Let’s now dig a little into,
The history of Walmart
To begin with, this company was founded in the early 1960s by a man named Sam Walton. Since then the company has undergone many modifications in its name and appearance, such as its logo. It was initially known as Walton’s and was void of any sort of logo. However, as is known every successful business now was once laughed out as a joke. Such was the case of Walton’s also. The small company faced a lot of hurdles starting from sourcing raw materials to the price of manufactured products. Since the market value for processed goods was high, there was a hike in the price of raw materials as well. Having a small budget, it was very difficult to keep up with the price. However, he somehow managed to get supplies from people who lived far from the land and were not used by other stores and owners. This also put a check on the transportation cost though back in those times, oil was remarkably cheap hence it wasn’t much of a burden for the newly born businessman. In those years it was only limited to groceries and vegetables that too with a limited variety. Slowly the company expanded and after renaming Walton’s to Wal-Mart, Sam Walton opened the first store in the mid-1960s in Arkansas. Times have evolved and now that location has a mall full of antique things and a hardware store. That first store has now grown into a full-fledged supermarket expanding to several blocks in the same locality. In the next few years, the company further inaugurated 20 stores in the same city. The revenue increased massively in the blink of an eye. Today Walmart is considered to be the largest retail chain with the highest annual revenue collection. The company today has as many as 11000 stores running in 50 countries along with 5 eCommerce brands including our very own Flipkart. Another less known fact is that the company also conducts placement drives for Engineering students and Graduates. The recruitment drive is conducted in off-campus mode and the position offered is that of an Associate for graduates and Software Engineer for the tech students. Although a majority of their employees are Americans there are about 1 million employees from other corners of the world including our very own India!
Where does Walmart get its raw products from?
The company is known for its quality products and never fails to make it a point to have the best goods sold. Their items are mostly grown, processed, and packed in the US itself. About 98% of the products which are sold only in the continent are manufactured locally. Due to the growing urge for variety and cost from the customers’ side, certain goods such as electronics and other hard goods are brought in from different parts of the world. Electronics are mostly imported from Germany whereas clothing and other materials are obtained from France and other parts of Europe. The seasonal fruits are sometimes imported from Mediterranean countries also. Apart from all this, Walmart conducts an Open All Country Call to allow suppliers from not just the nearest locality, but also the other famous and powerful franchises all around the USA, to come and showcase their products for the buyers. It’s like a trade Fair which is helpful in our country, but on a national scale. They also believe in dignity and hence work towards helping small firms and organizations in setting up their work by allowing them to come up with goods for the local market grocery chain. They are also working on investing a wholesome amount to be able to support employment in America.
Where does Walmart ship from?
Walmart has a large number of warehouses and suppliers. Its shipping centers are different for the in-store shipping activities and the online shipping goods. For in-store shipping distribution and shipping, 200 centers supply goods to more than 5000 stores in the whole country. For online shipping activities, there are a few locations that are exclusively reserved for this purpose, to name a few are: California, Ohio, Texas, and New Indiana. The in-store shipping is restricted to local areas only whereas online shipping happens to almost all parts of North America and Mexico. Some special areas like the military camps are also eligible for shipping through Walmart. To carry on with this huge amount of country-wide delivery, Walmart has the most widespread personal transport services which come with around 7000 heavy vehicles and 60,000 large trailers. Along with this, FedEx is also a very common shipping agent used by them to perform on-air and distant shipping to keep the record unchanged. The rates and other factors are managed by an external agency and work in close contact with the sellers. The location where a seller comes from is tracked and the merchants closest to it are noted. Then the work is further carried forward by them.
Before We Part our Ways
Thus we see, Walmart has its branches spread almost in every part of America, and those who aren’t in America, can still avail of the services through its eCommerce websites. So next time when you order something from Flipkart, pause for a while and thank Walmart for being extremely generous and allowing us Indians to use their services from such a distance.
