Wall-Mart Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Wall-Mart - Case Study Example Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart are the top retailers in the present American market. Each of them is having more than 1000 stores. Wal-Mart is the king of the ring. It's the number one retailer in United States of America. Target is slowly moving closer to Wal-Mart and has become a tough competitor to Wal-Mart. Kmart has a long history; recently it is trying to emerge from bankruptcy reorganization. Kmart is slowly losing its customers to Wal-Mart. Their strategies include low price and highly qualified customer care service. This factor played an important role in the long-term development of the Hotel. The cheaper prices with high quality service and further free goodies attracted many. Another factor is the customer service. Customer plays an important role in the development of the company because it is the customer who uses the product that was developed by the companies was good at it. Before being bankrupted Kmart was the second best retailer after Wal-Mart. Both companies used different strategies to outsmart each other. They tried different strategies to woo the customers. After coming out from bankruptcy Kmart found that it has lost most of the customers to Wal-Mart and other retailers like Target. Its total net profit also declined considerably. Target took this opportunity to its full advantage and started aggressive campaigning. Though the think tank of Target knew that most of Kmart's customers would go to Wal-Mart rather than coming to Target's stores, they started slashing the prices of the products and announced heavy discounts on them. They used innovative ideas to woo the customers. To maintain its top position Wal-Mart used to slash the rates so that when customers come to purchase the items would buy other products also. These items were termed as loss leaders. Most of the middle class families are Wal-Mart's customers. Target aimed at upper middle class. Because of this stiff competition between Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, Costco, etc., customer has wide range of choices to choose. Customer can buy products at discount rates. The companies are employing every possible method to woo the customers to their stores. Due to the bankruptcy Kmart lost its most of the investors to other retailing companies. The company that largely profited by this was Wal-Mart that was so much preoccupied of defeating Kmart. Most of the investors purchase bonds. A bond is nothing but a promissory note that the company would repay the sum over a certain period at a certain interest rate. Bonds are also called as debentures. If the company is in trouble and has to be dissolved, bondholders must be paid in full before paying the stockholders.Experts advise the investors to buy both Wal-Mart and Target stock. Both the companies had seen upswing of their net profit in the recent past. In the present market everything sells by brand names, the marketers are expected to put up good brand name products for sale. The purchaser desires to have or own a good brand name product and material with good quality at reasonable and cheaper rate. If the marketers were able to meet this demand of people of the society, definitely there would be a souring business for their product. Wal-Mart from its good service,

Consumer Behaviour and Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Consumer Behaviour and Research - Essay Example The theory presents a model that states the factors stimulating individual, group or corporate purchases, the intervening variables that may influence the purchase decisions, and the likely outcome of such purchase decisions. The factors influencing the purchase decision, according to this theory, is the sensitivity to information, perception bias and the active search for information, which ends-up indicating the favorable purchases to be done, based on the buyer preferences (Howard, 1965 p84). This is a progressive development from the earlier utility and Herbert Simon's satisficing life theories, which based the consumer behavior solely on the needs of the individual, ignoring all the intervening factors that could alter the purchase decision (Loudon, 1988 p 48). Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) This theory was developed in 1975, postulating that the buyer decision is fully influenced by beliefs and attitudes (Foxall, 2005 p16). Thus, the process of buyer behavior is preceded by at titude formation, where the buyer evaluates the alternative products and services that are available to satisfy their needs, while gauging each product and services upon its effectiveness and attractiveness. The theory further advanced, to not only look at the attitudes, but also interrogate the behavior depicted by the buyer throughout the purchase decision and execution process (Engel, Kollat & Blackwell, 1968 p10). This advanced the development of the consumer behavior theories further, from a mere focus on the needs and satisfaction process, to the actual involvement of the buyer, in information evaluation and arriving at informed decisions (Massy, Montgomery, & Morrison 1970 p16). The Theory of Planned Behavior This is a buyer intention and prediction analysis... The researcher of this essay aims to analyze the consumer behavior, that usually depicts the processes by which individuals or groups of people secure, utilize and dispose products or services, in a bid to satisfy their needs. Today, there are various theories that have been put across to explain the consumer behavior. Notably, theories of consumer behavior have been widely developed since 1800 to present day, with subsequent theories improving and expanding the previous ones. The development in the theories of buyer behavior took an upward trend starting 1950, with many researchers keenly engaging in the evaluation of the factors that influences the consumption behavior in individuals. The consumer behavior theories that have been subsequently developed include: Herbert Simon's satisficing life theory, the Theory of Buyer Behavior, Theory of Reasoned Action, The Theory of Planned Behavior. These theories were analyzed in details in this essay. The researcher also described the onlin e buying, that has become a norm for many people, owing to the recent technological developments that allow individuals to purchase products and have them delivered, in the comfort of the houses. While traditionally people used to visit stores and premises to inspect the products on sale, they are currently viewing the products online, while assessing their features and usability from the seller’s website, so that straight-to-the-point description of the products are needed for the implementation of the successful strategy.