Walmart's marketing mix strategy and data analytics integration

Wal-Mart Marketing Mix

Wal-Mart Stores (|NYSE: WMT) closed it latest fiscal year with $103.8B in revenues, growing 4% over the previous fiscal year (WalMart Investor Relations, 2012), a remarkable accomplishment given the recessionary climate of the U.S. And other westernized nations. Wal-Mart's ability to withstand economically challenging times is directly linked to how well they synchronize their product, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies using an extensive information systems architecture (Wang, 2006). Wal-Mart is unique as discount retailer as their corporate culture is very focused on analytics and real-time use of data from its more than 3,700 retail locations globally (Ritson, 2005).

Product Considerations and Strategies at Wal-Mart

The cornerstone of Wal-Mart's strength in product strategies globally is in their ability to manage supplier relationships to pricing and margin targets while at the same time requiring the highest quality of any mass merchandiser in business today (Lee, 2006). Holding suppliers accountable for exceptionally high levels of quality and low prices is what makes the Low Price Everyday (LPED) value proposition so effective in appealing to a wide spectrum of customers. The LPED value proposition is made possible by the tight integration of supplier management and continual focus on pricing, promotion and distribution (or place) strategies all being so tightly integrated that costs are kept to an absolute minimum. Wal-mart uses analytics as the glue that unifies the entire marketing mix around the rapid acquisition and launch of products into markets of the most value to them depending on a given items' appeal (Wang, 2006). Wal-Mart uses analytics to evaluate how profitable each supplier is on a monthly basis, often drastically reducing their marketing mix to open new opportunities for those suppliers' products that can deliver greater gross margins (Cocheo, 2003).

Promotion Strategies

The primary focus of promotional strategies at Wal-Mart is to connect with and reinforce the customer loyalty of their most active and profitable customers. Wal-Mart is a heavily analytics-driven company and this includes their intense focus on customer research as well. Wal-Mart has progressed beyond segmenting their markets using demographics and today segment using psychographics, which is the study of how people assign themselves to groups who share their values (Frazier, 2006). A recent study released by