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| In ] Wal-mart opened its 21st store in ] | In ] Wal-mart opened its 21st store in ] | ||
| ==External link== | |||
| http://www.walmart.com/ | http://www.walmart.com/ | ||
Revision as of 07:28, 13 October 2002
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world's largest retailer. In the fiscal year ending January 31, 2001 Wal-Mart had $191 billion dollars in sales. It employs over 1 million people worldwide and operates 4,500 retail units in 10 countries. Wal-Mart operates in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, Korea, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-mart, opened the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962.
Wal-Mart stores are large in area, usually constructed as part of a shopping mall in a low-density suburban centre. The stores contain a broad range of products, from clothes through consumer electronics, outdoor equipment, toys, hardware, and books, as well as many other lines. Wal-mart is now the #2 grocery chain in the nation, behind Kroger's. The products it sells are usually basic, mass-market equipment rather than premium products stocked at specialist stores. Wal-Mart and stores like it are often referred to as "big box" stores because shoppers usually buy either large items or small items in volume.
The key to Wal-Mart's success is the economies of scale it brings to manufacturing and logistics, buying massive quantities of items from its suppliers and with a very efficient stock control system to make logistics costs lower than its competitors, which includes the Kmart Corporation.
The legal department of Wal-Mart has a reputation among personal injury lawyers for extremely aggressive legal tactics, and the corporation has been sanctioned by several courts for failing to respond properly to plantiff discovery motions.
In 2002 Wal-mart opened its 21st store in China