Mark Jones’ Post

Never a dull moment in retail.. 🏪 Walmart's acquisition of Vizio yesterday is one more reminder that our industry's model is constantly evolving. ♻️ How are you adapting? 🛒 There's increasing pressure on all retailers strategy to explore opportunities to monetize their business beyond the traditional wholesale/retail margin model. 🛍️ Updated Andrew Lipsman's fascinating chart to include yesterday's announcement. Highly encourage you to closely follow his work to better understand the rapid evolution of the retail media ecosystem. 💡 #retailinnovation #retailstrategy #retailmedia

"Businesses are built in the moments between the moments." 💡 THIS is a true business story. Oftentimes we only hear, recognize or celebrate the capital M Moments. I just love everything about this story! #buildingbusinesses #businessoperations

If you are a Retail Leader, you are probably thinking about the surge in self-checkout solutions in the stores. Retailers like ZARA SA, H&M, Carrefour, Walmart, and Tesco have successfully implemented self-checkout in their stores. The question is not why you should be implementing self-checkout, it's why not? Let’s address the top 3 concerns you may have before implementing self-checkout in your store below! Do you have any pain points you would like to talk about? Reach out to us! #Mishipay #RetailInnovation #RetailTech

Another great quarterly performance by team Walmart in a persistently unforgiving and challenging retail environment. Of note, several recent media articles have been titled as below, or made reference to who's biggest. Click bait. In my 22 years at Walmart corporate, being "the biggest" was never a goal. Never an aspiration. Never a "thing." Frankly, who the hell cares?! In all those years, I never attended a meeting or ever heard an executive cite this arbitrary aspiration as anything but a result of the hard work performed by the 2 million plus associates - day in and day out. So, for the media gurus wanting top-line size to matter, to be the goal, spend more time writing about what DOES matter - doing the relevant things well, consistently focusing on the core customer, and having the courage to correct missteps and mistakes quickly. No retailer is perfect. Certainly not Walmart. However, repeating results speak for themselves. Consistency, not shiny things or Wall Street blips is what matters. #retail #retailleadership Kroger Amazon The Home Depot Lowe's Companies, Inc. Meijer Target The Wall Street Journal Yahoo Finance #socialmedia Macy's Asda ALDI USA Dollar General Safeway Albertsons Companies CVS Health Walgreens Conversations On Retail RetailWire Omni Talk Retail https://lnkd.in/gqRYe-7E

ALDI’S CONUNDRUM IN AMERICA Aldi has many things going for it in America. It is completing an aggressive program of expansion and store refurbishing. It is Progressive Grocer’s Supermarket of the Year. It scores #5 on satisfaction in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, ahead of Kroger, Target, Whole Foods, and other large retailers. In the Consumer Reports subscribers’ survey, its store brands received a quality rating on 4 out of 5, again ahead of many other retailers. Yet, despite being in the U.S. for half a century, Aldi’s market share is only 2.1%, way below its market share in countries like Australia or the UK. When I go to my local Aldi store, it is quite empty, even though Trader Joe’s—which also has a limited assortment of mostly store brands--is packed. So, it can’t be just Americans’ love for big-box, big-assortment stores. What is going on? Clearly, Aldi shoppers love the store! At Kenan-Flagler’s business school’s annual Xmas party, a colleague told me that she was an absolute Aldi loyalist. But unless Aldi solves this puzzle, will it gain real traction in the largest market of the world? #business #leadership #grit #history #executivedevelopment

🛒✨ The Aldi Brothers: A Fascinating Tale 🌟🏭 💰 Born poor, Karl and Theo Albrecht created the Aldi supermarket chain, dividing the world like Portugal and Castile did in 1494. 🌍🛢️ From a small store, they expanded to 10K+ stores globally, becoming super-rich billionaires. 💵🤑 🌟 Their secretive lives kept them out of the limelight. In WWII, they fought for the Nazis and later reshaped their store strategy, keeping prices low and products essential. 💼🛒 Minimalist decor and no ads were part of their success. 💔🤝 A dispute over adding cigarettes led to a split, creating Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud. They conquered Germany and expanded internationally. 🇩🇪🌐 🏝️🏌️ Enjoying privacy on a private island, they rarely interacted with media and were described as elusive as Yeti. 👻💬 Their legacy lives on as heirs now battle over billions in the family fortune. 💼💔 💡💰 The Albrecht Brothers’ story is one of innovation, intrigue, and unparalleled success. 📚🌟 Source: NiT #AldiBrothers #SupermarketKings #Legacy

In the world of American retail success stories, it’s impossible to ignore how giant Walmart is. Just mentioning the name will bring about connotations of scale that are difficult to fathom in our modern context. So, we have shed light on how and why Walmart became so successful in terms of business, strategy, and more! https://lnkd.in/gq-GbCk4

Competitive strategy- A competitive strategy is a company's plan to penetrate/win market share. -Walmart Walmart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas, USA. The store was first called Wal_Mart Discount city, and was first opened in July 2,1962. Walmart's competitive strategy can be sumed up as offering products of great value at Everyday Low Prices (EDLP). This strategy aims to consistently offer low prices on a wide range of products everyday. Due Walmart's EDLP, consumers are encouraged to come back to visit the store. So far, this has strategy has worked for Walmart as they are the biggest retail company in the world. Find out more about Nexford's BBA program by checking out the form below https://lnkd.in/dSSBGwPK

Delighted to unveil the findings from my latest exploration of Walmart inaugurations across the United States. 📊 Contrasting Walmart's establishment trends with those of rival superstores nationwide. Additionally, delving into a longitudinal assessment of openings spanning decades.  #DataAnalysis #BusinessInsights #walmart

THE SECRET OF COSTCO’S SUCCESS #costco is massive, but in size, it is dwarfed by #walmart , whose 2023 revenues are 2.5x larger ($611 bn. v. $248 bn.). Yet, Costco vastly outperforms Walmart on the metrics that truly matter: return on capital, price-earnings ratio, and share price performance. Here are four elements of Costco’s success: 1. Costco sells its assortment at lower prices by charging a much lower markup on manufacturer prices 12% v. 24%. It is able to do this because it charges a membership fee of $60 per year. This is a stable foundation of nearly pure profit of $4.6 bn., which is more than half of Costco’s operating profits of $8.4 bn in 2023. 2. Costco carries a much, much smaller assortment, giving the company greater negotiating power over its suppliers, and increasing sales per square feet, which are much higher than Walmart’s. (We see the same when comparing Aldi with, say, Kroger or Tesco, as documented by Laurens Sloot and me in Retail Disruptors.) 3. Costco invests heavily in its own brand, Kirkland Signature. Consumers have noticed. In a Consumer Reports survey, shoppers gave Kirkland a quality rating of 5 (the highest possible). And Walmart? It received a measly score of 2. Costco’s margin on Kirkland SKUs are c. 6 percentage points higher than its margin on national brands, according to an article in The Economist of this week. 4. Costco’s staff is very loyal. Good pay, good benefits, and a dose of servant leadership, for which the company is well-known, means that the annual turnover rate is 8% versus an industry average of 60%. My experience at my local Walmart leads me to believe Walmart may not do much better than this average. Loyal staff are experienced, give good service, and make people come back. If you enjoyed this, share it with others and follow me Jan-Benedict Steenkamp for more writing. #business #leadership #grit #history #executivedevelopment