. Hey if they can do it to North America, they most certainly can do it to India!
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Elise Noel Featured Sep 20, 2012

This is a horribly written article with very bad research. Firstly, the cost can ABSOLUTELY get lower in India. If Walmart buys directly from farmers like it says it would, the cost will change dramatically considering that retailers now mostly buy from a middle man which charges (usually) at least a 100% margin. Secondly, if India wanted refrigerated retails structures, it has PLENTY of billionaires who could invest in this idea on our own. Lastly, if we diverted back to growing agriculture/making our own products within our own communities, there would be plenty of food, less refrigeration/power would be needed, more people would eat etc. As an American living in India, I would just like to say to those Indians on the fence about this issue, that the challenges Walmart will create are immense. Walmart has destroyed American small business, treats its employees awfully and will find a way to make the most profit possibly and not care who or what it hurts along the way. Walmart opened 45mins away from my parents house in Northern California and within that 45 minute radius, there are ZERO small agriculture/clothing stores left.
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Saleem Quadri Featured Sep 20, 2012

Why doesn't the Government of India and the Congress party explain the reasons and effect of this model?
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Chhajuram Induscharwak Featured Sep 20, 2012

Big retail chain bound to change India. Indian corporates already in retail but doing nothing for infrastructure in this field now have to multiply their efforts. Parasites as mere mediocre are bound to wash. Absence of mediocrity certainly help Indian farmers and they will get better price for their product. Consumers get maximum benefits in case of price as well as quality. Genuine service provider pop and mom store bound to remain intact hence it is only black marketeer bound to wash.

Walmart comes to India: Can mom and pop stores play with the big boys?

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By Mercedes White, Deseret News Published: Wednesday, Nov. 28 2012 7:03 a.m. MST
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Small corner stores, called kirana, dominate retail in India. In urban areas up to 80 percent of the population is employed in retail or trade. Walmart establishing itself as a player in the region could have a huge impact on many livelihoods.
Paul Prescott, Shutterstock Enlarge photo

Summary
How will the establishment of Walmart in India impact the poor there? Will it decrease food costs and increase jobs or decimate a flagging economy?

Weve seen the devastating effect that Walmart has

upon workers and small retailers in America.
Michael Bride

Shopping in India has never been like getting groceries in the United States. If we need toiletries, groceries, or even fish, meat or chicken, we just call down to the local kirana, says Ruksana Hussain, an American from India who returns to her homeland regularly. Within minutes the groceries are delivered by the shopkeeper, the same shopkeeper who has delivered items to Hassain's family since she was a girl. Kirana is the Indian version of a corner store and kiranas are where most Indians do their grocery shopping. There are more than 14 million of these stores in India, 96 percent of which are less than 500 square feet. But the way Indians shop is about to change forever. For years the Indian government has protected corner shops from foreign big box competitors. In a controversial effort to jump start a faltering economy, Indian Prime Minister Manhohan Singh recently announced that the government will allow foreign retailers a majority share in the shops they set up in the country. Within hours of the announcement, Walmart revealed plans to open up stores in cities around the country. There is vigorous debate whether or not Walmart will be good for the developing nation. Advocates say Walmart will help India modernize its food supply chain, eliminate waste and reduce prices for millions of impoverished people. Since more than 30 percent of India's population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day, there is hope that

Walmart's presence in the region could have a profound impact in the global fight against poverty. But critics warn that benefits of having Walmart will not offset the retailer's devastating impact on the millions of shopkeepers who make up 14 percent of the Indian economy. Allegations that surfaced over the weekend of violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Walmart's India division may give incountry critics more ammunition in their efforts to oppose the retailer. The Walmart effect Walmarts opponents argue that the retailer will harm the small, family owned kirana, or corner stores, that currently dominate the Indian retail market. Weve seen the devastating effect that Walmart has upon workers and small retailers in America, said Michael Bride of the North American United Food and Commercial Workers International Union in a statement released after Walmart announced its plans for India. A Census Bureau study of the U.S. retail sector from 1976-2005 found that big box retailers like Walmart had a negative impact on small stores and overall employment growth. Other countries have experienced similar effects. Walmart arrived in Chile in the early 1990s. Between 1991-95, about 22 percent of small food shops went out of business in Santiago, according to a 2008 study by the Indian Council for Research and International Economic Relations. The impact was even greater in Argentina, where a third of small food retailers closed. It is unclear whether the same thing will happen in India, officials say.

Mom and pop stores can play with the big boys, said Swaminathan Aiyar, a research fellow at the Cato Institute. "(They) already operate with very low overhead, he added. Small store owners benefit from low rent, desirable locations, low labor costs and the ability to offer their customers highly personalized service. Improving the lives of farmers Sixty percent of Indias population works in agriculture, and farmers stand to make significant gains from foreign investment according to Aiyar. There are two primary ways farmers could benefit higher prices and improved yields. Indian farmers are often required by law to sell their crops to wholesale traders at a set price. By the time it reaches the consumer, the produce will have been marked up by three to four times, but nearly all of that goes to the middlemen, not the farmer, said Jyoti Thottam, an Indian correspondent for Time Magazine. Since Walmarts model is to buy directly from farmers, they can afford to pay higher prices. By doing so they believe it is possible to increase farmers income by 20 percent in five years. To meet its demand for produce, Walmart also plans to help farmers improve productivity. For example, it can help spread simple technologies and best practices, like the use of stakes to prop up tomato plants, said Aiyar. Ironically, doing so could eventually lead to the loss of agricultural jobs. In modern economies like the Unites States or Japan, less than 5 percent of the population is employed in agriculture. This isn't necessarily something to worry about, according to Vivek Dehejia, an associate professor of economics at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Walmart will bring new kinds of

work to the region, he said. So many people in India work in agriculture because they dont have better options, he added. From farm to store Bypassing the entrenched network of middlemen wont be easy, Aiyar said. Those who argue that foreign direct investment will bring succor to farmers and reduce prices for customers need to explain why domestic large-format retailers haven't been able to remove the middlemen, Aiyar said. Distribution requires at least three transactions, from farmer to transport to distributor to retailer, said Sanjay Kaul, a Delhibased political and economic blogger. The (foreign) retail stores will just have their own middlemen." Infrastructure is another barrier to efficiency in India. It takes a mango truck 65 hours to travel the 854 miles between Mumbai and New Delhi because of traffic jams, toll plazas and provincial borders, according to estimates by Deloitte consultants. During the roughly three-day trip, 30 percent of the produce will spoil. The Indian Institute of Management estimates that traffic issues cost India $5.5 billion annually. If Walmart wants to make money, theyll need to invest in roads, refrigeration units and storage facilities. Yet, critics worry about having a foreign company provide infrastructure that is the governments responsibility: Can we expect Walmart to build public roads or fix them when they break? Dehejia asked. Customers A price study by MIT economist Jerry Hausman found that by shopping at Walmart consumers save 25 percent on their food budget. For families that spend a large portion of their budget on food this makes a significant difference. Hausman found that

shopping at Walmart for groceries can provide a poor family the equivalent of a 6.5 percent boost in income. But these savings may not hold for Indian families. Walmart will have to put in air conditioning systems, parking, buildings, transportation and machinery. Purchasing items in bulk wont offset those costs ... so (they) will inevitably be passed on to customers, said Aiyar. The cost of real estate in urban areas is also astronomical, according to Aiyar, another cost the customer will end up swallowing. While the impact of Walmart on Indian consumers remains to be seen, one thing is certain: Indians are hungry to taste the global economy, said Dehejia.

Walmart In India: Retailer The First Multinational To Enter Country

AP | By ERIKA KINETZ Posted: 09/21/2012 10:41 am Updated: 09/21/2012 2:43 pm

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MUMBAI, India (AP) Wal-Mart plans to open retail outlets in India in the next 12 to 18 months, the company said Friday, making it the first

multinational to jump on the government's decision to open the country's huge retail market to foreign players. Raj Jain, the managing director of Bharti Wal-Mart, a joint venture that operates 17 outlets that cater to small businesses in India, confirmed by email that Wal-Mart plans to open stores that serve consumers over the next 18 months, but declined to say how many. India announced last week that it would allow foreign firms to take a majority stake in multi-brand stores for the first time. The surprise decision cheered investors but cost the ruling Congress Party an important coalition ally. New Delhi first tried to enact the measure last year, but backed down in the face of resistance from coalition partners, badly damaging its credibility with global investors. Prior to the reversal, foreign retailers like Wal-Mart could only operate wholesale outlets. Opponents say the move will cost Indians jobs and decimate millions of momand-pop shops. Advocates say welcoming players like Wal-Mart is necessary to attract the investment needed for India to modernize its food supply chains, reduce waste and bring down spiraling food prices. Under the new rules, individual states will have the right to decide whether to let the retailers operate from their territory. Only 10 of India's 35 states and territories which are controlled by the ruling Congress Party are likely to welcome foreign retailers initially, according to Eurasia Group analyst David Sloan. The rules also mandate that foreign retailers spend half their investment on building supply chain infrastructure and source 30 percent of manufactured goods from local small- and medium-sized companies. Foreign retailers are also restricted to India's 53 cities with populations exceeding 1 million.

India's rules are more restrictive than those of China, Thailand, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, all of which allow foreign investors 100 percent ownership in retail, according to Goldman Sachs. British-based Tesco PLC and French retailer Carrefour have also expressed interest in expanding in India. Wal-Mart opened its first wholesale outlet in its partnership with Bharti in May 2009 in Amritsar in Punjab state.