Marketing Plan for Walmart: Utilizing the SOSTAC Model for Growth

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INDIVIDUAL MARKETING PLAN
WALMART

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Walmart is a major player in the retail industry and faces extensive competition from other
global players such as Amazon, Costco Wholesale and eBay among others. This increased
completion in the retail industry has compelled Walmart to establish a marketing plan and
develop strategies which would be aimed at protecting the business from external and
internal threats and ensuring the overall success of the organization. The marketing plan is
being defined for Walmart using the SOSTAC model. By establishing a marketing plan for
Walmart using this model, it can be ensured that the company generates value for its
stakeholders.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................. 1
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................3
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS............................................................................................................4
MARKET ANALYSIS................................................................................................................4
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS........................................................................................................5
COMPANY ANALYSIS............................................................................................................ 7
STRATEGY.................................................................................................................................7
STP........................................................................................................................................7
SMART OBJECTIVES.............................................................................................................. 8
STRATEGY.............................................................................................................................8
TACTICS.................................................................................................................................... 9
ANSOFF MATRIX...................................................................................................................9
7P’S OF THE MARKETING MIX..................................................................................10
ACTIONS................................................................................................................................. 12
CONTROL................................................................................................................................ 12
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 13
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 14

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INTRODUCTION
Walmart is one of the largest global retailers both in terms of the number of employees and
revenue. The company operates a chain of discount department stores, grocery stores and
hypermarkets all across the globe. The company was established in 1962 and has expanded
tremendously. The company currently serves approximately 26 billion customers by way of
its established 11000 stores in 28 countries. The company is also listed on the new york
stock exchange.
This assignment has been focused on developing the marketing plan for Walmart by using
the SOSTAC model. This model was introduced by PR Smith and focuses on six fundamental
facets of marketing namely the situation, strategy, objectives, action, tactics and control
(Chaffey, 2016). By applying this model, the current market position of Walmart could be
explained and the marketing strategy for the upcoming period could be formulated.
Figure 1 SOSTAC planning system
(Source: Chaffey, 2016)

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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
The first step of establishing a marketing plan is undertaking the situational analysis. This
helps in analysing the external and environmental factors affecting the business
organization.
MARKET ANALYSIS
The external market of Walmart would comprise of the factors which would be essential in
determining the success of the organization. The market analysis of Walmart can be
performed by using the PESTLE analysis. As a leader within the retail industry, it is required
by Walmart to determine the threats existing within the external market environment. By
undertaking the market analysis, the managers at Walmart could prioritize the factors to be
considered in the development of strategies.
POLITICAL FACTORS ECONOMIC FACTORS
 Increased political stability
 Increase in political pressure for
providing higher wages to
employees
 Increasing government policies
promoting globalization of
businesses
 Many developing economies are also
stabilizing, providing more business
opportunities
 The decreasing rate of
unemployment, specifically in the
United States
SOCIAL FACTORS TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS
 Adoption of cultural diversity
 An increasing trend of healthy
lifestyle
 Increase in automation of business
processes
 The increasing use of big data and
business analytics
 Increased adoption of mobile devices
by customers for shopping (Reuer,
2019).
LEGAL FACTORS ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
 Introduction of the food safety
regulations
 Increased trend of adopting the
sustainability measures by companies

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 Reforms in tax laws of the countries
 Stringent employment regulations
 Increasing adoption of the
environment-friendly products by the
customers
This analysis of Walmart depicts that the organization has significantly more opportunities
from which it can take benefits as compared to the threats in the macro environment. This
analysis has presented that Walmart has significant opportunities and the market is
supporting the growth of the retail industry and the players of the retail industry. However,
the organization must also take proactive measures for dealing with the threats existing in
the business environment (Calcaterra et al., 2016). After the PESTLE analysis, it can be
recommended to Walmart that it must focus on improving the HR practices, making more
investments towards the up gradation of existing technologies used and expand the
business operations globally while focusing on the quality consistency of products.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Walmart functions as a part of the retail industry, where competitive rivalry is very high.
Also, the retail services have reached the stage of saturation (Rothaermel, 2015). The
competitive analysis of Walmart can be performed by using the Porters 5 forces analysis:
Competitive rivalry – Strong  Existence of many firms in the
retail industry
 Very high aggressiveness shown by
the retail firms
 Existence of many types of retail
firms including both brick and
mortar stores and online retail
websites (Greenspan, 2015).
Bargaining power of buyers – Weak  Existence of a very large number of
buyers within the market
 The individual purchases are of very
small value for the company
 The needs and demand of the

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customers are very diverse.
Bargaining power of suppliers – Weak  Existence of a large number of
suppliers in the market
 High competition for products and
prices among customers
 Many suppliers for the same
products
Threat of substitutes – Weak  Being in the retail industry, the exact
substitutes of the products are
moderately available.
 The substitutes are available at a
higher price as compared to that of
Walmart (Lüttgens and Diener, 2016).
Threat of new entrants – Strong  Higher costs involved in developing
the brand image
 Lower cost of business operations
 Moderate capital requirements for
the company.
The strategic planning of Walmart should be focused on prioritizing the new entry and
competition within the retail industry. It is required by Walmart to focus continuously on
the improvement of existing capabilities for sustaining its competitive advantages. It can be
said that the company must focus on the overall improvement of efficiency by making
substantial investments in the process automation. The company must also take steps
aimed at improving the human resource management of the organization. This would be
beneficial in ensuring the competency of the workforce and therefore, supporting the
business growth. All these measures would be helpful in dealing efficiently with the issues
identifies above in the porters five forces analysis.

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COMPANY ANALYSIS
The analysis of Walmart can be performed by SWOT analysis.
STRENGTHS WEAKNESS
 Core competency in using
information technology for the
logistics system
 Well-developed strategy for human
resource development
 Strategic alliances for global
expansion (Hunt et al., 2018)
 Little differentiation of products due
to low-cost strategies
 Labour related lawsuits are leading to
negative publicity for the
organization
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 Enter mergers or strategic alliances
with global retailers all across the
globe to focus on specific markets
(Sims, 2018)
 Expanding consumer markets by
entering new geographic areas
 Increasing competition at local and
international level from traditional
and online stores
 Increasing prices of the raw materials
would have an impact on the low-
cost strategy
After the SWOT analysis, it can be said that Walmart must take measures which would be
helpful in utilizing the available opportunities and thus, overcoming the weaknesses of the
organization. By entering into strategic alliances with regional players and retailers of the
global market, Walmart can easily beat the competition at the regional level. Also, the
strengths possessed by Walmart must be used efficiently for ensuring that the weaknesses
can be overcome and that the marketing objectives can be accomplished.

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STRATEGY
SEGMENTATION TARGETING POSITIONING
Walmart has used demographic and psychographic segmentation strategies for
understanding the needs of the customers. Walmart aims at understanding the psyche of
customers for providing the customers with everyday goods at the lowest prices.
Walmart has also used undifferentiated targeting strategies for capturing the global market
(Avelar-Sosa et al., 2019). Walmart considers everyone as prospective customers and
therefore uses differentiation is prices for the products. With the objective of capturing the
overall market, the low pricing strategies have been adopted.
Walmart has been positioned as the provider of goods at the lowest possible prices.
Advantages are being gained by the company in terms of pricing for remaining competitive
within the market (Walmart, 2018). With this low pricing strategy, Walmart has also been
able to overcome competition from small local retailers.
SMART OBJECTIVES
It is very essential to turn the strategies into definite objectives. By establishing objectives,
Walmart can ensure that the strategy is being efficiently implemented for obtaining the
desired results. The objectives for Walmart are being established using the SMART acronym
(MacLeod, 2012). This is being done as the smart objectives help in ensuring that realistic
and measurable goals are being established which would guide in achieving the marketing
objectives. The smart objectives which are being established for Walmart are as under:
 To achieve market leadership in both the brick and mortar stores and online retail
transactions within a period of five years by offering products at the lowest possible
prices (Every day low prices objective).
 To indulge in large scale imports of commodities at lower prices within a period of
three years from countries such as China.
STRATEGY
Micheal Porter has described the generic strategies for describing the methods used by
organizations to gain competitive advantage within the market. Walmart has implemented
the cost leadership strategy. This low cost of products helps the organization to compete

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within the industry. For any retail business, the low prices are the major selling point which
could be achieved by maintaining low costs (Walmart, 2018). Walmart has been successful
in keeping the low prices of goods by bringing in automation, which helps in keeping the
expenses on human resources at a minimum. This cost leadership strategy of Walmart also
includes lower product differentiation. For ensuring success in this strategy, the company
has implemented management approaches and intensive growth strategies which have
helped in reducing the costs (Mun and Yazdanifard, 2012).
TACTICS
Tactics are the specific tools which would guide Walmart for the realization of the objective
of marketing plan established for Walmart. As a part of defining Tactics, the Ansoff matrix
and the 7 P's of the marketing mix are being used.
ANSOFF MATRIX
The growth strategies of Walmart could be analysed by using Ansoff's matrix:
Source: Dawes, 2018.
Market penetration
This is the primary strategy of Walmart. Walmart focuses on selling goods in huge volumes
in the current market by providing discounts and offers. The company is also focusing on the
enhancement of online presence for improving the access of customer’s for selling products.
The strategic objective of this strategy is to increase the global market share of Walmart in
the retail industry. This strategy is applied by use of low prices selling point, achieved by
cost leadership strategy.

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Market development
Walmart must focus on offering the existing products of the company in the new markets by
opening stores in countries where Walmart is not present (Walmart, 2018). This is done
with the strategic objective of establishing the presence in new markets. This strategy is
supported by cost leadership strategy as the lower prices of products attract customers in
new markets.
Diversification
Walmart focuses on retail operations. Therefore, it has adopted significantly less
diversification strategies. However, Walmart can focus on using the intensive growth
strategies for acquiring companies which can be integrated into the existing operations of
Walmart.
Product development
Walmart makes minimum investments in launching new products within the existing
markets. However, the company invests in the research and development activities for
improving the existing products (Walmart, 2018). The cost differentiation strategy requires
that the organization must not implement huge costs processes.
7P’S OF THE MARKETING MIX
PRODUCT
The retail services provided by Walmart are referred to as the products of the organization.
The customers are attracted to the firm due to its capabilities of providing convenient
services. The Walmart achieves convenience owing to the huge variety of products available
at stores (Tucker et al., 2018). Therefore, it can be said that the product component of
Walmart helps in defining the customer experience.
PRICE
The pricing strategy used by Walmart is every day low prices. This pricing strategy has been
adopted with the objective of attracting a larger number of customers towards the business
organization. This strategy is also in line with the business strategy of cost leadership.

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Despite the low cost and low prices, the organization is able to achieve huge profits owing
to the sales in huge volumes undertaken by the company (Nayak and Patil, 2015). Thus, it
can be said that the pricing strategy contributes significantly to ensuring the
competitiveness of Walmart.
PROMOTION
Walmart has adopted a wide range of promotional strategies comprising of the sales
promotions, advertisements, public relations and personal selling. The promotion activities
help the organization in improving the ability of the organization in attracting a larger
number of customers to the store and building the brand recall (Putrevu et al., 2016). The
advertisements are being made by the company on websites and newspapers and also sales
promotion technique such as discounts are being used by Walmart.
PLACE
Intensive distribution strategies are being used by Walmart as a place strategy. By this
strategy, Walmart ensures that similar products are being supplied at all the Walmart stores
and the employees at each store are delegated with the same roles and responsibilities. The
company also focuses on establishing more stores which would help in ensuring that
shopping is made convenient for customers in terms of convenience.
PEOPLE
Walmart employees more than 2 million people worldwide and provide them with the
required and appropriate training. Walmart also has a huge customer base of more than
200 million customers (Winn, 2018). The organization assumes employees as assets for their
company as they handle customer queries at the stores.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Walmart has established more than 11000 stores all across the globe, which can be seen as
its physical evidence. Walmart should focus on expanding its stores further in countries
where it has currently not been established (Harper et al., 2017).
PROCESS