WAL-MART: Rising competition from Amazon and Costco.
WAL-MART SWOT Analysis - 2016
Presented here is a SWOT analysis of Walmart (NYSE: WMT).
CEO: C. Douglas McMillon
Number of Employees: 2,300,000
Competitors: Costco, Target, Amazon, Best Buy, BJ's Wholesale Club, Ebay
[Check Fresh Stats on Walmart for 2018] Go to [SWOT ANALYSIS OF WALMART 2018]
Despite all these achievements, there remain some big challenges before the brand. The growth of Walmart E-commerce is behind its main rivals. Its Sam’s club unit is also facing significant competitive pressure from Costco and is struggling to keep up. More than anything else, a strong US dollar internationally has affected the profits of its international division.
[Must Read: Strategic analysis of Walmart]
A few words about Wal-Mart before moving on to SWOT: Walmart has been the target of severe criticism and attacks regarding its supply chain and human resource policies including wage policies in the past. However, there is still enough reason that Walmart can be considered good for America. Its size has always enabled it to provide what the other retailers cannot. The retail giant has efficiently devoted its strengths to the American consumer. While being criticized for depressing wages and for its Bangladeshi suppliers, the retailer has still provided the American consumers the biggest benefit - the lowest prices. Undoubtedly, Walmart means smart retail and its size is a major factor that enables the brand to do the unbelievable things it does.
- Walmart swot analysis
Walmart Strengths:
- Brand Image
- Financial strength
- Sharp growth in the recent years
- Excellent infrastructure
- large customer base
Walmart Weaknesses:
- Thin profit margins
- weak HR record
- Some of its brands are facing stiff competition
- Slow growing e-commerce
Walmart Opportunities:
- Improvement in HR policies
- Expansion into the emerging Asian markets
- Partnership with the local brands in the emerging markets
Walmart Threats:
- Competition from rivals in and out of US
- stronger Dollar internationally affecting profits
Being a big brand is not easy and the brands like Walmart have to face significant competition domestically and internationally. Competition poses a major threat to Walmart and especially that from Amazon and Costco. Another major threat is that of a stronger dollar. A stronger dollar internationally means that the profits will be low for Wal-Mart. The recent years saw dollar grow stronger internationally which meant that the profits of the international division of Wal-Mart had to suffer.
Recommendations: Apart from focusing more on E-commerce, Wal-Mart needs to revive its Sam's Club strategy. There is also a need to attend to other needs like working on improving employee morale to make the brand image stronger. Overall, Walmart has been doing well in terms of low prices. However, it's time that it made serious attempts to revive the brand image which has been tarnished by its continued lack of attention to the human resource issues.
Walmart Stats : Walmart Revenue & Number of stores