The Success Story of Sam Walton — Things to Know About Wal Mart and Entrepreneurship

Sam Walton (March 29, 1918 — April 5, 1992) was a renowned American businessman & entrepreneur, born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He was familiar with setting up the world’s leading merchandising market — Walmart and Sam’s Club.

· The first compelling Wal-Mart store was instigated on July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas was known as the Wal-Mart Discount City store.

· He ushered in a determined effort to market American-made products. Included in the effort was a willingness to find American manufacturers who could bestow merchandise for the entire Wal-Mart chain at a low-priced rate to contest against the market of foreign retail.

· He told, “I realize we have been through something amazing here at Wal-Mart, something special that we ought to share more of with all the folks who’ve been so loyal to our stores and to our company.”

· The Wal-Mart story is unique: Because that’s how Wal-Mart became Wal-Mart: ordinary people joined together to accomplish extraordinary things.

· Success has always had its price, and in October 1985 Forbes magazine named Sam Walton the “richest man in America.” But some of his attitudes about money — up to a point was that ”our finances- are like those of any other normal-thinking American family — are nobody’s business but our own.

· He learned from a very early age that it was important to help provide for the home i.e. to be contributors rather than just takers.

· From day one of Wal-Mart, Mr Walton made it clear that this wasn’t just Ben Franklin with low prices on some items. He wanted real discounting.

· Sam’s success took off & he started thinking about opening a discount store. His intent was to keep prices as low as possible on key items such as health and beauty products to really push his low budget objective to the customers and give them a great deal.

· Although the profit margins per item were not as good as traditional retail, the rise in overall sales assisted to make the concept a popular idea.

· Walton knew the formula was working even in the smaller towns with a population of 5,000 people, and there were plenty of those towns out there to expand into.

Exceed your customer’s expectations. If you do, they’ll come back over and over. Give them what they want — and a little more.

- Sam Walton

· When people want to simplify the Wal-Mart story, that’s usually how they sum up the secret of their success: “Oh, they went into small towns when nobody else would.”

· His mind works ten times faster than everybody else’s. He just gets going and stays two or three jumps ahead, and he’s quick to go with what’s on his mind.

· “Sam’s establishment of the Walton culture throughout the company was the key to the whole thing. It’s just incomparable. He was the greatest businessman of that century.”

Sam Walton as a Contributor

· Sam Walton understands better than anyone else that no business can exist without customers.

· He lives by his credo, which is to make the customer the centerpiece of all his efforts.

· And in the process of serving Wal-Mart’s customers to perfection (not quite perfection, he would say), he also serves Wal-Mart’s associates, its shareowners, its communities, and the rest of its stakeholders in an extraordinary fashion — almost without parallel in American business.

· The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want.

· And really, if you think about it from your point of view as a customer, you want everything:

§ A wide assortment of good quality merchandise;

§ The lowest possible prices;

§ Guaranteed satisfaction with what you buy;

§ Friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; free parking;

§ A pleasant shopping experience.

· The Wal-Mart story is just another chapter in that history of the competition — a great chapter, mind you — but it’s all part of the evolution of the industry.

· There’s always a challenger coming along. There may be one on

the street right now formulating a plan to get to the top.

· To stay ahead of those challenges, we have to keep changing and looking back over our shoulder and planning ahead.

Sam’s Rules for building a successful business

Ø RULE 1: COMMIT to your business.

Ø RULE 2: SHARE your profits

Ø RULE 3: MOTIVATE your partners

Ø RULE 4: COMMUNICATE

Ø RULE 5: APPRECIATE

Ø RULE 6: CELEBRATE

Ø RULE 7: LISTEN to everyone

Ø RULE 8: EXCEED your customers’ expectations.

Ø RULE 9: CONTROL your expenses

Ø RULE 10: SWIM upstream.

By keeping his personal business ethics, principles, & philosophies in place throughout the development of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton has made the count store what it is today.