Wal-Mart Corporations Low Sales - Research Proposal Example

Name: Course: Date: Professor: A Report about Wal-Mart Corporation’s Low Sales Executive Summary Wal-Mart Company is an American company that runs warehouse stores and chains offering large discounts. Global list renders this company as the second largest public company in 2013. It is the largest private employer with more than two million employees. This corporation is said to be the largest retailer in the globe. It is one of most valuable corporations and still remains the family business started back in 1962 by the Walton Family who currently own around 48 percent of the stake. Wal-Mart is also the biggest supplier of the grocery in the United States of America. In the years 2008/2009 it produced 51% of their 258 billion dollars sales in the United States grocery business. It operates also several warehouses in North America such as the Sams club. In the years 1980s the income of the corporation raised drastically and by late 1980s it was the biggest company in terms of revenue (Perry and Bloom 2001). Wal-Mart has about 8000 stores in more than 14 countries under about 50 different names. It only operates under the name “Wal-Mart “in USA not secluding the 50 states. It is Walmex in Mexico and Asda in UK while in japan it is referred to as Seiyu. In India it also operates as the best worth. This company under new strategies tries to enter countries like china, India and Russia where its presence is limited. Wal-Mart can continue its amazing growth by using technology, using human capital and using executive decisions in running the company as big as it is. It is one of the largest corporations in the United States of America. Wal-Mart Management Problem Wal-Mart Corporation has a punch line which says, “Save money, live better”. This was the aim or goal that the founder of this company wanted to attain when he founded it. The company has expanded its presence to many countries, them being Central America, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and many more striving to give the excellent services to the members. Wal-Mart itself set three core goals in the year 2005, they include 100% renewable energy, zero waste and products which are to be sold are to sustain the environment. Question raises whether it will stand in the values its putting forward and whether its strategies deployed by the company will help it making needed value. The problem facing Wal-Mart Corporation is the slow growth in the sales. Asda a supermarket in the United Kingdom owned by the Wal-Mart said that there was a slowed growth rate in the sales within controlled consumer expenditure. The sales at open stores rose at least a year by 0.8 percent from the previous years, not including the value added tax and the fuel. United Kingdom second biggest grocer, Asda, is struggling to maintain its state amid the competitive market currently in the country. The consumers in Britain are under pressure since the sales growth rate is down and the demand is high hence this raises the value added tax and so forth. Other corporations such as Aldi and Lidl now have combined 12 percent of the United Kingdom grocery Arcade, 3 percent points more than three years ago. That cuts so much into the market for the larger vendors who have to strive for a constricting middle level ground. Wal-Mart, the largest vendor in the globe, claimed that they will have less profit this year than it hoped previously after higher taxes which reduced the number of the customers in their products thus less sales. This shows that the sales growth rate is slowly affected compared to value added tax and the payroll tax being imposed on the products of the company (Hemphill 2005). Research question This research paper is meant to identify various reasons to why the entire sales of the company’s product are not growing. Moreover, the paper focuses on potential causes of this management problem and their possible solutions presented as recommendations. Precisely, this research will determine whether lack of sales of the firm’s product is as a result of poor expectations leading to lack of desire to purchase from the company or poor performance of the organization and lack of the customer’s desire to repurchase from the organization. The scope of this research will examine experiences and expectations of a number of groups such as the first time buyers, potential customers and the regular customers. Research program Aim This research is generally concerned with the causes that lead to lack of sales in the company, focusing on various categories of customers or consumers of the firm’s product. It will further assess the importance of these customers to the entire operations of the organization. Particular issues under research are whether lack of sales of the firm’s product is as a result of poor expectations leading to lack of desire to purchase from the company or poor performance of the organization and lack of the customer’s desire to repurchase from the organization. More broadly, the investigation asked how the management of the company failed to establish an appropriate strategy that can raise or increase the sales of its products. The entire study started from two motivations: 1. To study the percentage of customers who purchase or consume the firm’s product. This would consider three groups of customer: The new purchasers of the product, potential customers and regular customers. In addition, the customer’s experience and expectations that leads to the desire to purchase the firm’s product. 2. To study different ways through which the company market and sale their products alongside the entire production procedures, from initial stages to the final packaging stage. This would determine the faults that maybe present in the management system of the organization thus the core reason for lack of sales in the company. Designing the fieldwork This research design base on the investigations done into the reasons why Wal-Mart Company lack sales or rather have low sales in general, using a qualitative method of research. The discussion of methodology tends to present various tools alongside a number of experiences that are used to inform how the structure of the research design looks like. Furthermore, it attempts to develop an interpretation of the entire research. Studying the purchasing trend or culture of customers Various studies of consumer’s culture are meant to build or develop a picture in a company at a period when the general sales are at stake. Others would tend to investigate the processes of marketing from the moment a commodity is launched into the market. These processes lead to purchasing of the product in picture and generally, investigations are done in hindsight. Diffusion studies attempt to look into a specific diffusion of an idea about a product in the market whereas adoption studies tend to use qualitative methods of research. In this research, the focus is on the natural setting of the company’s market over a given period of time so as to identify various experiences and encounters of consumers of Wal-Mart’s products. How and why people look at the firm’s products is what determines the value of sales. The research seeks to uncover these processes and try to understand the relationship between customer’s backgrounds, preferences and their responses towards the products offered by the company. Qualitative approach is used to the required data or information for the purposes of recommendations. Focusing on the management strategies of the company (marketing) The intention of this research is to study various management strategies that are used by the company to promote sales. In addition, the research will investigate various weaknesses in the management system that lead to low sales or lack of sales in the company. This would be done alongside research methodologies that are most likely to be appropriate for any management system. In studying a company’s management, most probably the organization may not be in a position to respond and comprehensively describe their thoughts, opinions and daily activities of their operations especially in cases where interviews and questionnaires are used. However, this research will use participant method to surmount the obstacles that maybe encountered when using interviews and questionnaires. Here, the researcher will join the working team at the company for a given period of time so as to get or collect data on issues related to the management strategies that affect the company’s sales. Gaining access A major problem with researches is gaining access to individual who are supposed to give information (respondents). Being in a position to study these people so as to gain familiarity with their preferences and reality in the consumption market is not that easy. Thus, the research proposes various social science methodologies that will guide the researcher into achieving the customer’s involvement and responses for the purpose of data collection and analysis. A practical problem comprise of getting people to speak to the persons in the field in an open, cooperative and sincere manner about their opinions on Wal-Mart products. However, to surmount this problem, the research will use the participant observation methods at the expense of a lot of effort from the researcher. Methodology For the case of the second research question, the researcher will join the working team at one of the Wal-Mart stores. Here, various procedures will be in place. The researcher will be studying a number of aspects in the company. Firstly, the management strategies will be observed, followed by the marketing strategies and finally the ways through which the company sell their products. This bit of data collection is meant to avoid insincere responses from the staff of the organization. On the other hand, for the case of the first research question, data collection will be done through interviews and questionnaires. Interviews Interviews will be conducted with assistance of scheduled questions. In order to prompt responses in an easy way, various devices are explored in the research. After carrying out a dummy run with the research instruments on various consumers of Wal-Mart products, the research will then undertake an initial study with a group of first interviewees. Since the research will be attempting an experimental and unstructured research, the study will provide a vital chance for assessing the research design. In designing an interview guide, the backgrounds of individuals are considered alongside their every day’s activities, minor and major events of their lives and how these people value the products of Wal-Mart Company. Finally, the interview design includes information about frequency of firm’s product purchases among various individuals. Questionnaires Questionnaires will be used on various consumers found at Wal-Mart stores. They will be deigned to include a number of questions that touch on satisfaction of the company’s products, health benefits, environmental impacts and general side effects. Moreover, they will comprise of some questions about how regular the customers purchase from the company, whether or not the prices of the products are directly linked to the standards and quality of these products. Research Findings During the research, various aspects are depicted or found to be the cause of low or lack of sales in Wal-Mart Corporation. 1. Poor quality of products. Through interviewing of various consumers, it was found that all the purchases made from the firm were substandard as compared to other substitutes. This led to most of the customers shifting or moving away and opted for other products. 2. Relatively high prices of products compared to close substitutes. It is obvious that when the prices of a commodity goes up, the demand for the same product goes down thus the sales reduces. A number of customers confessed that high prices made them to go for other cheaper products from other firms. 3. Poor distribution system. It was found out that the internal management has poor strategies in place for distribution of its products. The firm is using older methods of distribution thus the products are not well supplied in the market on time. Delays is supply would lead to low sales. 4. Poor packaging and after sales services. Various customers confessed that the company packing of commodities and after sales services are not appealing to customers. Analysis After interviewing close to thirty customers, ten of them complained of poor quality, five complained of poor packaging and after sales services, ten complained of relatively high prices and the rest complained of delayed supplies when after orders are made. Among those customers who complained of poor quality, ninety percent (90%) had already looked for alternative or replacement of the company’s products whereas ten percent (10%) were still hanging in there hoping that the firm would improve its quality. For the people who complained of poor packaging and after sales services, none had opted for other products but they threatened to move away and go for other substitutes if the company will do nothing about it. For the case of prices, all the customers who complained about this had already shifted their preferences to other products whereas some those who complained of delayed deliveries had forwarded complains to the management and waited for change and others had already decided to purchase or order from other companies. The research found out that delayed deliveries are due to poor transport system in the company; they use old trucks to ferry their product to the market. Conclusion From the entire research, we can conclude that the cause of lack of sales or low sales in the company is due to faults in the management. It is obvious from the research that the organization’s management had failed in its role of supervision and development of strategies that are appropriate for every department in the company. Poor quality, high prices, poor packaging and sales services and delayed deliveries are all faults that arise from poor management of the company’s operations. Therefore, the research have proven that lack of sales or low sales are not as a result of customers’ poor expectations leading to lack of desire to purchase from the company but are as a result of poor performance of the organization and lack of the customer’s desire to repurchase from the organization. Recommendation In order to improve the sales of Wal-Mart corporations and capture or maintain customers, the firm should work on various aspects or issues that are said to be the major causes of low sales. To start with, the management should check on the general quality of the products. This would be possible by reviewing the whole production procedure so as to manufacture quality products (Adamantios 2002). Secondly, the organization should work towards maintaining their customers through reasonable pricing of their products. In addition the management should review the trend of purchases at various levels of prices so as to determine which prices would lead to increases sales in the company. Thirdly, the organization should check on the methods of packaging and the kind of after sales services they offer. This would be possible if compared with other companies that produce similar products. Coming up with packaging ways and after sale services that outplay other companies would give Wal-Mart an upper hand in the market thus increasing the firm’s sales. Lastly, the firm’s management should check on the mode of distribution or supply so as to avoid delays. This would be possible through replacement of the old trucks with new ones that can reach the market on time. Quick transportation of products into the market facilitates quick supply thus the customers find the company reliable. References Adamantios, D., 2002, Managerial evaluation of sales forecasting effectiveness: A MIMIC modeling approach. 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