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Marketing Planning

Marketing Planning

Introduction

According to Drucker (1955), planning is concerned with development of strategies based on an organization's assessment of the marketplace and perceptions of managerial expectations and organizational capability. Marketing planning is a critical management process on which the success of a company depends. Marketing plan details a company's marketing effort. It may be laid out for an individual product or for the entire company and all its products. Marketing plans helps establish, coordinate and direct marketing efforts. Successful marketing requires companies to have capabilities such as understanding customers and competitors, creating customer value and keeping customers. Marketing plan of Wal-Mart is described below.

Discussion

With annual revenues exceeding US$400 billion, Wal-Mart is a retail colossus and at present the world's largest corporation. Wal-Mart is a budget retailer that sells an unusually wide range of consumer goods in its enormous big-box stores, which first appeared in the U.S. South and Midwest in the mid-1960s. Since then, they spread rapidly across North America and, in various guises; Wal-Mart now operates throughout Europe, Asia, and in certain parts of Africa.

Wal-Mart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas. Walton pursued a budget retail strategy from the outset, sourcing from only the cheapest suppliers and locating Wal-Mart stores outside regional centers. Wal-Mart's organizational culture bore the mark of its founder and its rural origins. Wal-Mart praised small-town and (to some degree) Christian values, including loyalty, hard work, conformity, and patriotism, and it maintained a gendered division of labor such that most service-oriented employees were women while most managers and executives were men. Although it has changed significantly since its establishment, Wal-Mart continues to reflect important features of its early beginnings.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Largest Retailer in the World

Loyal Customer Base

Everyday Low Pricing

Established Brand Name

Supply Chain and Logistics Capability

Wide Network of Stores

Caters to a Wide Range of Needs

Continuous Opening of New Stores

Weaknesses

Growth in the Cost Structure

Large Inventories

Negative Publicity over treatment of employees

Increase in Overhead Expense

Lackluster Sales

Selective Purchases of Middle Class Customers

Low Impact of the George brand in the US

Crowded/ Cluttered Store

Opportunities

Fashion Goods Category: Potential for Higher Margins

Economies of Scale

Increase Sustainability and Wealth of the Middle Class

Threats

Increase Expansion Expenses

Skyrocketing Energy Costs

Increasing Competition

Competitive Assessment

Wal-Mart has various competitors in the industry namely: Target, Costco, Kroger, Walgreens and Kmart. Discount competitors Kmart and Target had paved the way for low-cost fashion items with their respective lines of designer labels.

Wal-Mart has been obsessed with individual bargains regardless of how they fit with the rest of the store's merchandise or even if they were in style. But nowadays, consumers expect more than just great items. Target, which is one of Wal-Mart's closest competitors, has eluded Wal-Mart in terms of developing a storewide aesthetic look and left it vulnerable since Target is more fashion-oriented.

Marketing Strategies

Segmentation

Its segmentation consists of individuals in the middle class that has an average income and at the same time thrifty and trendy in buying products. They have an average income yet due to the tough economic times they seek for clothing that is inexpensive yet still is ...