Walmart's Foreign Expansion

Wal-Mart’s Foreign Expansion

1) Do you think Wal-Mart could translate its merchandising strategy wholesale to another country and succeed? If not, why not?

 I don’t think Wal-Mart could translate its merchandising wholesale strategy to another country because wholesale involves business buying decisions. In this case, we discuss about Wal-Mart’s Foreign Expansion retail program. They have been successful in certain countries because they have been able to slowly change the buying habits of the consumers in the chosen country. However, business buying habits are a part of the company’s culture and norms. Needless to say, the decision is influenced by several individuals or department. Wal-Mart has been successful in translating its retail low-price strategy into some international markets because the consumer’s buying decision is limited to the individual.

2) Why do you think Wal-Mart was successful in Mexico?

 Wal-Mart has been successful in Mexico because Mexicans are considered to be bargain hunters. Wal-Mart may be considered a retailer that aims for the bargain-hunter shoppers. For example, Germany and South Korea are not considered low-price bargain hunters; instead they rather have quality over quantity. This differs from the consumers in Mexico because they are not considered a wealthy country, so therefore Wal-Mart’s low-price strategy worked well in their economy, even though it took a while to train the consumers to shop the American way.

3) Why do you think Wal-Mart failed in South Korea and Germany? What are the differences between these countries and Mexico?

 Wal-Mart failed in South Korea and Germany because they kind of failed in their market research. One of the main problems was that Wal-Mart’s goal was to change the consumer’s buying habit. The difference between Mexico, South Korea and Germany, is that Mexican’s buying habits were somewhat similar to Wal-Mart’s low-price strategy, although Wal-Mart needed to learn how and what shop...