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 J. C. Penney Company, Inc., commonly known as JCPenney (stylized as jcp and jcpenney) and formerly known as Penneys, is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and previously operated a catalog business and several discount outlets.[3] In addition to selling conventional merchandise, JCPenney stores often house several leased departments such as Sephora, Seattle's Best Coffee, optical centers, portrait studios, and jewelry repair.
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J. C. Penney Company, Inc., commonly known as JCPenney (stylized as jcp and jcpenney) and formerly known as Penneys, is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and previously operated a catalog business and several discount outlets.[3] In addition to selling conventional merchandise, JCPenney stores often house several leased departments such as Sephora, Seattle's Best Coffee, optical centers, portrait studios, and jewelry repair.

Most JCPenney stores are located in suburban shopping malls. Before 1966, most of its stores were located in downtown areas. As shopping malls became more popular in the latter half of the 20th century, JCPenney followed the trend by relocating and developing stores to anchor the malls. In more recent years, the chain has continued to follow consumer traffic, echoing the retailing trend of opening some standalone stores, including some next door to competitors. Certain stores are located in power centers. The company has been an Internet retailer since 1998. It has streamlined its catalog and distribution while undergoing renovation improvements at store level.
Contents

    1 History
        1.1 Incorporation
        1.2 1960s
        1.3 1970s
        1.4 1980s
        1.5 1990s
        1.6 2000s
        1.7 2010s
    2 Internet store
    3 Logo
    4 See also
    5 References
    6 External links

History
Incorporation
J.C. Penney mother store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

James Cash Penney began his career in retail management when he opened The Golden Rule store, a partnership with Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, on April 14, 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming. He participated in the creation of two more stores, and purchased full interest in all three locations when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907. In 1909, Penney moved his company headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to banks and railroads. By 1912, Penney had 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States. In 1913, all stores were consolidated under the J.C. Penney banner. The so-called "mother store", in Kemmerer, opened as the chain's second location in 1904. It still operates, as of 2011, albeit with hours shorter than many of its other store locations.

In 1913, the company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company, with William Henry McManus as a co-founder. In 1914, the headquarters was moved to New York City to simplify the buying, financing, and transportation of goods. Around this time, Bert J. Niver joined the company as a junior partner. By 1917, the company operated 175 stores in 22 states in the United States.[4] J. C. Penney acquired The Crescent Corset Company in 1920, the company's first wholly owned subsidiary. In 1922, the company's oldest active private brand, Big Mac work clothes, was launched. The company opened its 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney's hometown. By the opening of the 1,000th store in 1928, gross business had reached $190,000,000.

In 1940, Sam Walton began working at a J. C. Penney in Des Moines, Iowa. Walton later went on to found future retailer Wal-Mart in 1962.[5] By 1941, J.C. Penney operated 1,600 stores in all 48 states. In 1956, J. C. Penney started national advertising with a series of advertisements in Life magazine. J. C. Penney credit cards were issued and accepted at its stores for the first time in 1959.
1960s

In 1962, J. C. Penney entered discount merchandising with the acquisition of General Merchandise Company which gave them The Treasury stores. These discount operations proved unsuccessful and were shuttered in 1981. In 1963, J. C. Penney issued its first catalog. The company operated in-store catalog desks in eight states. The catalogs were distributed by the Milwaukee Catalog distribution center.

The company dedicated its first full-line, shopping center department store in 1961. This store was located at Black Horse Pike Center, in Audubon, New Jersey. The second full line shopping center store was dedicated, at King of Prussia Plaza, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania in late 1962. Those stores broadened the lines of merchandise and services that a typical J. C. Penney carried to include appliances, sporting goods, garden merchandise, restaurants, beauty salons, portrait studios, auto parts and auto centers.
The Penney Building in Anchorage in 1964, following the earthquake.

J. C. Penney expanded to include Alaska and Hawaii in the 1960s. The company opened stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska in 1962. The Penney Building in Anchorage partially collapsed and was damaged beyond repair in the 1964 Alaska earthquake.[6][7] The company rebuilt the store as a shorter building on a larger footprint, and followed up by building Anchorage's first public parking garage, which opened in 1968.[8] In 1966, J. C. Penney "finished" its national expansion with the opening of its Honolulu, Hawaii store, at Ala Moana Center (all Hawaii stores were closed in 2003). The Penney store at Plaza Las Américas mall in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which opened in 1968, featured three levels and 261,500 square feet (24,290 m2). It was the world's largest J. C. Penney, until a 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m2) store was dedicated at Greater Chicago's Woodfield Mall in 1971. The Woodfield Mall store served as the largest in the chain until a replacement store opened at Plaza Las Américas in 1998, which is 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) in size.
A J.C. Penney located at the Palm Beach Mall, opened in 1967 located in West Palm Beach, Florida

In 1969, the company acquired Thrift Drug, a chain of drugstores headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It also acquired Supermarkets Interstate, an Omaha-based food retailer which operated leased departments in J. C. Penney stores, The Treasury stores, and Thrift Drug stores.
1970s

On February 12, 1971, James Cash Penney died at the age of 95. Out of respect for his death, the company's stores were closed for half a day.[citation needed] That year, the company's revenues reached $5 billion for the first time and catalog business made a profit for the first time.[9]

The first "JCPenney" logo was adopted in the summer of 1970, taking nearly a decade to roll out chainwide.[citation needed]

JCPenney reached its peak number of stores in 1973, with 2,053 stores, 300 of which were full-line establishments.[9] However, the company was hard hit by the 1974 recession with its stock price declining by two-thirds.[9] In 1977, J. C. Penney sold its stores in Italy to La Rinascente and also removed its Supermarkets Interstate leased departments. In 1980, The company closed the Treasury discount stores because they were unprofitable and decided to focus resources on its core retail stores.[9]

In 1978, the J. C. Penney Historic District in Kemmerer, Wyoming, was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark. In 1979, the Visa card began to be accepted in JCPenney stores. MasterCard was accepted the following year.[9]
1980s
JCPenney in Aventura Mall in Aventura, Florida.
JC Penney was a major online retailer on Viewtron during the 1980s

In 1983, JCPenney phased out its hardware and auto departments, and also sold its auto repair shops to Firestone. Also in 1983, JCPenney began selling online through the Viewtron videotex service. In 1984, JCPenney acquired the First National Bank of Harrington, Delaware and renamed it JCPenney National Bank. With the bank the company became able to issue its own MasterCard and Visa cards. The company also began accepting American Express cards. Also that year, Thrift Drug began co-locating stores with Weis Markets, and acquired many former Pantry Pride properties. In April 1987, the company announced that it was moving its headquarters to Dallas, Texas.[10] After several years of development, the JCPenney Television Shopping Channel appeared on cable systems beginning in 1989.

By the mid-1980s, all JCPenney stores had ceased to sell firearms. Before this point, JCPenney carried several rifles and shotguns branded with the JCPenney brand but manufactured by various established firearms makers.
1990s
JCPenney big-box store in Houston, Texas.

In 1990, the company broke ground with the new corporate headquarters in Plano, Texas. It was completed in 1992. When Sears closed its catalog business in 1993, J. C. Penney became the largest catalog retailer in the United States. In 1996, the company expanded its drug store business with the acquisition of Fay's Drug and Kerr Drug. These acquisitions momentum climaxed with acquisition of the Eckerd chain in November. Fay's, Kerr, and Eckerd merged into J. C. Penney's drug store subsidiary Thrift Drug. Fay's, most Kerr, and Thrift drug stores were re-branded Eckerd in 1997. (Kerr Drug stores in The Carolinas remain branded as such.)[11]

In 1998, JCPenney launched its Internet store, which has since grown into one of the largest apparel and home furnishings retail sites on the Internet. In early 2001, JCPenney closed 44 under-performing stores. On April 14, 2002, JCPenney celebrated 100 years as a retailer. In 2003, the company opened three off-the-mall stores in strip centers. These stores were located in Texas, Minnesota, and Indiana. The new one-level, 94,000 sq ft (8,700 m2) format stores focus on convenience with wider aisles and centralized checkouts.[12]
2000s
JCPenney in the Holiday Village Mall in Great Falls, Montana.

In 2004, the company added 14 more stores and exited the drug store division after 35 years, with the sale of its Eckerd division. In 2005, JCPenney's e-commerce storefront exceeded the one-billion dollar revenue mark for the first time.

In 2007, JCPenney launched the Ambrielle lingerie label, which became their largest private brand launched in the company's history.[13] J. C. Penney also re-introduced cosmetics with the opening of Sephora "stores-within-a-store" inside some J. C. Penney locations. Beginning in 2007 the store slogan changed from "It's All Inside" to "Every Day Matters"; the new slogan and associated ad campaign was launched in television commercials during the 79th Academy Awards in late February 2007.

After JCPenney sold off Eckerd in 2004, the locations that continued to operate as Eckerd (some locations in the Southern U.S. were sold to CVS Corporation) still had JCPenney Catalog Centers inside the stores (which was a carryover from locations that were once Thrift Drug) and also continued to accept JCPenney credit cards. After Rite Aid finalized its acquisition of Eckerd in 2007, the Catalog Centers inside the soon-to-be-converted francois stores permanently closed, although as a result of the acquisition, Rite Aid now accepts JCPenney credit cards, even at Rite Aid locations that existed before the takeover of Eckerd.

In November 2007, the company launched a new public website, JCPenneyBrands.com, which covers the company's private and exclusive brands, and their branding strategy, with a preview of an upcoming product line. In February 2008, the company launched the "American Living" brand, as developed by Ralph Lauren, across several product lines, including Men's, Women's, and Children's Apparel and Shoes, Intimate Apparel, and Home. The launch, which was accompanied by an ad campaign during the 2008 Academy Awards, was the company's largest private brand launch.[14] American Living for infant apparel was launched in July 2008. In the summer of 2008, J. C. Penney also added a new brand to its home collection, "Linden Street." The Linden Street brand features a contemporary lifestyle collection of furniture, domestics, and home decor. Linden Street is sold exclusively in JCPenney stores and through their website. Other new exclusive brands for junior's and young men's were launched in the summer of 2008, including Le Tigre (relaunch), Decree, and Fabulosity, a junior line of clothing by Kimora Lee Simmons.

In June 2008, an ad called "Speed Dressing" emerged ending with the JCPenney logo and slogan "Every Day Matters". The ad won a prize at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The ad was criticized for seeming to promote teen sex. JCPenney denied that the ad was theirs and their advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi reported that it had been created by a third party vendor. It was entered in the competition by Epoch Films, who declined to comment.[15][16] Marketing expert John Tantillo advised that the company distance itself from the commercial and also shed the publicity it engendered.[17]

In July 2009, new additions were made to the JCPenney young men's department, including an expansion of their private brand Decree (previously exclusively a juniors clothing line) and the introduction of more skate/surf-oriented clothing, including Rusty, RS by Ryan Sheckler, and 3rd Rail. In August 2009, Albert Gonzalez's defense lawyer announced that JCPenney was a victim of the computer hacker, although JCPenney stated that no customers' credit card information had been stolen.[18] In September 2010, JCPenney had joined Facebook to help promote their "Care, Share, Win" campaign. Since 1999, JCPenney has donated $100 million to after school care. Fans of JCPenney on Facebook can help decide which school will receive the next million dollars.

In 2009, JCPenney reached an agreement with Seattle's Best Coffee to feature full-service cafes within leased departments inside JCPenney stores across the country. Currently, Seattle's Best Coffee are still expanding cafe locations within JCPenney locations across the country.
2010s
A two-story J. C. Penney at Stonebriar Centre in Frisco, Texas opened in 2000.

On January 24, 2011, JCPenney announced it would exit the catalog business and close all 19 of its catalog outlet stores.[19] An additional seven stores, two call center facilities, and one customer decorating facility would also be closed.[19]

On February 12, 2011, The New York Times exposed the use of link schemes, i.e., spamdexing, successfully to promote the JCPenney web site in Google search results by having the company's website come up as the top search results, especially during the holiday season. Doug Pierce, an expert in online search, described the optimization as "the most ambitious attempt to game Google's search results that he has ever seen." Ultimately, Google took retaliatory action and drastically reduced the visibility of JCPenney in searches. Although the retailer denied any involvement, it fired its search engine consulting firm, SearchDex.[20]

In June 2011, JCPenney announced that Ron Johnson will become the company's new CEO.[21] In October 2011, JCPenney sold the 15 remaining catalog outlet stores to SB Capital Group. These stores will remain open then transition to JC's 5 Star Outlets.[22] On December 7, 2011, JCPenney announced the acquisition of 16.6 percent of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia stock. JCPenney plans to put "mini-Martha Stewart shops" in many of its stores in 2013, as well as starting a website together.[23]

On February 1, 2012, JCPenney began a new pricing method, with "Every Day" prices on most days reflecting what used to be sale prices, "Monthly Value" for certain items every month in place of sales, and "Best Price" the first and third Fridays of each month, tied to paydays.[24][25] Prices would also not end in 9 or 7, instead using whole figures when pricing items.[26] The changes in the stores include a focus on the mini-stores such as those for Martha Stewart products.

Ellen DeGeneres, a former JCPenney employee, becomes the chain's spokesperson in a tour and advertising campaign in Spring 2012.[27] The advertising campaign received backlash from One Million Moms – an arm of the conservative American Family Association – which stated, "Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families." JCPenney later issued a statement reassuring that they stood behind DeGeneres as their spokeswoman.

In April 2012, the company announced plans to trim its workforce, laying off nearly 13% of its home office staff in Dallas, and closing a call center in Pittsburgh. Many managers, supervisors and long-time employees were let go on April 30, 2012, due to "simplified practices" that no longer needed as much oversight.[citation needed] In June 2012, the company announced that Michael Francis, the company's president, was leaving the company, after only eight months on the job, effective immediately.[28] In July 2012, the company announced that it was laying off 350 more workers at its headquarters.[29]

In August 2012, JCPenney began rolling out a Shops strategy in stores. The shops are described as stores-within-a-store, planning to eventually roll out 100 shops in 683 stores. The first shops include Levi's, The Original Arizona Jean Co. and i jeans by Buffalo.[30] That month, the company posted a second quarter comparable-store loss of 22%, with internet sales dropping 33%. At an analyst meeting in New York the same day, CEO Ron Johnson said, "I’m completely convinced that our transformation is on track." JCPenney's stock rose 5.9% on Johnson's comments at the analyst meeting, the largest single-day stock increase since late January 2012.[31] The "secret" prototype store is located on the 3rd floor of the store at Valley View Center in Dallas, which has been closed to the public.

Fourth quarter sales for JCPenney, in 2012, were poor. Sales were off 28.4% from a year earlier, same store sales were down 32%. Strategic choices made by CEO Ron Johnson a year earlier, including the change in pricing strategy, were being called into question.[32]
Internet store

In 1998, JCPenney launched its Internet store, which has since grown into one of the largest apparel and home furnishings retail sites on the Internet.[12] The JCPenney store currently ships products to the following countries/regions:[33]

Americas

     Antigua and Barbuda
     Argentina
     Aruba
     Barbados
     Bermuda
     Brazil
     Canada
     Chile
     Colombia
     Costa Rica
     Dominica
     Dominican Republic
     Ecuador
     El Salvador
     Grenada
     Guatemala
     Honduras
     Jamaica
     Martinique
     Mexico
     Montserrat
     Nicaragua
     Panama
     Paraguay
     Peru
     Saint Kitts and Nevis
     Saint Lucia
     Trinidad and Tobago
     Turks and Caicos Islands
     United States

   

Europe

     Austria
     Belgium
     Belize
     Bolivia
     Bulgaria
     Cayman Islands
     Denmark
     Estonia
     Finland
     France
     French Guiana
     Germany
     Gibraltar
     Greece
     Guadeloupe
     Guernsey
     Iceland
     Ireland
     Italy
     Jersey
     Latvia
     Liechtenstein
     Lithuania
     Luxembourg
     Malta
     Monaco
     Netherlands
     Norway
     Portugal
     Reunion
     Romania
     Russian Federation
     Slovakia
     Slovenia
     Spain
     Sweden
     Switzerland
     United Kingdom

   

Asia-Pacific

     Bangladesh
     Brunei
     Cambodia
     India
     Macau
     Maldives
     Pakistan
     Sri Lanka

Africa

     South Africa

Middle East

     Cyprus
     Israel
     Turkey

</span>

American Eagle Outfitters is an American clothing and accessories retailer, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company which also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear. The Silvermans sold their ownership interests in 1991 to Jacob Price of Knoxville, Tennessee.[2] American eagle is the parent company of Aerie and formerly of 77 kids. [1]

The brand targets 15- to 25-year-old males and females, with 911 American Eagle Outfitters stores and 158 aerie stand-alone stores.[1] In 1977, the first American Eagle store opens in Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, MI as the destination for the great outdoors.[3]

Some of the brand's more popular products are low-rise jeans, polo shirts, graphic T-shirts, henley shirts, boxers and briefs, outerwear, and swimwear.[4]
Contents

    1 Development
    2 Corporate and headquarters
        2.1 Staffing Partnership
        2.2 Franchise Agreement
    3 Stores and other brands
        3.1 aerie
        3.2 Martin + Osa
        3.3 77kids
    4 International Expansion
    5 Controversies
        5.1 Strike
        5.2 Abercrombie & Fitch lawsuits
    6 References
    7 External links

Development
American Eagle Outfitters, Green Oak Village Place

When the Silvermans first opened an American Eagle Outfitters store in 1977, they were looking to diversify their Fashion|menswear business. Stores were set up in shopping malls and a catalog was established. The chain grew for much of the 1980s. In 1989, the owners decided to refocus their business on American Eagle Outfitters, selling their other retail chains. At that time, there were 137 American Eagle Outfitters stores including 37 in the United States.

Despite the plans for quick growth after the reorganization, American Eagle Outfitters opened only 16 new stores by 1991 and the company was losing money. At this point, the Schottensteins, who had been 50% owners of the chain since 1980, bought out the founding Silverman family's interest. This change in leadership resulted in American Eagle finding its present niche: casual clothing for men and women selling private label clothes. AE opened the first Canadian store in 2001.[citation needed]

When the company began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the second quarter of 1994, it had 167 stores and a healthy cash flow. With the cash infusion from the IPO, the company opened more than 90 new stores within the next year. Several new executives joined the company in 1995 and '96, leading to another change in the target demographic. The company now wanted to reach more women and focus on people between the ages of 18 and 32.[citation needed] The strategy worked[citation needed], and over the next five years, revenues quintupled to $1 billion by 2000.[2] As of January 28, 2012, American Eagle operated 911 American Eagle Outfitters stores, 158 aerie stand-alone stores and 21 77kids stores. The company also had 21 franchised stores operated by franchise partners in 10 countries.[1]
Corporate and headquarters

In mid-2007, American Eagle Outfitters moved its headquarters from Warrendale, Pennsylvania to a more urban location at the SouthSide Works complex in Pittsburgh. The cost of the buildings and adjacent property was approximately $21 million (excluding interior finishing and additional construction costs). The addresses of the buildings are "19 Hot Metal Street" and "77 Hot Metal Street", with the numbers symbolizing the first store opening in 1977. The facilities of the Southside Works Campus include a Private Garage, a Lab Store for each brand, Photo Studio and in-house Cafeteria. Other offices are located in NYC (Design and Production).[5]
Staffing Partnership

In June 2008, the company signed an exclusive staffing agreement with JBCStyle, a leading fashion & retail recruiting agency with offices in New York City, Los Angeles & San Francisco. This agreement encompassed all of American Eagle Outfitters' freelance staffing needs in New York City as well as any outsourced permanent search. The company has continued to grow this partnership and has opted to engage JBCStyle's sister Company Jonathan Beth Consultants to manage payroll for all corporate hourly employees. American Eagle Outfitters has renewed its agreement with JBCStyle for two subsequent years.
Franchise Agreement

In June 2009, the company signed the franchisee agreement with M. H. Alshaya, one of the leading retailers of the Middle East.[6] The agreement will see the introduction of the first stores outside the North American market, with the first two opening in Dubai and Kuwait on March 16 and March 25, 2010, respectively and a store opening on October 15, 2011 in Kaslik near Beirut, Lebanon.
Stores and other brands

Items are placed on white wooden shelving, tables, or clothes racks. The clothes in high volume stores are hung on wooden hangers, and lower volume stores have basic black hangers. There are also usually sofas/chairs in the back of the store, usually along with a flat screen television. The floors are typically wood or concrete. The theme and displays change based on seasonal lines and promotions. Music is played at a quiet volume to cater to older people.

In addition to its namesake brand, the company has developed and announced plans for several new brand and concept initiatives poised to drive new growth as the brand nears saturation in current markets.[citation needed]
aerie
The aerie logo.

In February 2006, American Eagle launched the aerie lingerie sub-brand, targeting the American 15- to 21-year-old female demographic segment.[7] In addition to lingerie such as a wide variety of bras and other undergarments, the aerie line also sells dormwear, active apparel, loungewear, accessories and sleepwear. What started as a sub-brand quickly became a standalone concept in its own right, featuring a complete fitness line, called aerie f.i.t. The aerie brand is sold in American Eagle Outfitters stores, on-line through the American Eagle Web site, and in stand-alone aerie retail stores. The first stand-alone aerie store opened in August 2006 in Greenville, S.C.[8] and was followed by two more test stores later that year. As of December 2010, there are currently 147 stand-alone aerie stores in the United States and in Canada.[9]
Martin + Osa

The company's second stand-alone lifestyle concept, launched in the fall of 2006 and targeted men and women from 28 to 40 years of age.[10] It featured cashmere sweaters and casual clothing for an older target audience. They also sold products by Fred Perry, Ray-Ban, Adidas, Onitsuka Tiger, and HOBO International. In March 2010, management announced that all 28 Martin + Osa stores be closed, after a failed attempt at success in retail markets, causing AEO, Inc. to lose up to $44 million.[11][12]
77kids

In October 2008, American Eagle released and launched 77kids, a line of clothing aimed at children from two to ten years of age.[13] Initially, an on-line concept only, AEO opened its first 77kids store on July 15, 2010, in the The Mall at Robinson in Pittsburgh, PA,[14] and eight others followed that year. Expansion continued in Fiscal Year 2011.

American Eagle Outfitters announced in May 15, 2012 that they would sell or will close all 22 of the 77kids stores by the end of their second quarter (July 2012).[15] Robert Hanson, who became the new CEO in January 2012, said 77kids had a loss after taxes of roughly $24 million on sales of $40 million in the 2011 fiscal year, which ended Jan. 28 2012. On August 3, 2012, American Eagle Outfitters completed the sale of its 77kids to Ezrani 2 Corp, a company formed by Ezra Dabah, the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Children's Place. [16] Ezrani 2 renamed the stors to "Ruum" in 2013.[citation needed]
International Expansion

American Eagle first opened an International Store in Canada in 2000. In 2003, AE opened the first store outside North America Store in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2010, AEO crossed the Atlantic Ocean to open stores in Kuwait, Riyadh, and Dubai. A store in Kaslik near Beirut, Lebanon, was opened on October 15, 2011. A store in Cairo, Egypt, opened in late 2011. In September 2011, there was the openings of two stores in Moscow, Russia. Its first store in Jordan opened in November 2011 in the brand-new Taj Mall. Its first store in Tokyo, Japan, opened in April 18, 2012. The first store in Tel Aviv, Israel, opened in February 2012,[17] after the Israeli-based clothing retailer FOX, signed a contract with AEO. Currently, there are also stores in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong-Kong, as well as in Warsaw, Poland..[18]

American Eagle is also slated to open stores in Mexico. The first one opened at Mexico City on Fashion Mall Perisur on February 20th 2013, and the next one will open at Guadalajara later this year on Fashion Mall Galerías Guadalajara. [19]
Controversies
Strike

In 2007, textile and apparel workers union UNITE HERE launched the "American Vulture" back-to-school boycott of American Eagle[20] in protest of alleged workers' rights violations at the company's Canadian distribution contractor National Logistics Services (NLS). On the 2007 second-quarter conference call,[21] CEO James O'Donnell clarified the American Eagle's relationship with NLS and its effect on business. He explained,
“     We owned NLS with the acquisition of Braemar back in 2000 and we subsequently sold off NLS in 2006, and we are currently a customer of NLS... We have really no involvement at all with Unite Here and NLS. Our only involvement with NLS is basically as a customer and there have been some allegations made I think to some of, to the public about it affecting our business. I can tell you right now it has not affected our business.     ”
Abercrombie & Fitch lawsuits

Since 1999, Abercrombie & Fitch has sued American Eagle Outfitters at least three times for allegedly copying its designs and its advertisements. On all occasions, American Eagle prevailed in court under the statement that A&F cannot stop American Eagle from presenting similar designs, since such designs cannot be copyrighted in the United States. Nevertheless, American Eagle clothing designs have since trended away in appearance from Abercrombie & Fitch designs. The merchandise offered by American Eagle is considered to be "retro/vintage" cost-efficient clothing, whereas Abercrombie & Fitch merchandise has become an internationally known "near-luxury" line of clothing with "preppy", high-grade, and high-priced fashions, on the same level with that of companies such as the Polo Ralph Lauren company.[22] Judges have generally ruled that giving Abercrombie exclusive rights to market its clothing in a certain way "would be anti-competitive."[23]

The Gap, Inc.,[3] commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap, is an American multinational clothing and accessories retailer. It was founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is currently headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company operates five primary divisions: the namesake banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, and Athleta. Gap Inc. was surpassed by Spanish-based Inditex Group as the world's largest apparel retailer,[4] though it remains the largest specialty retailer in the United States. As of September 2008, the company has approximately 135,000 employees and operates 3,076 stores worldwide, of which 2,551 are located in the U.S.[5]

The Fisher family remains deeply involved in the company, collectively owning much of its stock.[6] Donald Fisher served as Chairman of the Board until 2004, playing a role in the ouster of then-CEO Millard Drexler in 2002, and remained on the board until his death on September 27, 2009. Fisher's wife and their son, Robert J. Fisher, also serve on Gap's board of directors. Robert succeeded his father as chairman in 2004 and also served as CEO on an interim basis following the resignation of Paul Pressler in 2007, before being succeeded permanently by Glenn K. Murphy.
Contents

    1 History
    2 Corporate identity
        2.1 Logo
        2.2 Brands
        2.3 Marketing
    3 Corporate affairs
        3.1 International presence
        3.2 Labor practices
        3.3 Product Red
    4 Management
        4.1 Leadership
        4.2 Board of directors
    5 Stores
    6 References
    7 External links

History

Donald and Doris Fisher opened the first Gap store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco on August 21, 1969; its merchandise consisted of Levi's and LP records. They had raised $63,000 to open the store,[1] and reached $2 million in sales in the first year of operation. In 1970, Gap opened its second store in San Jose, California and established its corporate headquarters in Burlingame, California with four employees. By 1973, the company had over 25 locations and had expanded into the East Coast market with a store in the Echelon Mall in Voorhees, New Jersey. In 1974, Gap began to sell private-label merchandise.

In the 1990s, Gap assumed an upscale identity and revamped its inventory under the direction of Millard Drexler.[citation needed] However, Drexler was removed from his position in 2002 after over-expansion, a 29-month slump in sales, and tensions with the Fisher family. Drexler refused to sign a non-compete agreement and eventually became CEO of J. Crew. One month after his departure, merchandise that he had ordered was responsible for a strong rebound in sales.[7][8][9] Robert J. Fisher recruited Paul Pressler as the new CEO; he was credited with closing under-performing locations and paying off debt. However, his focus groups failed to recover the company's leadership in its market.

In 2007, Gap announced that it would "focus [its] efforts on recruiting a chief executive officer who has deep retailing and merchandising experience ideally in apparel, understands the creative process and can effectively execute strategies in large, complex environments while maintaining strong financial discipline." That January, Pressler resigned after two disappointing holiday sales seasons and was succeeded by Robert J. Fisher on an interim basis.[10][11][12] He began working with the company in 1980 and joined the board in 1990, and would later assume several senior executive positions, including president of Banana Republic and the Gap units.[13] The board's search committee was led by Adrian Bellamy, chairman of The Body Shop International and included founder Donald Fisher. On February 2, Marka Hansen, the former head of the Banana Republic division, replaced Cynthia Harriss as the leader of the Gap division. The executive president for marketing and merchandising Jack Calhoun became interim president of Banana Republic.[14] In May, Old Navy laid off approximately 300 managers in lower volume locations to help streamline costs. That July, Glenn Murphy, previously CEO of Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, was announced as the new CEO of Gap, Inc. New lead designers were also brought on board to help define a fashionable image, including Patrick Robinson for Gap Adult, Simon Kneen for Banana Republic, and Todd Oldham for Old Navy. Robinson was hired as chief designer in 2007, but was dismissed in May 2011 after sales failed to increase. However, he enjoyed commercial success in international markets.[15][16][17]

In October 2011, Gap Inc. announced plans to close 189 US stores, nearly 21 percent, by the end of 2013; however, it also plans to expand its presence in China.[18][19] The company announced it would open its first stores in Brazil in the Fall of 2013.[20]
Corporate identity
Logo
Original The Gap service mark, filed February 29, 1972
Gap's original logo, in use from 1969 until 1986.

Gap Inc. owns a trademark to its name, "Gap", though it is also a common English word with multiple definitions.
Gap's short-lived third logo, in use for one week in 2010.

The Gap's original trademark was a service mark for retail clothing store services. The application was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 29, 1972 by The Gap Stores; registration was granted on October 10, 1972. The first use of the trademark was on August 23, 1969, and expanded to commercial usage on October 17, 1969. A second application was filed by Gap Stores, Inc. on September 12, 1974, this time for a trademark filed for Shirts. The first usage for shirts and clothing products was on June 25, 1974. Trademark registration was granted on December 28, 1976. Both the service mark and trademark are registered and owned by Gap (Apparel), LLC of San Francisco, California.

On October 6, 2010, in an effort to establish a contemporary presence, Gap introduced a new logo. It was designed with the Helvetica font and reduced the prominence of the brand's iconic blue box. After much public outcry, the company reverted to its previous "blue box" logo on October 12, after less than a week in use.[21][22] Marka Hansen, the executive who oversaw the logo change, resigned February 1, 2011.[23]
Brands

Banana Republic, a small safari-themed clothing retailer, was purchased by Gap in 1983 and was rebranded as an upscale clothing retailer in the late 1980s. Old Navy was launched in 1994 as a value chain with a specialty flair. Forth & Towne, the company's fourth traditional retail concept, was launched on August 24, 2005, featuring apparel targeted toward women 35 years and older.[24] On February 26, 2007, after an 18-month trial period, it was discontinued, and the 19 stores were closed.[25] A fifth brand, the online clothing and accessories retailer Piperlime, was created in 2006.[26] A sixth brand, Athleta, a women's athletic wear line, was added in 2009.[27]

Gap's Sales by Division in Q1 2009[28]
Divisions     Total revenue
Gap North America     $834 million
Banana Republic North America     $475 million
Old Navy North America     $1.18 billion
International     $369 million
Gap Inc Direct     $267 million
Marketing
A Gap location in Westfield Valley Fair, San Jose, CA.

The Gap originally targeted the younger generation when it opened, with its name referring to the generation gap of the time.[29]). It originally sold signature blue jeans and white cotton t-shirts, and later expanded to include clothing for men, women and children.[30] Gap's current market works to appeal to a broad demographic of customers, whereas Banana Republic presents a sophisticated image and Old Navy focuses "fun, fashion, and value" for families and younger customers. While the company has been criticized for blandness and uniformity in its selling environments, it maintains that it tailors its stores "to appeal to unique markets" by developing multiple formats and designs.[31] The domain www.gap.com attracts over 18 million visitors annually, according to a 2008 Compete.com survey.[32]
Corporate affairs
International presence

Gap operates stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Korea, Japan and China; it also has franchise agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate Gap or Banana Republic stores in Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Mexico.[33] As of February 3, 2007, Gap Inc. operates 3,131 locations.[34] In January 2008, Gap signed a deal with Marinopoulos Group to open Gap and Banana Republic stores in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia.[35] In February 2009, Elbit Imaging, Ltd. secured a franchise to open and operate Gap and Banana Republic stores in Israel.[36] In August 2010, the company opened its first store in Melbourne, Australia at Chadstone Shopping Centre.[citation needed] In September 2011, Komax opened the first Gap store in Chile, due to a franchise.[37] In October 2011, the first GAP store opened in Warsaw, Poland.[38]
Labor practices

In 2003, Gap and 21 other companies were involved in a class action lawsuit filed by sweatshop workers in Saipan. Workers were alleged to not have been paid for overtime work, in addition to unsafe working conditions and forced abortion policies.[39] A settlement of 20 million dollars was reached whereby The Gap did not admit liability.[40]

In 2007, Ethisphere Magazine chose Gap from among thousands of companies evaluated as one of 100 "World’s Most Ethical Companies."[41] The company was ranked 25th by CRO Magazine in its “100 Best Corporate Citizens” list in 2007.[citation needed] In May 2006, adult and child employees of Western, a supplier in Jordan, were found to have worked up to 109 hours per week and to have gone six months without being paid. Some employees claimed they had been raped by managers.[42] Most of these allegations were directed at Wal-Mart (who mostly ignored the claims), while Gap immediately looked into the matter to remedy the situation.[42]

On October 28, 2007, BBC footage showed child labor in Indian Gap factories.[43] The company denied knowledge of the happenings; it subsequently removed and destroyed the single piece of clothing in question, a smock blouse, from a British store. Gap promised to investigate breaches in its ethical policy.[44]
Product Red
Question book-new.svg
    This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2013)

In 2006, Gap took part in the Product Red campaign with the launch of a special RED collection, including a T-shirt manufactured in Lesotho from African cotton. The expanded Gap Product Red collection was released on October 13, 2006. 50 to 100 percent of the profits went to the Global Fund, depending on the item. The company continued the products into 2007, especially in the lead up to Valentine's Day, using slogans such as "Admi(RED)" and "Desi(RED)." Product Red has contributed over $45 million to the Global Fund, more than any other private donation received to date. Other launch partners included American Express, Apple Inc., Converse, Hallmark, Emporio Armani and Motorola.
Management
Leadership

The current leadership is:[45]

    Chairman of the Board of Directors:
    Chief Executive Officer: Glenn K. Murphy[46]

    President, Banana Republic Brand: Jack Calhoun
    President, Japan: John Ermatinger
    President, Gap Brand: Art Peck
    President, Gap, Inc. Direct: Toby Lenk
    President, Europe: Stephen Sunnucks
    President, Gap, Inc. Outlet Art Peck

    Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Business Development: Art Peck
    Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: Sabrina Simmons
    Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Tom Keiser
    Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Communications: Eva Sage-Gavin
    Senior Vice President, Gap International Sourcing: Stan Raggio
    Senior Vice President & General Counsel: Michelle Banks

Board of directors
Gap headquarters in San Francisco, California.

    Howard P. Behar
    sAdrian D. P. Bellamy (1995)
    Domenico De Sole
    Doris F. Fisher (1969)
    Robert J. Fisher (1990), Chairman (2004)
    Penelope L. Hughes
    Bob L. Martin
    Jorge P. Montoya
    James M. Schneider
    Mayo A. Shattuck III
    Ken Pickart

Stores
A branch on Briggate in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

As of February 2, 2013, Gap Inc. had 3,064 company-owned store locations,. The company expected to open about 200 store locations and to close about 125 store locations in 2011.[1][47] Stores in Canada, China, France, Italy, Ireland, Japan, UK, and US (including Puerto Rico) are company-owned; those outside of these countries are owned and operated by franchises.

Gap

     Australia 3
     Azerbaijan 1
     Bahrain 2
     Bulgaria 1
     Canada 101[47]
     Chile 47[48]
     Colombia 5 [49]
     Croatia 1[50]
     Cyprus 1
     Egypt 3[51]
     El Salvador 1[52]
     France 37[47]
     Georgia 1 opened July 2012
     Greece 4
     Hong Kong 3
     India 40
     Indonesia 3
     Ireland 3[47]
     Israel 5
     Italy 10
     Japan 144[47]
     Jordan 1[53]
     Kazakhstan 2
     Kuwait 2
     Malaysia 10
     Mexico 4 [54][55]
     Morocco 1[51]
     Oman 1
     Panama 3
     Pakistan 1
     Poland 3
     People's Republic of China 5
     Philippines 9
     Puerto Rico 6

     Qatar 1
     Romania 2
     Russia 11
     Saudi Arabia 19
     Singapore 4
     Serbia 1

     South Africa 2
     South Korea 6
     Thailand 8
     Turkey 21[56]
     Ukraine 3
     United Arab Emirates 14[57]
     United Kingdom 148[47]
     United States 889[47]

   

Banana Republic

     Canada 50[47]
     Chile 1[58]
     Croatia 1[50]
     El Salvador 1[52]
     France 1
     Colombia 1 [59]
     Georgia 1 opened July 2012
     India 3
     Indonesia 3
     Italy 1
     Japan 28[47]
     Kuwait 1
     Malaysia 2
     Morocco 1[51]
     Panama 2
     Philippines 4
     Puerto Rico 4
     Qatar 1
     Saudi Arabia 2
     Singapore 1

     South Korea 5
     Turkey 4[60]
     United Arab Emirates 2
     United Kingdom 8 [61]
     United States 540[47]

   

Old Navy

     Canada 65[47]
     Japan 1
     Puerto Rico 7
     United States 945[47]

   

Athleta

     United States 35 [47]

   

Piperlime

     United States 1 [47]

PVH Corp (NYSE: PVH) is an American apparel company, and the world's largest shirt company. It owns brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Van Heusen, Izod, Arrow, G. H. Bass and licenses brands such as Geoffrey Beene, BCBG Max Azria, Chaps, Sean John, Kenneth Cole New York, JOE Joseph Abboud and MICHAEL Michael Kors.
Contents

    1 Organization
    2 History
    3 Distribution
    4 Marketing
    5 Controversy
        5.1 Environmental practices
    6 References
    7 External links

Organization

PVH Corp's main headquarters are located in Manhattan, with administrative offices in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, California. Additional distribution facilities in the United States are located in Brinkley, Arkansas; McDonough, Georgia; Jonesville, North Carolina; Reading, Pennsylvania; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

PVH has several sourcing facilities worldwide. These facilities are located in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.[1] The corporation employs over 12,000 people worldwide[citation needed].
History

The history of PVH can be traced back in part to Dramin Jones, a Prussian immigrant who founded D. Jones & Sons, which became the largest shirt maker in the United States by the 1880's. Separately, in 1881, Moses Phillips and his wife Endel began sewing shirts by hand and selling them from pushcarts to local Pottsville, Pennsylvania, anthracite coal miners. This grew into a shirt business in New York City that placed one of the first ever shirt advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post. Jones merged with Phillips after Dramin Jones's death in 1903. Later, Isaac Phillips met John Van Heusen, resulting in both their most popular line of shirts (Van Heusen) and the subsequent renaming of the corporation to Phillips-Van Heusen.

The Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation received a patent for a self-folding collar in 1919, which was released to the public in 1921 and was successful. The first collar attached shirt was introduced in 1929. The Bass Weejun was introduced in 1936. Geoffrey Beene shirts were launched in 1982. In 1987, Phillips-Van Heusen acquired G.H. Bass. In 1995, the corporation acquired the Izod brand, followed by the Arrow brand in 2000, and the Calvin Klein company in 2002.[2]

After acquiring Superba, Inc., in January 2007, PVH now owns necktie licenses for brands such as Arrow, DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Perry Ellis, Ted Baker, Michael Kors, JOE Joseph Abboud, Original Penguin and Jones New York.[3] The corporation began making men's apparel under the Timberland name in 2008, with women's apparel following in 2009, under a licensing agreement. [4]

On 15th March 2010, Phillips-Van Heusen acquired Tommy Hilfiger for $3 Billion.[5]

In the third quarter of 2010 it was decided on that the "Van Heusen" brand was making a loss and so the decision was made to pull it out of all European trading markets. As of March 2011 there are now no products under that name being sold by the company in Europe. The total sum of their European staff were made redundant as a result.
Distribution

PVH provides products to many popular department stores, such as JC Penney, Macy's, Kohl's, and Dillard's, both through its own labels and private label agreements. PVH also sells its products directly to customers through about 700 outlet stores under the brand names Van Heusen, IZOD, Bass, and Calvin Klein. The outlet stores provide product not available through other retailers, such as the clothing available at Bass clothing stores.

These stores will sell the full range of Calvin Klein product at full price, differing from existing outlet stores. The stores will be about 10,000 square feet (930 m2).[6] Phillips-Van Heusen is closing its Geoffrey Beene outlet retail division by the end of fiscal year 2008.[7][8] Approximately 25 percent of the Geoffrey Beene outlet stores will become Calvin Klein stores, while the remaining 75 percent of store will close entirely.[7][8] The company will continue to license the Geoffrey Beene brand name for Geoffrey Beene brand dress shirts and men's sportswear until at least 2013.[7]
Marketing

Historically, PVH has not had a strong advertising presence of its own, preferring to let its department store customers market their products within its stores.

On October 4, 2007, PVH took over naming rights to the Meadowlands Sports Complex arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The arena's name was changed to the Izod Center, and the change became effective on October 31, 2007.[citation needed] The corporation will pay about $1.3 million a year over the next five years for the naming rights, and will handle marketing for arena events.[citation needed]
Controversy
Environmental practices

In July 2011, PVH—along with other major fashion and sportswear brands including Nike, Adidas and Abercrombie & Fitch—was the subject of a report by the environmental group Greenpeace entitled 'Dirty Laundry'. PVH is accused of working with suppliers in China who, according the findings of the report, contribute to the pollution of the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers. Samples taken from one facility belonging to the Youngor Group located on the Yangtze River Delta and another belonging to the Well Dyeing Factory Ltd. located on a tributary of the Pearl River Delta revealed the presence of hazardous and persistent hormone disruptor chemicals, including alkylphenols, perfluorinated compounds and perfluorooctane sulfonate.[9]

PVH responds with a commitment to Detox the Textile industry

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), branded as Walmart, is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's third largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2012, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and is the largest retailer in the world. Walmart remains a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own a 48 percent stake in Walmart.[5][6] It is also one of the world's most valuable companies.[7]

The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart is also the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, it generated 51 percent of its US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from grocery business.[8] It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America.[9][10]

Walmart has 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names.[11] The company operates under the Walmart name in the United States, including the 50 states and Puerto Rico. It operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Walmart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America, and China are highly successful, whereas ventures in Germany and South Korea were unsuccessful.
Contents

    1 History
        1.1 Early years (1945–1969)
        1.2 Incorporation and growth (1969–2005)
        1.3 Initiatives (2005–present)
    2 Operating divisions
        2.1 Walmart Stores U.S.
            2.1.1 Walmart Discount Stores
            2.1.2 Walmart Supercenter
            2.1.3 Walmart Market
            2.1.4 Supermercado de Walmart
            2.1.5 Walmart Express
        2.2 Sam's Club
        2.3 Walmart International
        2.4 Vudu
        2.5 Private label brands
        2.6 Entertainment
    3 Corporate affairs
        3.1 Finance and governance
        3.2 Competition
        3.3 Customer base
        3.4 Economic impact
        3.5 Employee and labor relations
        3.6 Gender and sexual orientation
        3.7 Logos
    4 See also
        4.1 Television and film
        4.2 Other
    5 References
    6 Further reading
    7 External links

History
Main article: History of Walmart
Early years (1945–1969)
Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime store in Bentonville, Arkansas now serving as the Walmart Visitor Center

In 1945 a businessman and former J. C. Penney employee, Sam Walton, purchased a branch of the Ben Franklin Stores from the Butler Brothers.[12] Sam's focus was on selling products at low prices to get higher-volume sales at a lower-profit margin. He portrayed it as a crusade for the consumer. He experienced setbacks, because the lease price and branch purchase were unusually high, but he was able to find lower-cost suppliers than the ones used by other stores. He passed on the savings in the product pricing.[13] Sales increased 45 percent in his first year of ownership to $105,000 in annual revenue, which increased to $140,000 the next year and $175,000 the year after that. Within the fifth year, the store was making $250,000 in revenue. When the lease for the location expired, he couldn't reach an agreement for renewal, so he opened a new Ben Franklin franchise in Bentonville, Arkansas and called it "Walton's Five and Dime."[13][14]

On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Walmart Discount City store located at 719 Walnut Ave. in Rogers, Arkansas. The building is now occupied by a hardware store and an antique mall. Within five years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas and reached $12.6 million in sales.[15] In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.[16]
Incorporation and growth (1969–2005)

The company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31, 1969. In 1970, it opened its home office and first distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas. It had 38 stores operating with 1,500 employees and sales of $44.2 million. It began trading stock as a publicly held company on October 1, 1970, and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The first stock split occurred in May 1971 at a market price of $47. By this time, Walmart was operating in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma; it entered Tennessee in 1973 and Kentucky and Mississippi in 1974. As it moved into Texas in 1975, there were 125 stores with 7,500 employees and total sales of $340.3 million.[16] Walmart opened its first Texas store in Mount Pleasant on November 11, 1975.[17]

In the 1980s, Walmart continued to grow rapidly, and by its 25th anniversary in 1987 there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates.[16] This year also marked the completion of the company's satellite network, a $24 million investment linking all operating units of the company with its Bentonville office via two-way voice and data transmission and one-way video communication. At the time, it was the largest private satellite network, allowing the corporate office to track inventory and sales and to instantly communicate to stores.[18] In 1988, Sam Walton stepped down as CEO and was replaced by David Glass.[19] Walton remained as Chairman of the Board, and the company also rearranged other people in senior positions.
Inside a Walmart Supercenter in West Plains, Missouri

In 1988, the first Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Washington, Missouri.[20] Thanks to its superstores, it surpassed Toys "R" Us in toy sales in the late 1990s.[21] The company also opened overseas stores, entering South America in 1995 with stores in Argentina and Brazil; and Europe in 1999, buying Asda in the UK for $10 billion.[22]

In 1998, Walmart introduced the "Neighborhood Market" concept, now known as "Walmart Market", with three stores in Arkansas.[23] By 2005, estimates indicate that the company controlled about 20 percent of the retail grocery and consumables business.[24]

In 2000, H. Lee Scott became President and CEO, and Walmart's sales increased to $165 billion.[25] In 2002, it was listed for the first time as America's largest corporation on the Fortune 500 list, with revenues of $219.8 billion and profits of $6.7 billion. It has remained there every year, except for 2006 and 2009.[26][27][28][29][30][31]

In 2005, Walmart had $312.4 billion in sales, more than 6,200 facilities around the world – including 3,800 stores in the United States and 2,800 elsewhere, employing more than 1.6 million "associates" worldwide. Its U.S. presence grew so rapidly that only small pockets of the country remained further than 60 miles (100 km) from the nearest Walmart.[32]

As Walmart grew rapidly into the world's largest corporation, many critics worried about the effect of its stores on local communities, particularly small towns with many "mom and pop" stores. There have been several studies on the economic impact of Walmart on small towns and local businesses, jobs, and taxpayers. In one, Kenneth Stone, a Professor of Economics at Iowa State University, found that some small towns can lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Walmart store opening.[33] However, in another study, he compared the changes to what small town shops had faced in the past – including the development of the railroads, the advent of the Sears Roebuck catalog, as well as the arrival of shopping malls – and concluded that shop owners who adapt to changes in the retail market can thrive after Walmart arrives.[33] A later study in collaboration with Mississippi State University showed that there are "both positive and negative impacts on existing stores in the area where the new supercenter locates."[34]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, Walmart was able to use its logistical efficiency in organizing a rapid response to the disaster, donating $20 million in cash, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals, as well as the promise of a job for every one of its displaced workers.[35] An independent study by Steven Horwitz of St. Lawrence University found that Walmart, The Home Depot and Lowe's made use of their local knowledge about supply chains, infrastructure, decision makers and other resources to provide emergency supplies and reopen stores well before FEMA began its response.[36] While the company was overall lauded for its quick response – amidst the criticisms of the Federal Emergency Management Agency – several critics were nonetheless quick to point out that there still remain issues with the company's labor relations.[37]
Initiatives (2005–present)

In October 2005, Walmart announced it would implement several environmental measures to increase energy efficiency. The primary goals included spending $500 million a year to increase fuel efficiency in Walmart's truck fleet by 25 percent over three years and double it within ten, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in seven years, reduce energy use at stores by 30 percent, and cut solid waste from U.S. stores and Sam's Clubs by 25 percent in three years. CEO Lee Scott said that Walmart's goal was to be a "good steward for the environment" and ultimately use only renewable energy sources and produce zero waste.[38] The company also designed three new experimental stores in McKinney, Texas, Aurora, Colorado, and Las Vegas, Nevada. with wind turbines, photovoltaic solar panels, biofuel-capable boilers, water-cooled refrigerators, and xeriscape gardens.[39] Despite much criticism of its environmental record, Walmart took a few steps in what is viewed as a positive direction, which included becoming the biggest seller of organic milk and the biggest buyer of organic cotton in the world, as well as reducing packaging and energy costs.[40] Walmart also spent nearly a year working with outside consultants to discover the company's total environmental impact and find where they could improve. They discovered, for example, that by eliminating excess packaging on their toy line Kid Connection, they could not only save $2.4 million a year in shipping costs but also 3,800 trees and a million barrels of oil.[40] Walmart has also recently created its own electric company in Texas, Texas Retail Energy, and plans to supply its stores with cheap power purchased at wholesale prices. Through this new venture, the company expects to save $15 million annually and also lays the groundwork and infrastructure to sell electricity to Texas consumers in the future.[41]

In March 2006, Walmart sought to appeal to a more affluent demographic. The company launched a new Supercenter concept in Plano, Texas, intended to compete against stores seen as more upscale and appealing, such as Target.[42][43] The new store has wood floors, wider aisles, a sushi bar, a coffee/sandwich shop with free Wi-Fi Internet access, and more expensive beers, wines, electronics, and other goods. The exterior has a hunter green background behind the Walmart letters, similar to Neighborhood Market by Walmarts, instead of the blue previously used at its supercenters.

On September 12, 2007, Walmart introduced new advertising with the slogan, "Save Money Live Better," replacing the "Always Low Prices, Always" slogan, which it had used for the previous 19 years. Global Insight, which conducted the research that supported the ads, found that Walmart's price level reduction resulted in savings for consumers of $287 billion in 2006, which equated to $957 per person or $2,500 per household (up 7.3 percent from the 2004 savings estimate of $2,329).[44]
The exterior of the Walmart store in West Hills, California.

On June 30, 2008, Walmart removed the hyphen from its logo and replaced the star with a symbol that resembles a sunburst or flower. The new logo received mixed reviews from some design critics, who questioned whether the new logo was as bold as competitors, such as the Target bullseye or as instantly recognizable as the former company logo, which was used for 18 years.[45] The new logo made its debut on the company's walmart.com website on July 1, 2008. Walmart's U.S. locations were to update store logos in the fall of 2008, as part of an ongoing evolution of its overall brand.[46] Walmart Canada started to adopt the logo for its stores in early 2009.[47]

On March 20, 2009, Walmart announced that it is paying a combined $933.6 million in bonuses to every full and part-time hourly worker of the company. An additional $788.8 million in profit sharing, 401(k) contributions, and hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandise discounts and contributions to the employees' stock purchase plan is also included in this plan. While the economy at large was in an ongoing recession, the largest retailer in the U.S. reported solid financial figures for the most recent fiscal year (ending January 31, 2009), with $401.2 billion in net sales, a gain of 7.2 percent from the prior year. Income from continuing operations increased 3 percent to $13.3 billion, and earnings per share rose 6 percent to $3.35.[48]

On July 16, 2009, Walmart announced plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product index.[49]

On February 22, 2010, the company confirmed it was acquiring video streaming company Vudu, Inc. for an estimated $100 million.[50]

In January 2011, at the urging of Michelle Obama and her staff, Walmart announced a program to improve the nutritional values of its store brands over the next five years, gradually reducing the amount of salt and sugar, and eliminating trans fat. Walmart also promised to negotiate with suppliers such as Kraft with respect to nutritional issues. Reductions in the prices of whole foods and vegetables were also promised as well as efforts to open stores in low-income areas, "food deserts", where there are no supermarkets.[51]

On April 23, 2011, the company announced that it was testing its new "Walmart To Go" home delivery system where customers will be able to order specific items offered on their website such as groceries, toiletries, and household supplies. The initial test is in San Jose, California, and the company has not said whether it will be rolled out nationwide.[52] On November 14, 2012, Walmart launched their first mail subscription service called Goodies. Customers pay a $7 monthly subscription for five to eight delivered food samples each month, so they can try new foods.[53]
Operating divisions
See also: List of assets owned by Walmart

Walmart's operations are organized into three divisions: Walmart Stores U.S., Sam's Club, and Walmart International.[9] The company does business in nine different retail formats: supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, bodegas (small markets), cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants.[9]
A panoramic photo of a remodeled Walmart Supercenter in Laurel, Maryland.
Walmart Stores U.S.
Map of Walmart stores in the U.S., as of August 2010

Walmart Stores U.S. is the company's largest division, accounting for $258 billion, or 63.8 percent of total sales for financial year 2010.[9] It consists of three retail formats that have become commonplace in the United States: Discount Stores, Supercenters, and Walmart Markets. The retail department stores sell a variety of mostly non-grocery products, though emphasis has now shifted towards supercenters, which include more grocery items. This division also includes Walmart's online retailer, walmart.com.

In September 2006, Walmart announced a pilot program to sell generic drugs at just $4 per prescription. The pilot program was launched at stores in the Tampa, Florida area, and expanded to all stores in Florida by January 2007. While the average price of generics is $29 per prescription, compared to $102 for name-brand drugs, Walmart maintains that it is not selling at a loss, or providing as an act of charity – instead, they are using the same mechanisms of mass distribution that it uses to bring lower prices to other products.[54] Many of Walmart's low cost generics are imported from India and made by drug makers in the country, including Ranbaxy and Cipla.[55]

On February 6, 2007, the company launched a "beta" version of a movie download service, which sold about 3,000 films and television episodes from all major studios and television networks.[56] The service was discontinued on December 21, 2007, due to low sales.[57]

From 2008 through 2011, Walmart operated a pilot program in the small grocery store concept called Marketside in the metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona area. They plan to take what they have learned from this concept and incorporate that into their newer Walmart Express stores which they are developing.[58]
Walmart Discount Stores
A typical Walmart discount department store in Laredo, Texas

Walmart discount stores are discount department stores with size varying from 51,000 square feet (4,738.1 m2) to 224,000 square feet (20,810.3 m2), with an average store covering about 102,000 square feet (9,476.1 m2).[9] They carry general merchandise and a selection of groceries. Many of these stores also have a garden center, a pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, a bank branch, a cell phone store and a fast food outlet. Some also have gasoline stations.[59]

In 1990, Walmart opened its first Bud's Discount City location in Bentonville. Bud's operated as a closeout store, much like Big Lots. Many locations were opened to fulfill leases in shopping centers as Walmart stores left and moved into newly built Supercenters. All of the Bud's Discount City stores closed or converted into Walmart Discount Stores by 1997.[15][60]

As of March 2012, there were 629 Walmart discount stores in the United States. In 2006, the busiest in the world was one in Rapid City, South Dakota.[61]
Walmart Supercenter
A remodeled Wal-Mart Supercenter in Miami, Florida.

Walmart Supercenters are hypermarkets with size varying from 98,000 to 261,000 square feet (9,104.5 to 24,247.7 m2), with an average of about 197,000 square feet (18,301.9 m2).[9] These stock everything a Walmart discount store does, and also include a full-service supermarket, including meat and poultry, baked goods, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Many Wal-Mart Supercenters also have a garden center, pet shop, pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, and numerous alcove shops, such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, video rental stores, local bank branches (newer locations have Woodforest National Bank branches), and fast food outlets – usually Subway, but sometimes Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's or Blimpie. Some also sell gasoline distributed by Murphy Oil Corporation (whose Walmart stations are branded as "Murphy USA"), Sunoco, Inc. ("Optima"), or Tesoro Corporation ("Mirastar").[59]

The first Supercenter opened in 1988, in Washington, Missouri. A similar concept, Hypermart USA, opened in Garland, Texas a year earlier. All of the Hypermart USA stores were later closed or converted into Supercenters.

As of March 2012, there were 3,029 Wal-Mart Supercenters in the United States.[61] The largest Supercenter in the United States, covering 260,000 square feet (24,154.8 m2) and two floors, is located in Crossgates Commons in Albany, New York.[62]

The "Supercenter" portion of the name on these stores has been phased out, simply referring to these stores as "Walmart," since the company introduced the new Walmart logo in 2008. The Supercentre portion of the name is still used on supercentres in Canada.
Walmart Market
Main article: Walmart Market
Walmart Neighborhood Market in Houston, Texas

Walmart Market is a chain of grocery stores that average about 42,000 square feet (3,901.9 m2).[9] They are used to fill the gap between discount store and supercenters, offering a variety of products, which include full lines of groceries, pharmaceuticals, health and beauty aids, photo developing services, and a limited selection of general merchandise.

Previously branded as "Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market", the first store opened in 1998, in Bentonville, Arkansas. As of May 2012, there are 199 Walmart Markets.[61][63]
Supermercado de Walmart
Supermercado de Walmart in Spring Branch, Houston

Walmart opened "Supermercado de Walmart" locations to appeal to Hispanic communities in the United States.[64] The first one, a 39,000 square feet (3,600 m2) store in the Spring Branch area of Houston, opened on April 29, 2009.[65] The store was a conversion of an existing Walmart.[66][67] The opening was Wal-Mart's first entry in the Hispanic grocery market in Houston.[68] In 2009 another Supermercado de Walmart opened in Phoenix, Arizona.[69]

Walmart also planned to open "Mas Club," a warehouse retail operation patterned after Sam's Club.[70]
Walmart Express

Walmart Express is a smaller discount store, with a range of services, from simple grocery shopping, to check cashing, and even gasoline service. The concept is focused on small towns that are not able to support a larger store, and in large cities where physical space is at a premium.

Wal-Mart planned to build 15 to 20 Walmart Express stores, focusing on Arkansas, North Carolina and Chicago, by the end of its fiscal year in January 2012.

"This is about access to breadth of assortment", says Walmart's Anthony Hucker, vice president of strategy and business development.

As of December 2011, Walmart Express opened in Richfield, North Carolina, Snow Hill, North Carolina,[71] Gentry, Arkansas,[72] Prairie Grove, Arkansas,[73] Gravette, Arkansas[74] and Chicago, Illinois.[75][76]
Sam's Club
Main article: Sam's Club
A typical Sam's Club store in Maplewood, Missouri

Sam's Club is a chain of warehouse clubs which sell groceries and general merchandise, often in large quantities. Sam's Club stores are "membership" stores and most customers buy annual memberships. However, non-members can make purchases either by buying a one-day membership or paying a surcharge based on the price of the purchase.[77] Some locations also sell gasoline.[59] The first Sam's Club opened in 1983 in Midwest City, Oklahoma[77] under the name "Sam's Wholesale Club".

Sam's Club has found a niche market in recent years as a supplier to small businesses. All Sam's Club stores are open early hours exclusively for business members and their old slogan was "We're in Business for Small Business." Their current[when?] slogan is "Savings Made Simple" as Sam's Club attempts to attract a more diverse member base. In March 2009, the company announced that it plans to enter the electronic medical records business by offering a software package to physicians in small practices for $25,000. Wal-Mart is partnering with Dell and eClinicalWorks.com in this new venture.[78]

Sam's Club's sales during 2010 were $47 billion, or 11.5 percent of Walmart's total sales.[9] As of March 2012, there are 611 Sam's Clubs in the United States.[10] Walmart also operates more than 100 international Sam's Clubs in Brazil, China, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.[10]
Walmart International
Walmart locations international

Walmart's international operations currently[when?] comprise 4,263 stores and 660,000 workers in 15 countries outside the United States.[79] There are wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the UK. With 2.1 million employees worldwide, the company is the largest private employer in the U.S. and Mexico, and one of the largest in Canada.[3] In the financial year 2010, Walmart's international division sales were $100 billion, or 24.7 percent of total sales.[9]

Walmart has operated in Canada since its acquisition of 122 stores comprising the Woolco division of Woolworth Canada, Inc in 1994. As of July 2010, it operates over 300 locations (including 100 Supercentres) and employs 82,000 Canadians, with a local home office in Mississauga, Ontario.[80] Walmart Canada's first three Supercentres (spelled as in Canadian English) opened on November 8, 2006, in Hamilton, London, and Aurora, Ontario. The 100th Canadian Supercentre opened on July 10, 2010, in Victoria, BC. In 2010, Walmart Canada Bank was introduced in Canada with the launch of the Walmart Rewards MasterCard.[81]

In the mid 1990s Wal-mart tried with a large financial investment to get a foothold in the German retail market. In 1997 Wal-mart took over the supermarket chain Wertkauf with its 21 stores for DEM750 million (€375 million)[82] and in 1998 Wal-mart took over 74 Interspar stores for DEM1.3 billion (€750 million).[83][84]

The German market at this point was an oligopoly with high competition among the companies which also used a similar low price strategy as Wal-mart. Because of this, Wal-mart's low price strategy yielded no competitive advantage. Also Wal-mart's corporate culture was not viewed positively among employees and customers in Germany, particularly Wal-mart's "statement of ethics", which restricted relationships between employees and led to a public discussion in the media, resulting in a bad reputation for Wal-mart among customers.[85][86] Also Wal-mart's "Big Box – Low Price" Model, a price strategy that works well in the U.S., was not successful in Germany.

In July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal from Germany due to sustained losses. The stores were sold to the German company Metro during Wal-Mart's fiscal third quarter.[87][88] Wal-mart did not disclose its losses from its ill fated German investment, but they were estimated around €3 billion.[89] At the same time, Wal-mart's competitors in Germany were able to increase their market share.
Bompreço in Natal, Brazil.

In 2004, Walmart bought the 116 stores in the Bompreço supermarket chain in northeastern Brazil. In late 2005, it took control of the Brazilian operations of Sonae Distribution Group through its new subsidiary, WMS Supermercados do Brasil, thus acquiring control of the Nacional and Mercadorama supermarket chains, the leaders in the Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná states, respectively. None of these was rebranded. As of April 2010, Wal-Mart operates 64 Super-Bompreço stores, 33 Hyper-Bompreço stores. It also runs 45 Wal-Mart Supercenters, 24 Sam's Club stores, and 101 Todo Dia stores. With the acquisition of Bompreço and Sonae, Walmart was in 2010 the third largest supermarket chain in Brazil, behind Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar.[90] Wal-Mart Brasil, the operating company, has its head office in Barueri, São Paulo State, and regional offices in Curitiba, Paraná; Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul; Recife, Pernambuco; and Salvador, Bahia.[91]

In November 2006, the company announced a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to open retail stores in India. As foreign corporations were not allowed to directly enter the retail sector in India, Walmart operated through franchises and handled the wholesale end.[92] The partnership involves two joint ventures; Bharti manages the front end involving opening of retail outlets, while Walmart takes care of the back end, such as cold chains and logistics. Bharti Walmart operates stores in India under the brand name "Best Price Modern Wholesale". The first store opened in Amritsar in May 2012. On September 14, 2012, the Government of India approved 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retails, subject to approvals by individual states, effective September 20, 2012.[93][94] In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Walmart Stores Inc President and CEO, Asia Scott Price, stated that Walmart would be capable of opening stores in India within a time frame of 2 years. Price also said that the company expects to continue its partnership with Bharti Enterprises in operating Best Price Modern Wholesale.[95] Expansion into India faced some significant problems. In November 2012, Walmart admitted to spending $25 million lobbying Congress[96] - lobbying is conventionally considered bribery in India.[97] Walmart is conducting an internal investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.[98] Bharti Walmart suspended a number of employees, which are rumored to include its CFO and legal team, to ensure "a complete and thorough investigation."[99] The suspension focused attention on Bharti Walmart as a part of the broader debate surrounding the desirability of allowing multi-brand FDI into India.[100][101] The September 20, 2012 approval of FDI was challenged by opposition parties and narrowly passed in a contentious parliamentary vote in early December.[102][103]
Walmart's UK subsidiary, Asda

Sales in 2006 for Walmart's UK subsidiary, Asda (which retains the name it had before acquisition by Walmart), accounted for 42.7 percent of sales of Walmart's international division. In contrast to the US operations, Asda was originally and still remains primarily a grocery chain, but with a stronger focus on non-food items than most UK supermarket chains other than Tesco. As of 2011, Asda had 523 stores, including 147 from the 2010 Netto acquisition. In addition to small suburban Asda stores, larger stores are branded Asda Walmart Supercentres, as well as Asda Superstores and Asda Living.[4][104][105]

In addition to its wholly owned international operations, Walmart has joint ventures in China and several majority-owned subsidiaries. Walmart's majority-owned subsidiary in Mexico is Walmex. In Japan, Walmart owns 100 percent of Seiyu as of 2008.[87][106] Additionally, Walmart owns 51 percent of the Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), consisting of more than 360 supermarkets and other stores in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.[107]

In 2008, Walmart named German retailing veteran Stephan Fanderl as the president of Walmart Emerging Markets-East in an effort to, "explore retail business opportunities in Russia and neighboring markets." The market is estimated to be worth more than US$140 billion per year in food sales alone.[108]

In January 2009, the company acquired a controlling interest in the largest grocer in Chile, Distribucion y Servicio D&S SA.[109]

On September 28, 2010, Walmart announced it would buy Massmart Holdings Ltd. of Johannesburg, South Africa in a deal worth over $4 billion, giving the company its first stores in Africa.[11]

In December 2011, Walmart neither confirmed nor denied speculation that it was eyeing opportunities in Pakistan. "We have not made any announcements concerning Pakistan," said Megan Murphy, Walmart's international corporate affairs manager in an e-mail. Walmart does not comment on market entry speculation, she added. Murphy, however, said their priorities are to "concentrate on the markets where we already have operations and look for growth opportunities in markets where customers want to see us and where it makes sense for our long-term growth."[110]

In February 2012, Walmart announced that the company raises its stake to 51 percent in Chinese Online Supermarket Yihaodian to tap rising consumer wealth and help the company offer more product. The stake expansion is subject to Chinese government regulatory approval.[111]

An April 2012 investigative report in The New York Times reported that a former executive of Walmart de Mexico alleged that, in September 2005, Walmart de Mexico had paid bribes via local fixers called gestores to officials throughout Mexico in order to obtain construction permits, information, and other favors. Walmart investigators found credible evidence that Mexican and American laws had been broken. Concerns were raised that Walmart executives in the United States "hushed up" the allegations. Reportedly, bribes were given to rapidly obtain construction permits, which gave Walmart a substantial advantage over its business competitors.[112] A follow-up investigation by The New York Times, published December 17, 2012, revealed evidence that regulatory permission for siting, construction, and operation of nineteen stores had been obtained through bribery. There was evidence that a bribe of $52,000 was paid to change a zoning map, which enabled the opening of a Walmart store a mile from a historical site in San Juan Teotihuacán.[113] After the initial article was released, Walmart released a statement denying the allegations and describing its anti-corruption policy. While an official Walmart report states that they found no evidence of corruption, the article alleges that previous internal reports had indeed turned up such evidence before the story became public.[114] Forbes magazine contributor, Adam Hartung, also alluded that the bribery scandal was a reflection of Walmart's "serious management and strategy troubles," stating, "[s]candals are now commonplace ... [e]ach scandal points out that Walmart's strategy is harder to navigate and is running into big problems."[115]

As of December 2012, internal investigations ongoing into possible violations of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act.[116] Walmart has invested $99 million in the internal investigations, which have expanded beyond Mexico to implicate operations in China, Brazil, and India.[117][118] The case has added fuel to the debate as to whether foreign investment will result in increased prosperity, or if it merely allows local retail trade and economic policy to be taken over by "foreign financial and corporate interests."[100][119]
Vudu

In February 2010, the company agreed to buy Vudu, a Silicon Valley start-up whose three-year-old online movie service is being built into an increasing number of televisions and Blu-ray players. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but a person briefed on the deal said the price for the company, which raised $60 million in capital, was over $100 million.[120] It is the third most popular online movie service, with a market share of 5.3 percent.[121]
Private label brands
Main article: List of Walmart brands

About 40 percent of products sold in Walmart are private label store brands, or products offered by Walmart and produced through contracts with manufacturers. Walmart began offering private label brands in 1991 with the launch of Sam's Choice, a brand of drinks produced by Cott Beverages exclusively for Walmart. Sam's Choice quickly became popular, and by 1993 was the third most popular beverage brand in the United States.[122] Other Walmart brands include Great Value and Equate in the US and Canada, and Smart Price in Britain. A 2006 study talked of "the magnitude of mind-share Walmart appears to hold in shoppers' minds when it comes to awareness of private label brands and retailers."[123]
Entertainment

In 2010, the company teamed with Procter & Gamble to produce Secrets of the Mountain and The Jensen Project, two-hour family movies which featured the characters using Walmart and Procter & Gamble branded products. The Jensen Project also featured a preview of a product to be released in several months in Walmart stores.[124][125] A third movie, A Walk in My Shoes, also aired in 2010 and a fourth is in production[when?].[126] Walmart's director of brand marketing also serves as co-chair of the Association of National Advertisers's Alliance for Family Entertainment.[127]
Corporate affairs
Walmart Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas

Walmart is headquartered in the Wal-Mart Home Office complex in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company's business model is based on selling a wide variety of general merchandise at "always low prices."[9] They refer to their employees as "associates". All Wal-Mart stores in the US and Canada also have designated "greeters" at the store entrance, a practice pioneered by founder Sam Walton and later copied by other retailers. Greeters are trained to help shoppers find what they want and answer their questions.[128] For many years, associates were identified in the store by their signature blue vest, but this was discontinued in June 2007 and replaced with more modern and professional khaki pants and polo shirts. The wardrobe change was part of a larger corporate overhaul for the store in an effort to increase sales and rejuvenate its stock price.[129]

Unlike many other retailers, Wal-Mart does not charge a slotting fee to suppliers for their products to appear in the store.[130] Instead, it focuses on selling more popular products and provides incentives for store managers to drop unpopular products, as well as asking manufacturers to supply more popular products.[130]

On September 14, 2006, the company announced that it would phase out its layaway program, citing declining use and increased costs.[131] Layaway ceased to be offered on November 19, 2006, and required merchandise pickup by December 8, 2006. Wal-Mart now focuses on other payment options, such as increased use of six- and twelve-month, zero-interest financing. The layaway location in most stores is now used for Wal-Mart's Site-To-Store program, which was introduced in March 2007. This enables walmart.com customers to buy goods online with a free shipping option, and have goods shipped to the nearest store for pickup.[132]

Maggie Sans, representing Walmart, sat on the Private Enterprise Board as Secretary of the American Legislative Exchange Council.[133] On May 31, 2012, Walmart announced they were suspending their membership in the organization. Sans said:

    "Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission 'to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets.' We feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide. To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC."[134]

Finance and governance

For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2011, Wal-Mart reported a net income of $15.4 billion on $422 billion of revenue with a 24.7 percentgross profit margin. The corporation's international operations accounted for $109.2 billion, or 26.1 percent, of total sales.[2] It is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000 list, and the largest public corporation when ranked by revenue.[135]

Wal-Mart is governed by a fifteen-member Board of Directors, which is elected annually by shareholders. Robson Walton, the eldest son of founder Sam Walton, serves as Chairman of the Board. Michael T. Duke serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Lee Scott, formerly CEO, serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board. Other members of the board include Aída Álvarez, Jim Breyer, M. Michele Burns, James Cash, Roger Corbett, Douglas Daft, David Glass, Marissa Meyer, Gregory B. Penner, Allen Questrom, Arne M. Sorenson, Jim Walton, Christopher J. Williams, and Linda S. Wolf.[2][136] Sam Walton died in 1992. After Walton's death, Don Soderquist, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice Chairman, became known as the "Keeper of the Culture."[137]

Notable former members of the board include Hillary Clinton (1985–1992)[138] and Tom Coughlin (2003–2004), the latter having served as Vice Chairman. Clinton left the board before the 1992 U.S. Presidential Election, and Coughlin left in December 2005 after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wal-Mart.[139] On August 11, 2006, he was sentenced to 27 months of home confinement, five years of probation, and ordered to pay US$411,000 in restitution.[140]
Competition

In North America, Wal-Mart's primary competition includes department stores like Kmart, Target, ShopKo and Meijer, Canada's Zellers, Hart the Real Canadian Superstore and Giant Tiger, and Mexico's Comercial Mexicana and Soriana. Competitors of Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division are Costco, and the smaller BJ's Wholesale Club chain operating mainly in the eastern US. Wal-Mart's move into the grocery business in the late 1990s also set it against major supermarket chains in both the United States and Canada. Several smaller retailers, primarily dollar stores, such as Family Dollar and Dollar General, have been able to find a small niche market and compete successfully against Wal-Mart for home consumer sales.[141] In 2004, Wal-Mart responded by testing its own dollar store concept, a subsection of some stores called "Pennies-n-Cents."[142]

Wal-Mart also had to face fierce competition in some foreign markets. For example, in Germany it had captured just 2 percent of German food market following its entry into the market in 1997 and remained "a secondary player" behind Aldi with a 19 percent share.[143] In July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal from Germany. Its stores were sold to German company Metro.[88] Wal-Mart continues to do well in the UK, and its Asda subsidiary is the second largest chain after Tesco.[144]

In May 2006, after entering the South Korean market in 1998, Wal-Mart withdrew and sold all 16 of its South Korean outlets to Shinsegae, a local retailer, for $882 million. Shinsegae re-branded the Wal-Marts as E-mart stores.[145]

Wal-Mart struggled to export its brand elsewhere as it rigidly tried to reproduce its model overseas. In China, Wal-Mart hopes to succeed by adapting and doing things preferable to Chinese citizens. For example, it found that Chinese consumers preferred to select their own live fish and seafood; stores began displaying the meat uncovered and installed fish tanks, leading to higher sales.[146]
Customer base
A price of 15 cents on folders and notebooks

Walmart customers give low prices as the most important reason for shopping there, reflecting the "Low prices, always" advertising slogan that Wal-Mart used from 1962 until 2006.[147] The average US Wal-Mart customer's income is below the national average, and analysts recently estimated that more than one-fifth of them lack a bank account, twice the national rate.[citation needed] A Wal-Mart financial report in 2006 also indicated that Wal-Mart customers are sensitive to higher utility costs and gas prices.[148] A poll indicated that after 2004 US Presidential Election 76 percent of voters who shopped at Wal-Mart once a week voted for George W. Bush, while only 23 percent supported senator John Kerry.[149] When measured against other similar retailers in the U.S., frequent Wal-Mart shoppers were rated the most politically conservative.[150]

In 2006, Wal-Mart took steps to expand its US customer base, announcing a modification in its US stores from a "one-size-fits-all" merchandising strategy to one designed to "reflect each of six demographic groups – African-Americans, the affluent, empty-nesters, Hispanics, suburbanites and rural residents."[151] Around six months later, it unveiled a new slogan: "Saving people money so they can live better lives". This reflects the three main groups into which Wal-Mart categorizes its 200 million customers: "brand aspirationals" (people with low incomes who are obsessed with names like KitchenAid), "price-sensitive affluents" (wealthier shoppers who love deals), and "value-price shoppers" (people who like low prices and cannot afford much more).[147] Wal-Mart has also made steps to appeal to more liberal customers, for example, by rejecting the American Family Association's recommendations and carrying the DVD Brokeback Mountain, a love story between two gay cowboys in Wyoming.[152]
Economic impact
See also: Criticism of Walmart

Kenneth Stone, Professor of Economics at Iowa State University, in a paper published in Farm Foundation in 1997, found that some small towns can lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Wal-Mart store opening.[33] He compared the changes to previous competitors small town shops have faced in the past – from the development of the railroads and the Sears Roebuck catalog to shopping malls. He concludes that small towns are more affected by "discount mass merchandiser stores" than larger towns and that shop owners who adapt to the ever changing retail market can "co-exist and even thrive in this type of environment."[33]

One study found Wal-Mart's entry into a new market has a profound impact on its retail competition. When a Wal-Mart opens in a new market, median sales drop 40 percent at similar high-volume stores, 17 percent at supermarkets and 6 percent at drugstores, according to the June 2009 study by researchers at several universities and led by the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.[153] A Loyola University Chicago study suggested that the impact a Wal-Mart store has on a local business is correlated to its distance from that store. The leader of that study admits that this factor is stronger in smaller towns and doesn't apply to more urban areas saying "It'd be so tough to nail down what's up with Wal-Mart".[154]

A June 2006 article published by the libertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute suggested that Wal-Mart has a positive impact on small business.[155] It argued that while Wal-Mart's low prices caused some existing businesses to close, the chain also created new opportunities for other small business, and so "the process of creative destruction unleashed by Wal-Mart has no statistically significant impact on the overall size of the small business sector in the United States."[156]

For the concern of jobs, a study commissioned by Wal-Mart with consulting firm Global Insight, found that its stores' presence saves working families more than US$2,500 per year, while creating more than 210,000 jobs in the U.S.[157] Alternately, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that between 2001 and 2006, Wal-Mart's trade deficit with China alone eliminated nearly 200,000 U.S. jobs.[158] Another study at the University of Missouri found that a new store increases net retail employment in the county by 100 jobs in the short term, half of which disappear over five years as other retail establishments close.[159]

Studies of Wal-Mart show consumers benefit from lower costs. Another study by Global Insight found that Wal-Mart's growth between 1985 and 2004 resulted in food-at-home prices that were 9.1 percent lower and overall prices (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) that were 3.1 percent lower than they would otherwise have been.[160] A 2005 story in The Washington Post reported that "Wal-Mart's discounting on food alone boosts the welfare of American shoppers by at least $50 billion per year."[161] A study in 2005 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) measured the effect on consumer welfare and found that the poorest segment of the population benefits the most from the existence of discount retailers.[162] A 2004 paper by two professors at Pennsylvania State University found that U.S. counties with Wal-Mart stores suffered increased poverty compared with counties without Wal-Marts.[163] They hypothesized, to explain their results: This could be due to the displacement of workers from higher-paid jobs in the retailers customers no longer choose to patronize, Wal-Mart providing less local charity than the replaced businesses, or a shrinking pool of local leadership and reduced social capital due to a reduced number of local independent businesses.[163] Dr Raj Patel, author of "Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System", said in a lecture at the University of Melbourne on September 18, 2007, that a study in Nebraska looked at two different Wal-Marts, the first of which had just arrived and "was in the process of driving everyone else out of business but, to do that, they cut their prices to the bone, very, very low prices". In the other Wal-Mart, "they had successfully destroyed the local economy, there was a sort of economic crater with Wal-Mart in the middle; and, in that community, the prices were 17 percent higher".[164]

Pulitzer Prize-winner columnist George Will named Wal-Mart "the most prodigious job-creator in the history of the private sector in this galaxy" and that "[b]y lowering consumer prices, Wal-Mart costs about 50 retail jobs among competitors for every 100 jobs Wal-Mart creates". In terms of economic effects, Will states that "Wal-Mart and its effects save shoppers more than $200 billion a year, dwarfing such government programs as food stamps ($28.6 billion) and the earned income tax credit ($34.6 billion)".[165]

A 2001 McKinsey Global Institute study of U.S. labor productivity growth between 1995 and 2000 concluded that "Wal-Mart directly and indirectly caused the bulk of the productivity acceleration" in the retail sector.[166] Robert Solow, a Nobel laureate in economics and an adviser to the study, stated that "[b]y far the most important factor in that [growth] is Wal-Mart."[167]
Employee and labor relations
See also: Criticism of Walmart#Employee_and_labor_relations
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Wal-Mart workers speak during Occupy Wall Street.

With close to 2.2 million employees worldwide, Walmart has faced a torrent of lawsuits and issues with regards to its workforce. These issues involve low wages, poor working conditions, inadequate health care, as well as issues involving the company's strong anti-union policies. Critics point to Walmart's high turnover rate as evidence of an unhappy workforce, although other factors may be involved. Approximately 70% of its employees leave within the first year.[168] Despite the turnover rate the company still is able to affect unemployment rates. This was found in a study by Oklahoma State University which states, "Walmart is found to have substantially lowered the relative unemployment rates of blacks in those counties where it is present, but to have had only a limited impact on relative incomes after the influences of other socio-economic variables were taken into account."[169]
Gender and sexual orientation

In 2007, a gender discrimination lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., was filed against Walmart, alleging that female employees were discriminated against in matters regarding pay and promotions. A class action suit was sought, which would have been the nation's largest in history, covering 1.5 million past and current employees of Wal-Mart.[170] On June 20, 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Wal-Mart's favor, stating that the plaintiffs did not have enough in common to constitute a class.[171] The court ruled unanimously that because of the variability of the plaintiffs' circumstances, the class action could not proceed as presented, and furthermore, in a 5–4 decision that it could not proceed as any kind of class action suit.[172] However, several plaintiffs, including Ms. Dukes, still intend to file individual discrimination lawsuits separately.[173]

According to a consultant hired by plaintiffs in a sex discrimination lawsuit, in 2001, Wal-Mart's EEOC filings showed that female employees made up 65 percent of Wal-Mart's hourly paid workforce, but only 33 percent of its management.[174][175] Just 35 percent of its store managers were women, whereas 57 percent were at comparable retailers.[175] Wal-Mart says comparisons with other retailers are unfair, because it classifies employees differently; if department managers were included in the totals, women would make up 60 percent of the managerial ranks.[175] Others have criticized the lawsuit as without basis in the law and as an abuse of the class action mechanism.[176][177][178] In 2007, Wal-Mart was named by the National Association for Female Executives as one of the top 35 companies for Executive Women.[179]

Wal-Mart's rating on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, a measure of how companies treat LGBT employees and customers, has fluctuated widely during the past decade, from a low of 14 percent (2002) to 65 percent (2006). They were praised for expanding their antidiscrimination policy protecting gay and lesbian employees,[180] as well as for a new definition of "family" that included same-sex partners.[181][182] However, they have been criticized in other areas, such as not renewing its membership in the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which is reflected in their 2008 rating of 40 percent (compared to Target at 80 percent and Kmart at 100 percent).

In January 2006, Wal-Mart announced that "diversity efforts include new groups of minority, female and gay employees that meet at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville to advise the company on marketing and internal promotion. There are seven Business Resource Groups: women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Gays and Lesbians, and a disabled group."