International Business: Walmart Goes South

What can local retailers like Comerci do to compete against Walmart?

Although, there is not much that competitors like Comerci could do against Walmart since the giant retailer is already capitalizing on several of its strengths within the Mexican market. Initially, before NAFTA specifically, Walmart did face some challenges when it entered the Mexican market, such as higher import charges and finding it hard to live up to its slogan Every Day Low Prices, restocking unnecessary store items being unaware of the local demand, logistics problems due to poor roads and cultural clashes. However, as soon as NAFTA came to rescue Walmart, it was much easier for the giant retailer to work smoothly in the Mexican market. Comerci and other retailers are struggling to keep up with the strong strategies Walmart uses to keep its process low, fighting against the high local wages that Walmart is paying, a central distribution system second to that of the Pentagon, and strong supplier connections.

Still, suppose they want to remain competitive. In that case, the retail rivals in Mexico can think of a renewal of their marketing strategies, become more environmentally sustainable and promote themselves as more sustainable corporate entities. It could help create a strong environmental-friendly image in the target markets minds, which is one of the emerging trends these days (Chen et al., 2021). Customers are more aware of the companys CSR efforts...

The tariff adjustments under the NAFTA agreement would help Walmart suppliers to readjust their power within the supply chain configurations. The attractiveness of getting access to products on time would help the supplier be closer to Walmart, further empowering the supplier relationships for Walmart, which has been a strength of the company for years now.

Also, when suppliers can avoid two of the most crucial factors related to tariffs- cost control and passing expenses to consumers- it would enable them to build persistent relations with Walmart (National Retail Federation, n.d.). This would be a huge advantage for Walmart suppliers since it would not increase the cost under high tariffs due to the NAFTA…