The Best One

Matthew KeatingBrian Klingenberg

Calvin LevallyMeghan Mahoney

Wal-Mart’s Early Years

• Entered Brazil a decade ago.• They were ‘culturally tone deaf’ .• Wal-Mart tried to do things the American way

by selling golf clubs and baseball gloves to Brazilians as if they were Americans.

• They pulled out of Germany and South Korea due to heavy losses.

• It appears that the U.S. retail formula didn’t work everywhere.

Wal-Mart

• Each Wal-Mart in the various countries has different names to appeal to the locals.

• Todo Dia – São Paulo• Their produce section is styled after a fruit

stand with fresh oranges.• A huge display hawks the black turtle beans

and salted pork ears needed to cook a feijoada, a traditional Brazilian stew.

Todo Dia

• In addition, to providing food and other items to the locals, they have a Wal-Mart funded community center.

• It includes a gynecologist’s office, an Internet café, and a bank offering microloans.

Competition

• As they make Wal-Marts in other countries, they have run into stiff competition from two other companies in Brazil.

• Pão de Acucar Group – controlled by a Brazilian family

• Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA of France.• They all have the best products on certain

items.

International Sales

• International division includes 3700 stores• Provides nearly a quarter of the company’s $401 billion in annual sales.• In all but one of the 14 foreign countries where

Wal-Mart does business, its sales are growing faster than that country’s retail market.

• In India, Wal-Mart and Bharti Enterprises Ltd launched a store called Best Price Modern Wholesale.

• Executives went to Brazil to study their layout to speed up construction and merchandise assortment.

Playing to Strengths

• Brazil’s version of Wal-Mart sells a lot of coffee because 99% of households drink coffee.

• In an Afro-Brazilian region called Candomblé, lavender perfume sales spike some 2000% before February 2 every year.

• They realized that practitioners used the perfume each February in a rite honoring a sea goddess named Yemaja.

Business Opportunities

• Hire people to travel overseas to other countries to survey the locals to see what they like so Wal-Mart internationals can play to their strengths.

• Make local Wal-Marts more culturally diverse depending on the areas they are in.

• Texas -> increase Mexican food