Question

Tell me about a retailer that has a distinct positioning other than the Disney Store, Big Bass Pro Shop, or Cabelas. What is the positioning and how has the retailer achieved it (i.e., in terms of their brand name, logo, products they carry, employees, where they're located, how the store is designed)?

Answer 1

Wal-Mart isa retailer which has distinct position other than stated in the question. Wal –Mart beginnings as a small discount retailer in Rogers, Ark., Walmart has opened thousands of stores in the U.S. and expanded internationally. Wal – Mart has a deep penetration in the following countries.

• Africa
• Argentina
• Canada
• Central America
• Chile
• China
• India
• Japan
• Mexico
• United Kingdom

Wal – Mart works operates internationally with its Wall Mart Super Centres, Wall Mart Discount Stores, Walmart Neighbourhood Market. Wal- Mart also operate as U.S.ECOMMERCE also.

WAL-MART SUPER CENTRE:

Walmart began building Supercenters in 1988 and are around 182,000 square feet employing about 300 associates. Walmart Supercenters offer a one-stop shopping experience by combining a grocery store with fresh produce, bakery, deli and dairy products with electronics, apparel, toys and home furnishings. Most Supercenters are open 24 hours, and may also include specialty shops such as banks, hair and nail salons, restaurants, or vision centers.

WAL-MART DISCOUNT STORES:

Wal-Mart built hundreds across the U.S. Smaller than a Supercenter, discount stores employ about 200 associates and offer electronics, apparel, toys, home furnishings, health and beauty aids, hardware and more in about 106,000 square feet of open, brightly lit space.

WAL-MART NEIGHBOURHOOD MARKET:

Walmart Neighborhood Markets were designed in 1998 as a smaller-footprint option for communities in need of a pharmacy, affordable groceries and merchandise. Each one is approximately 38,000 square feet and employs up to 95 associates. Walmart Neighborhood Markets offer fresh produce, meat and dairy products, bakery and deli items, household supplies, health and beauty aids and a pharmacy.

WAL-MART ECOMMERCE:-

world's largest brick-and-mortar retailer is also one of the fastest growing and most dynamic e-commerce organizations. Led by Marc Lore, founder and former chief executive officer of Jet.com, creating an experience that lets customers shop anytime, anywhere — delivering exactly what they want, when they want it.

Walmart.com, sees up to 100 million unique visitors a month, according to comScore, and is growing every year. With innovations like Online Grocery Pickup, NextDay shipping and a whole host of apps, providing customers with more ways to save time and money while reimagining how digital and physical shopping work together.

BRANDS OF WAL-MART:

Wal-Mart has the following brand:-

Jet.com

Hayneedle

Moosejaw

Shoes.com

Modcloth (women’s apparel)

Bonobos (men’s apparel)

Eloquii

Art.com

Bare Necessities

Store No 8

Store No 8 is where it is asked, “what’s next?” when it comes to the future of retail. As the emerging technology incubator, Store No 8 works behind the scenes to build and develop capabilities that is believed to be transformative to retail. There are several startups within Wal-Mart portfolio, starting with Jetblack, the membership-based shopping service powered by conversational commerce for busy parents in New York City. Spatial& is Wal- Mart startup focused on applying virtual reality to retail experiences, and the Intelligent Retail Lab focuses on the applications for AI in retail to improve store operations and the customer experience. Most recently, Wal-Mart announced the launch of InHome Delivery, where customers can have their online grocery orders delivered directly into their refrigerators.

TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION OF WAL-MART:

Wal- Mart undertook almost a full-scale transformation in all aspects of the product cycle and throughout the organization. From what kinds of products to sale to where and how it is sourced, picked, and delivered, Walmart has designed a digital-factory like system to try and test new technologies.

BOSSA NOVA ROBOTIC SYSTEM FOR SHELF INVENTORY:-

The robotic startup which were famously mentioned in an announcement from Walmart stating that they would be rolling out Bossa Nova’s shelf-scanning robots in 50 of its stores back in 2017 and recently Walmart expands use of the nova’s robot to 350 stores. They automate the inventory scanning process on the shelf space so that when customers come in to the store they will always get what they were looking for.

SOLVING PROBLEMS IN SOURCING

Delivery Promising

Delivery promising is the real-time estimated delivery date shown on the item at Walmart.com when customers purchase the item at a given date. Algorithm estimate the delivery date with factors such as

• The distance between the customers and fulfillment centers(FC)
• Inventory Level of the Item
• Available shipping method and capacity

Order Sourcing

Whenever the order is placed the algorithm has to determine the following to better optimize the effectiveness & efficiency of supply chain

• Which fulfillment center is the optimum to fulfill the order or a portion of the order
• Which carrier is the optimum to fulfill the order at the the lowest cost yet in a timely manner

Order / Shipment Preperation​​

There are two aspects in this stage that if done well, it would hugely optimize the overall efficiency of supply chain management

Picking Optimization

When an order is to be fulfilled by a designated Fulfillment Center, the item in the order will need to be picked from the shelf in a timely manner and the algorithm to optimzie this process has to determine the following

• Which picker the item should be assigned to
• For each individual picker the optimal route and series of items to be picked

This should look familiar to data scientist as it is one of the most difficult answered/unanswered NP-Hard Problems in the field which commonly known as the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window.

Transportation​​

Walmart has successfully implemented data science methodology in the transportation process to optimize overall Supply Chain Management. In that, the most prominent feild is the lane planning.

After the Sourcing & Order Preperation, now the shipment is being picked, packed and ready to go. At this stage, a shipping label will be generated for Walmart associate to sort the package and determine which dock door they should put the package at.

Then, the specific route (Lane) will be defined by the algorithm with various factors such as Source Facility, delivery date, method and destimation facility. The most cost effective & on-time lane will be generated by the algorithm.

As per my opinion Wal-Mart is the only retailer which has distinct position over its competitors and has presence internationally with technological driven Apps, good transportation, Delivery System and distinct Brands.

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