Walmart

Wal-Mart is one of the largest retail markets in the world and continues to increase its revenue because of its products and services that are provided. I have to admit Wal-Mart has made a lot of money from me because it's my one stop supermarket. I can go to Wal-Mart and find just about any and everything I'm looking for which makes my shopping experience just that much more supreme. Let me share some of the businesses history with you and its timeline. The very first store to open was in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 its founder was Sam Walton. In 1970 Wal-Mart opened its first distribution center and home office in Bentonville, Ark.1972 Wal-Mart was approved and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.1983 First SAM'S CLUB opened in April in Midwest City, Oklahoma. 1988 First Super center opened in Washington, Missouri. . 1990 Wal-Mart becomes nation's No. 1 retailer. 1991 International market entered for first time with the opening of a unit in Mexico City. 1992 Sam Walton passes away on April 5. 1992 Wal-Mart enters Puerto Rico. 1993 First billion-dollar sales week in December. 1997 Wal-Mart becomes the No. 1 employer in the United States, 1997 Wal-Mart has 680,000 associates worldwide, including 115,000 associates internationally, 1997 Wal-Mart has first $100 billion sales year, with sales totaling US$105 billion. 1999 Wal-Mart has 1,140,000 associates, making the company the largest private employer in the world. 1999 Wal-Mart acquires the ASDA Group plc.in the United Kingdom (229 stores).1999 Wal-Mart acquires 374 Interspa units in Germany. 2001 Wal-Mart topped Fortune's Global500 and ranked third among the "Most Admired Companies in America". 2002 Wal-Mart entered the Japanese market through the acquisition of interest in Seryu. 2005 Wal-Mart's ownership stake in Japanese Seiyu increased to 56.56% in November.2005 Wal-Mart buys Sonae's Brazil operations including 140 hypermarkets, supermarkets and wholesale units for $764 million in December.

The main strategy Wal-Mart used for Globalization is acquisition of other stores in different markets. In Canada Wal-Mart purchased 122 Woolco stores to enter that market and in Germany got a hold of 21 Wertkauf hypermarkets and then added 74 Interspar stores. Wal-mart achieved a grand success in U.K. with the $10.7 billion acquisition of ASDA. The Firm integrated all these purchased stores and changed the names, renewed the facilities and used store mangers that were trained in the US and they also changed the product mix. Because of their increased presence in the global arena they impacted both the societies and the small businesses. Wal-mart strategy of acquisition in international markets was not very appropriate, as it wiped out small businesses everywhere and with it their unique local cultures. Wal-mart chains are everywhere, and without exception the local communities and the small businesses are ruined and Wal-mart is the only one which benefits.

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The different products and services you will find at Wal-Mart range from food, auto parts, toys, armory, electronics, home improvement, cosmetics, jewelry, clothing, banking institution, and maybe a restaurant. Coincidentally there is a McDonalds in the one I visit. So it's nice to always stop there for French fries and a milkshake. I go to Wal-Mart for just about everything. It's convenient and I like to utilize the self check out lines as I am very impatient person. I believe that would be my only qualm is the large customer base it has and waiting in check out lines can be taxing at times especially during tax season. Check out lines was the best thing they could've invested in. You'd be amazed at the number of people who will not go through the self check out lines but would rather wait in line for 30 minutes to do have the clerk do the same thing they themselves could've done in 5 minutes. I don't understand that. Again it just goes to show I don't have the patience. When I'm ready to go, I'm ready!

Wal-Mart has become more convenient now that I can go to the website and do my shopping and this worked out best for me when we hit the Christmas season. Again, I'm impatient and I don't do crowds or long lines too well so I fired up their website and went shopping and everything that I needed to get took me 1 hour. Now imagine if I'd gone into the store. I would've seen how crowded it was and turned around and walked out. I guess if I ever wanted to find a way to work on being patient, Wal-Mart would be the biggest test. I'm not quite there yet! Speaking of internet sales half-dozen major multichannel retailers, including Toys "R" Us, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target, began collecting sales tax on online purchases. According to COM Score/Media Metrix, online sales in the first two months of 2003, when tax collection began, rose 26 percent overall compared with the same time period last year, reaching US$13.9 billion. For nontravel spending, the category of sales most likely to be newly taxed, growth amounted to 19 percent, to a total of $7.8 billion. As I stated earlier, it's not about lower prices it's about convenience. As far as online tax is concerned A University of Tennessee study estimated states lost some $13 billion in tax revenue in 2001 because no online taxes were levied. That figure was questioned when The Direct Marketing Association recently released its own study suggesting the figure is probably closer to $2.5 billion and is unlikely to exceed $4.5 billion until 2011.

EBay was formed as a sole proprietorship by Silicon Valley software engineer Pierre Omidyar on Labor Day Weekend in 1995. Omidyar's purpose was to establish a self-regulating online marketplace. A central premise of Omidyar's online marketplace was the belief that people are essentially honest (eBay, 2005). Reporting on a recent 10-year anniversary "fireside chat" with Omidyar and eBay's first president Jeff Skoll, an eBay staffer explained that, "the site was based on a relatively simple idea: given the opportunity, people would do the right thing such as sending money to strangers to buy items online. Named "Auction Web", the sites initially function like an online flea market, with buyers and sellers trading collectibles, garage sale items, and assorted junk. Omidyar encouraged organic growth of the company which continues to this day allowing sellers to decide what items to list and shaping the direction of the company