What Are The Factors That Affect Walmart's Merchandising Strategy

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It is impossible for Wal-Mart to translate its merchandising strategy wholesale to another country and succeed. One of the reasons is that Wal-Mart's merchandising strategies were meant for adaptation to the United States market. The strategies are in line with the American culture. However, the same strategies may not work in another country. There are several factors in different countries that can affect the success of a foreign company in a nation. One such factor is the law of the country. Another country might have some laws not found in the United States that can affect Wal-Mart's merchandising strategies. For example in Germany, there is the Store Closing Law (Lyons 9). The regulation limits the number of hours and days that a store …show more content…

Culture is important as it affects the way consumers shop. In China and most Asian countries, consumers have the culture of buying fresh produce such as crabs and fish from aquariums. Wal-Mart, on its part, usually stores refrigerated merchandise (Fong 84). The company would have to change its merchandising strategy to fit that of the nations' cultures if it is to succeed in the market. Wal-Mart also needs to assess the buying and consumption habits of consumers in the intended markets critically. In the United States, buyers prefer discounted and low-priced products. Wal-Mart has consequently adopted the low pricing strategy as part of its merchandising model. However, the approach will not work in countries like Germany, Britain and South Korea where buyers prefer high quality and priced goods (Lyons 9). Wal-Mart would have to tailor its strategy to fit the context of the intended market. Another factor that will impede the success of Wal-Mart in implementing its merchandising strategy is the level of income of consumers in the intended market. In some countries, the consumers might earn less income compared to the American consumers. Wal-Mart's low pricing strategy would, therefore, be effective in such cases. An example of such a country is Mexico. However, in countries like South Korea where the income levels of consumers are slightly more than those of the American customers, Wal-Mart's strategy would not work as these users would prefer high priced goods (Lyons

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