What are Walmart’s service strategies?

1. Wal-Mart's Competitive Strategy

Wal-Mart has grown from a small grocery store in a rural town to a large multinational retail empire that ranks among the top 500 companies in the world. There are many factors that influence it. On August 12, 1996, a sunny day in Shenzhen, China's first Wal-Mart shopping plaza and Sam's Club opened at the same time, marking the official entry of Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail chain, into the Chinese market.

Year 1960 1970 1980 1990 1998

Sales 1.4 million US dollars 31 million US dollars 1.2 billion US dollars 26 billion US dollars 133.2 billion US dollars

Profit 112,000 US dollars 1.2 million USD 41 million USD 1 billion USD 4.1 billion USD

Number of stores 9 32 276 1528 300

From the development history of Wal-Mart mentioned above, we can see that Wal-Mart has experienced rapid expansion for 50 consecutive years. , it reaches a higher level every 10 years and it has not stopped to this day. So what makes Wal-Mart so competitive and capable of expansion? The author wants to analyze Wal-Mart from the perspective of competitive strategy and explore its underlying factors. This can serve as a reference for large-scale domestic commercial enterprises whose economic benefits are generally declining.

(1) Everyday low prices

When you walk into the door of Wal-Mart, what you will see must be the slogan "Everyday low prices, consistent", even Wal-Mart's shopping bags This is also the sentence printed on it. It is not difficult to imagine how important this sentence is to Wal-Mart.

There is an essential difference between daily price parity and general price cuts. Daily price parity is the basis of discounted sales. It uses price reduction as a long-term marketing strategy. Price reduction is no longer used only for irregular seasonal sales or to promote unsaleable products, but as a market pricing strategy for the entire enterprise. The core is the foundation of an enterprise's existence and the basis for its development.

Wal-Mart is the company that implements this strategy most thoroughly among all discount chain stores. It tries every means to reduce costs and strives to make Wal-Mart products cheaper than other stores. This guiding philosophy has made Wal-Mart a cost control expert in this industry. It ultimately reduces costs to the lowest level and truly achieves affordable prices every day.

Wal-Mart's low cost mainly depends on the control of the following aspects:

1. Purchase cost control

Purchase cost is the focus of enterprise cost control, especially the key to cost control of retail enterprises. To achieve lower purchase costs, we must purchase in large quantities, sell in large quantities, enjoy volume discounts on prices, and give full play to the scale effect of modern large-scale commerce. Enterprises further transform this large-volume, low-cost purchase advantage into relatively low price competitiveness, thereby effectively stimulating consumers' desire to purchase and allowing retail enterprises to take the initiative in fierce competition, forming an enterprise A virtuous cycle of business operations. In terms of purchasing goods, Wal-Mart has adopted the following methods to reduce costs: First, it adopts a central purchasing system and implements unified purchasing as much as possible. Especially for high-profile products sold globally, such as Coca-Cola, Kodak film, etc., Wal-Mart generally signs a one-time purchase contract for the products sold in a year. Due to the huge quantity, its price concessions are much higher than those of its peers, making it impossible for others to purchase products. Comparative advantages; the second is to buy out the purchase and settle at a fixed time. Due to the unpredictable changes in the retail market, in order to avoid operating risks, many merchants have adopted consignment sales methods to transfer risks to manufacturers, but this also increases the purchase cost of retail companies. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, implements a buyout policy and fixes the payment for goods without delay. Although this involves the risk of overstocking and unsalable goods, it can greatly reduce the cost of purchasing and win the trust of suppliers; third, it is with suppliers Adopt a cooperative attitude.

Due to its huge purchasing volume, Wal-Mart generally purchases goods directly from factories and maintains long-term cooperative relationships with suppliers. Through computer networking, information sharing is realized. Suppliers can understand Wal-Mart's sales and inventory status at the first time and arrange production in a timely manner. and transportation. Due to improved efficiency and reduced supplier costs, Wal-Mart will be able to pass on the benefits it obtains to customers. Under this cooperation model, suppliers, Wal-Mart and customers are all winners.

2． Logistics cost control

It is an important symbol to measure the management level of retail enterprises, and is also an important factor affecting the operating results of retail enterprises. Fast information feedback and an efficient logistics management system can greatly reduce product inventory, speed up capital turnover, and naturally reduce business costs. Wal-Mart also lags behind its peers in logistics management. Wal-Mart has established a powerful distribution center system. It has the largest private satellite communication system and the largest private transportation fleet in the United States. The computers in all branches are connected to the headquarters. The distribution center receives data from stores. It only takes 2 days for the order to be purchased and delivered to the manufacturer, while it takes 5 days for Kmart and Daggett, the other two large discount stores in the United States. Wal-Mart's logistics expense rate is more than 60% lower than the latter.

Improve its profitability by forcing suppliers to achieve the lowest cost, establish a contact system with suppliers, and assist suppliers in reducing product costs, such as supplier labor costs, production sites, inventory The control and management work is questioned and recorded, forcing them to carry out process reengineering and improve price-performance ratio, so that they stand on the same perspective as Wal-Mart and are committed to reducing product costs and its supply chain cost operations. In this way, Wal-Mart has achieved a complete low-price positioning and large-volume procurement of global marketable categories. 90% of its products are purchased directly from manufacturers and more than 35% of its own brand products have been formed, reducing distribution costs to 1% of total sales. 3 or less, forming an absolute advantage

3. Powerful distribution center and communication equipment provide technical support. Wal-Mart has the largest private satellite communication system and the largest private transportation fleet in the United States. The computers in all branches are connected to the headquarters. Generally, branches can receive goods from the distribution center within 24 to 48 hours of placing orders. Such fast information feedback and efficient inventory management greatly reduce inventory, speed up capital turnover, and naturally reduce costs.

4. Strictly control management expenses. Wal-Mart controls administrative expenses to the extreme. For example, purchase expenses are stipulated not to exceed 1% of the purchase amount. The administrative expenses of the entire company are 2% of the entire company's sales, while the industry average is 5%.

5. Reduce advertising costs. Wal-Mart also believes that maintaining low prices every day is the best advertisement, so Wal-Mart does not use too many promotional advertisements, but uses the saved advertising costs to launch lower-priced products to reward customers. Among its retail peers, Wal-Mart has the lowest advertising expenses but the largest sales.

Table 2 Wal-Mart’s level of cost control

Item Wal-Mart industry average level

Purchasing expenses (proportion of total product cost) 3 4.5～5

The proportion of supplies from the distribution center is 85 50~60

Replenishment time (the average time between the store placing an order and getting the replenishment) 2 days and 5 days

Administrative expenses (proportion of total sales) 2 5

Commodity loss rate 1.2 3～5

5. Adopt warehousing operation. Wal-Mart stores have simple decorations, and most of their products are packaged in large packages. At the same time, the store location will never be located in a busy commercial area with expensive rent.

6. Adopt a cooperative attitude with suppliers. Due to its huge purchase volume, Wal-Mart generally purchases goods directly from factories and maintains long-term cooperative relationships with suppliers. Through computer networking, information sharing is realized. Suppliers can understand Wal-Mart's sales and inventory status at the first time, and arrange production and transportation in a timely manner. Due to improved efficiency and reduced supplier costs, Wal-Mart can provide cheaper products to customers.

Under this cooperation model, suppliers, Wal-Mart and customers are all winners, killing three birds with one stone.

7. Other cost control Wal-Mart's cost control is reflected in every small link. In the offices of Wal-Mart’s managers at all levels, there are no expensive office supplies, furniture, carpets, or luxurious decorations. The company often encourages employees to try their best to come up with ideas to save money, and continuously rewards and promotes those who are good at loss control. , creative employees in product display and product promotion. Wal-Mart stores have simple decorations, and most of their products are packaged in large packages. At the same time, the store location will never be located in a busy commercial area with expensive rent. In addition, Wal-Mart tries to reduce advertising expenses as much as possible. They believe that maintaining "affordable prices every day" is the best advertising. Among its retail peers, Wal-Mart has the lowest advertising expenses but the largest sales. The following is some data comparing Wal-Mart's cost control with its peers, from which we can see the competitive advantage formed by the implementation of Wal-Mart's cost leadership strategy.

(2) Satisfactory service

There is such a slogan hanging in all Wal-Mart stores: "1. The customer is always right; 2. If the customer makes a mistake, please refer to the first Article. ”

In addition to outperforming its peers in cost control, Wal-Mart’s business secret lies in constantly understanding customers’ needs, putting themselves in their shoes, and providing customers with maximum convenience. Walton often said, "What's the secret to our success? It's that we want to exceed our customers' needs every hour of every day. If you imagine yourself as a customer, you want everything to be just the way you want it to be - in all varieties." , excellent quality, low product prices, warm and friendly services, convenient and flexible business hours, convenient parking conditions, etc.” Therefore, although Wal-Mart emerged in the retail industry with a warehouse-style operation,

its business methods determine. It is impossible to provide too many services, but they always regard super-class service as their supreme responsibility. Wal-Mart not only provides customers with high-quality and low-price products, but also provides meticulous

warm service. If customers come to the store to shop on a rainy day, store employees will pick them up into the store and put them in the car under umbrellas. Once, a customer went to Wal-Mart looking for a special paint, but the store was out of stock, so the clerk personally took the customer to the paint store opposite to buy it. Wal-Mart often says to its employees: "Let us treat customers with kindness and enthusiasm, just like entertaining guests at home, so that they feel that we are always caring about their needs."

Wal-Mart's customer satisfaction is not just What's more important is that he has a full-process management and control system to ensure customer satisfaction. Through this system, he can provide timely feedback from consumers to manufacturers and help manufacturers improve and perfect their products. In the past, commercial retail companies only acted as middlemen, passing goods from manufacturers to consumers, and in turn fed back consumers' opinions to manufacturers through phone calls or in writing. It may seem like there's nothing unique about Walmart, but the results vary widely. The reason is that Wal-Mart can participate in the production planning and control of upstream manufacturers, so it can quickly reflect consumers' opinions into production, rather than simply acting as a setter or telephone microphone. This is the depth of service that Chinese retailers should learn from. Focusing on supply chain management of commodity operations, services are the fundamental means to turn the supply chain into a value chain. This is the truth that Wal-Mart has left us.

Since customer service is an invisible soft job, which varies from person to person, the service provider will always affect the quality of the service due to various reasons such as mood and physical condition, as well as due to each Differences in personal qualities, experience, and training levels of individual service personnel result in differences in service levels. In order to eliminate differences in service levels, Wal-Mart established standardized service standards. These service standards are very specific and concise, never vague.

For example, employees of Wal-Mart stores in the United States are required to swear an oath: "I promise to smile and look directly into the eyes of customers within three meters (10 feet) to express welcome.

"During employee training, the company even requires employees to smile with a row of eight teeth exposed from top to bottom. Wal-Mart warned employees who entered the store on the first day: "Customers come to the store and they pay our wages. No matter what, we must treat customers well, always try our best to help customers, and always go to customers and ask them if they need help. ”

Wal-Mart also declared: “We strive to ensure that every product will satisfy you. If you are not satisfied, you can return it within one month and get back the full payment. "The reason why Wal-Mart does this is not only because it tries to purchase brand-name and high-quality products while maintaining price parity, and the product quality is guaranteed, but more importantly, it believes that the cost of regaining a customer is higher than retaining an existing customer. Five times more, so Wal-Mart would rather take back an unsatisfied item than lose an unsatisfied customer

Customer convenience is a basic feature of Wal-Mart stores, no matter where they are. Design, shelf design, product display, environmental structure, etc. are the secrets to his success in pleasing customers. Let's look at Wal-Mart's approach:

★Free parking. For example, the Wal-Mart store in Shenzhen has a business area of ??more than 12,000 square meters. meters, there are nearly 400 free parking spaces, and another Wal-Mart shopping plaza with a business area of ??more than 17,800 square meters also has about 150 parking spaces.

★Wal-Mart has moved its pastry shop into the mall. There is a "Sam Lounge" where all the delicious food and fresh pastries allow customers to enjoy leisurely after shopping.

★ Free consultation is provided in the store to provide customers with free computer consultation. Information about cameras, video recorders and related supplies can help reduce the risk of blind purchases.

★Business Center. The store has a document processing business center that can provide customers with color document production, Multiple services including photocopying, enlargement and reduction of engineering drawings, and high-speed printing.

★Delivery service. For purchases of 2,000 yuan or more, Walmart can provide delivery services within the designated range. Cheap cost? Because delivery costs are not included in the product price.

★Opening to rural areas. In choosing store locations, Wal-Mart also considers convenience for customers to shop. In the United States, its reach. From Minnesota to Mississippi, from Southern California to Oklahoma, Wal-Mart has opened stores wherever there is a shortage of cheap stores. /p>

★Benefits customers. Wal-Mart has always attached great importance to price competition and has long pursued the business policy of small profits but quick turnover.

★Striving for low purchase prices, Wal-Mart avoids all intermediate links and directly sells products. The factory purchases goods, and its strong economic strength gives it strong bargaining power. More importantly, Wal-Mart does not wantonly harm its suppliers to increase its own profits because of its large scale and strength. Instead, it attaches great importance to establishing friendly rapport with suppliers. Collaborative relationships protect the interests of suppliers. The discounts Wal-Mart gives to suppliers far exceed those of its peers. Kmart, the third largest retailer in the United States, pays for goods supplied in an average of 29 days, which greatly motivates the industry. It increases the enthusiasm of suppliers to establish business with Wal-Mart, thereby ensuring the best purchasing price for Wal-Mart's products.

Wal-Mart's concept of customer convenience does not just stop at labels and slogans, it goes deep into business services. in action. The aisles and lighting in Wal-Mart stores are designed to make customers more comfortable; the greeters at the store entrance are more proactive and enthusiastic than other counterparts; cashiers always work standing to show respect for customers; when any customer is 3 meters away from the salesperson , the salesperson must face the customer, smile, say hello, and ask, "Is there anything I can do for you?" Wal-Mart strives to make customers feel that "this is our store" in every chain store, and they will receive "diligence and sincerity." reception" to ensure that "customer needs are met without compromise." It is every bit of "putting customers first in everything" that has won Wal-Mart the favor and trust of customers.

It is this kind of business strategy that always puts customer needs first, treats customers well, and creates value for customers in terms of price. This has enabled Wal-Mart to win the trust of its customers, which has resulted in huge returns. "The customer is always right." This admonition from Mr. Walton to his colleagues has been passed down to this day and has been playing an immeasurable role in the prosperity of Wal-Mart. `

2. Walmart's corporate culture

Quote: Three Basic Beliefs Respect for the Individual

Including: first name, equal opportunity, servant leadership, information sharing,

Open door, grassroots investigation, accept differences, colleagues participate in serving customers, Customer Service, Strive for Excellence

Includes: Honesty, Integrity, Loss Control, Expenditure Control, Idea King, Promotion and Transfer, Evaluation, Training

Walmart has grown from a small grocery store in a rural town to a large multinational retail empire that ranks among the top 500 companies in the world. There are many factors that influence it. But among them, the role played by the unique and rich corporate culture advocated by Sam and developed through decades of practice is immeasurable. Wal-Mart's unique corporate culture mainly includes the following points.

(1) The tradition of attaching importance to the construction of corporate culture is the guarantee of creating glory

Although Wal-Mart has only a history of more than 50 years, it has always attached great importance to the role of corporate culture and given full play to the role of corporate culture. Culture promotes and guarantees the formation of good corporate mechanisms and enhances the cohesion and combat effectiveness of the company. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, formulated three mottos for the company: "Customer is God", "Respect every employee", and "Pursue excellence every day." This can also be said to be the essence of Wal-Mart's corporate culture.

In order to provide consumers with high-quality and low-priced goods, Wal-Mart not only strives to reduce operating expenses and benefit consumers through chain operation organizational forms and high-tech management methods, but also does everything possible to save money in all aspects. expenditure.

Wal-Mart attaches great importance to the spiritual encouragement of employees. Photos of advanced employees are hung in the windows of the headquarters and various stores. Each store has arranged some retired employees, wearing Wal-Mart work clothes and Wal-Mart logos, to stand at the door of the store to greet customers. From time to time, curious customers take photos with them. This not only serves as a security guard, but also provides spiritual comfort to older employees. The company also awards the title of "Sam Walton Entrepreneur" to particularly outstanding managers. The company has compiled a set of slogans starting with each letter of Wal-Mart, which encourages employees to strive for first place at all times. Every time the company holds a general meeting of shareholders, a meeting of regional managers and other important meetings, and before each store opens for business every day, everyone must chant these slogans with actions to boost the spirit and encourage the country.

(2) Put forward the corporate slogan "Employees are partners"

Sam attaches great importance to the role of people. He said: "These high-tech equipment cannot be managed without our proper management." People, and employees who work hard for the entire system are completely worthless." He has been committed to building partnerships with employees and uniting Wal-Mart's 400,000 employees to put the overall interests above personal interests. *** Work together to drive Wal-Mart forward.

Sam's policy that concretely implements the concept of "employees are partners" is three plans: profit sharing plan, employee stock purchase plan, and loss bonus plan.

In 1971, Sam began to implement the first plan, ensuring that every employee who had worked for Wal-Mart for more than one year and worked at least 1,000 hours per year was eligible to share the company's profits.

Sam used a formula related to profit growth to contribute a certain percentage of each qualified employee's salary to the plan. When employees leave the company, they can withdraw this share either in cash or in the form of Wal-Mart stock. The employee stock purchase plan allows employees to purchase stocks at a price 15% lower than the market value through salary deductions. Currently, more than 80 employees of Wal-Mart own Wal-Mart stock through these two plans, while the other 20 Employees are basically not eligible to participate in profit sharing. The purpose of the loss bonus plan is to control theft by sharing with employees the company's profits from reducing losses. Loss, or theft, is the enemy of the retail industry, and Sam rewards stores that effectively control loss, reducing Wal-Mart's loss rate to half the retail industry average.

(3) Wal-Mart culture full of vigor and vitality

"Sam can be called the greatest entrepreneur of this century. The Wal-Mart corporate culture he established is the key to success for all The key is that no one can match it." - Harry Cunningham, founder of the American Kmart chain, commented on his competitor Sam Walton.

No matter you go to any Wal-Mart chain store around the world, you will feel a strong shock. This is the corporate culture that has been formed over a long period of time and is the spirit of Wal-Mart—diligence, thrift, activity, and innovation. Because of this, every company colleague loves Wal-Mart and quietly contributes to the cause of customer service.

For a long time, Wal-Mart's corporate culture has closely united Wal-Mart's colleagues, who are full of vigor, unity and friendship. The following is Wal-Mart's unique cheering slogan, from which we can feel a strong sense of honor and responsibility.

"Come on a W! Come on on an M! We are Wal-Mart! Come on an A! Come on an A! Customer first Wal-Mart! Come on an L! Come on an R! Wal-Mart with affordable prices every day! Let’s stamp our feet! Come on A T! Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart! Hoo-ho-ho! ”

Walmart employees always try to make life interesting and full of surprises, and they often do crazy things to attract the attention of their colleagues. Make it fun for customers and colleagues. Sam Walton is a typical example. He once promised that if the company's performance improved, he would wear a grass skirt and Hawaiian shirt and dance hula on Wall Street. The company's turnover did exceed his expectations that year, so he really danced a cheerful hula on Wall Street, the financial capital of the United States, and was widely exposed by the press at the time. The company's vice chairman once wore pink pantyhose and a blond wig and rode a white horse through downtown Bentevilla.

Although some people think that Wal-Mart has a group of crazy people, those who understand Wal-Mart's culture will understand that its purpose is to encourage people to break away from stereotypes and monotonous lives and strive to innovate. "To make work more interesting." This is Sam Walton's "Whistle to Work" philosophy.

Through these interesting games, not only do Wal-Mart employees and leaders become more friendly and interesting, but they are also the best means of promoting the company and promotions. Wal-Mart's corporate culture was gradually formed when it was developing in a small town. As the company grows, Wal-Mart still does not forget to encourage people to create a happy atmosphere in its stores and jointly add joy to life in the community. Develop a sense of teamwork, even if it sometimes has nothing to do with publicity and promotional merchandise.

(4) The unique “Saturday Meeting”

Wal-Mart’s “Saturday Meeting” best reflects its corporate culture. Every Saturday at 7:30 in the morning, nearly a thousand people from the company's senior executives, branch managers and colleagues at all levels gather together. The company's president leads them to shout slogans, and then everyone talks freely and brainstorms on the company's business philosophy and management strategies. Employees who have made outstanding achievements will also be invited to the Bentevilla headquarters and praised in public. This weekly morning meeting is regarded as the core of Wal-Mart's corporate culture.

Everyone who participated in the meeting was smiling. In the relaxed atmosphere, the distance between each other was shortened. Communication was no longer difficult. Colleagues at all levels of the company also learned about the latest progress of each branch and department.

In the Saturday morning meeting, participants usually spend some time talking about some innovative ideas that seem impossible to achieve. People will not reject these ideas immediately, but first think carefully about how to make them impossible. What is possible becomes possible. Al Myers, a company executive, said: "The real value of the Saturday morning meeting is its unpredictability."

Once, an assistant at the Oneanta, Albama, branch The manager had a problem when ordering and ordered four or five times more moon cakes. In order to sell all the moon cakes before they spoiled, he came up with the idea of ??a moon cake eating competition. This idea not only enabled the assistant manager to achieve his goal, but also made up for it. From then on, Wal-Mart held this competition in the parking lot of the Oneanta branch every year on the second Saturday of October, attracting many customers from other states. By attending and watching, and even being interviewed by news media, Wal-Mart became even more famous.

Wal-Mart's annual shareholder meeting is also lively and interesting, a bit like an expanded Saturday meeting. When Wal-Mart went public, they had Wall Street analysts and shareholders rafting on streams and camping on lakes. Later, the Wal-Mart shareholders meeting became the largest shareholder meeting in the world, with approximately 10,000 people attending each year.

The unique corporate culture makes every employee feel like a family. Striving for the same goal enables Wal-Mart to maintain strong competitiveness and strong fighting spirit. The establishment of this corporate culture fully demonstrates Walton's art of leading networks.

(5) Training, frequent training

In their continuous exploration, Wal-Mart's operators have realized the importance of talents to the success of the enterprise. If you want to grow, you have to bring in educated talent and give them opportunities for further training.

Wal-Mart regards how to cultivate talents, introduce talents, and train and place existing talents as a top priority. Mr. Walton and his wife Helen specially established Walton College at the University of Arkansas to give some managers who did not have the opportunity to receive higher education in their early years an opportunity to recharge their education. Walmart develops training and development programs for employees to better understand their job responsibilities and encourage them to face challenges at work.

The company provides horizontal training and internship management training to qualified employees. Horizontal training is a long-term plan. Wal-Mart attaches great importance to employees with special performance in work attitude and work ability, and they will be selected to participate in horizontal training. For example, cashiers have the opportunity to participate in training from cashier supervisors. In order to give employees with leadership potential the opportunity to join leadership positions, Walmart has also set up management training courses, and qualified employees are sent to other departments to receive business and management training.

In addition, Wal-Mart has also strengthened communication between the company and employees through training. Training is not only a way for employees to improve, but also a way for them to learn about the company. Wal-Mart has set up a training library to give employees the opportunity to learn about company information and other departments. After all employees enter Wal-Mart, after receiving on-the-job training, they will have a better understanding of the company's background, welfare system, rules and regulations, etc. Walton, an outstanding leader, has always believed that employees are the driving force behind corporate development, and has taught this truth to current and future Wal-Mart operators and extended it to Wal-Marts around the world.

3. Walmart's Human Resources

Walmart is the world's largest retail company. In 1962, the founder of Wal-Mart, Mr. Sam Wal-Mart, started from scratch and invested in and operated the first Wal-Mart discount store in the small town of Bentonville, Arkansas, USA. The store name was WAL-MART, and the business philosophy was "lowest price, satisfaction guaranteed". idea.

In the 1970s, Wal-Mart grew into the largest regional retail company in the United States. In the 1980s, it developed into the largest discount chain company in the United States, with annual sales increasing at a rate of 40%. By November 1990, Wal-Mart surpassed KMART (KMART), which had been the leader in the U.S. discount department store industry for ten years, and became the number one retail company in the United States by sales. In 1991, it surpassed SEARS, the old department store leader that had been ranked first in the United States since World War II, and ranked first in the U.S. retail industry. After that, it continued to grow, and in the 1990s it once again ranked first in retail sales in the United States and the world. 2002 was Wal-Mart's most glorious year since its inception. In the 2001 ranking of the world's top 500 companies published by Fortune magazine, Wal-Mart won the top spot among companies in the United States and even the world with total revenue of US$219.812 billion.

So what enabled Wal-Mart to defeat all the giants in the industry in just 30 years and create such a glorious miracle in the history of the world's retail industry? Competition in the retail industry is ultimately a competition for talents. Walmart's most unique strength is the dedication and teamwork of its employees. Sam Wal-Mart and his successors have repeatedly emphasized the importance of people to Wal-Mart, and employees are regarded as the company's greatest wealth. Wal-Mart's human resources strategy can be summarized in three sentences: retain talents, develop talents, and absorb talents.