Walmart, the international retail conglomerate that shaped the face of US retail, creating the idea of a massive superstore as a go-to destination for all of your daily necessities. In the process, they made $572.8 billion in revenue last year (over five times that of Aldi) with over 10,500 stores across the world.

Walmart are a business ruthlessly driven by cost, in every area of their operations they are trying to make cost savings be it by reducing waste, using cheap furniture in their headquarters or by having basic stores. Frivolity is not something you are likely to find at Walmart.

However, their gargantuan stores are spread across American and are popular with most of the residents. Some may hate their capitalist nature, others some of their questionable past, but if they are still operating at the size they are then they can’t be that bad.

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One of the many things that separates Walmart from a traditional store is that they don’t offer many discounts and focus on ‘Everyday Low Prices’ for their products. They can afford to do this as they make savings in the same way as the German discounters Aldi and Lidl: sparse basic shops, buying in bulk and ruthless negotiation with suppliers.

However, customers like to feel like they’ve bagged a bargain and that’s a brilliant way to encourage impulse purchases so Walmart do ‘Rollbacks’. A discount on a product that doesn’t have the complexity of ‘Buy one get one free’ and just cuts the price for the consumer. This makes them buy more while also making more money for Walmart than a BOGOF, having some discounts also makes the whole thing seem cheaper so customers are inclined to spend more.

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Walmart are not a business that typically does sponsorships however their name has recently appeared on the Red Bull Racing Formula One car.

I assume this is Walmart trying to reach the younger audience who are supposedly watching F1 and it’s a good synergy between a product Walmart stocks (Red Bull) and the shop themselves. Either way, the fact they can afford to sponsor in F1 can only be a good thing.

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Another aspect of Walmart that I cannot fail to mention doesn’t even have Walmart in the name and that is Asda. The British supermarket giant that is actually owned by the Americans that are Walmart.

The more vigilant among you may have noticed this with ‘Rollbacks’ in Asda and similar marketing phases used but this has been going on for longer than the time that the companies were financially linked. Former Asda chairman Archie Norman was heavily influenced by Walmart when he reinvented Asda in the 90s which made the company a natural choice when the American retailer wanted to move into the UK.

Although Asda have not had the same transformative effect as their American counterpart, they have still taken steps to improve things in their fight against the net book agreement, revolutionary introductions to British supermarkets including fuel and clothing and one of the most memorable supermarket advertising campaigns ever.

In 1977, the first Asda ‘pocket tap’ advert appeared on TV screens across the UK promoting their new slogan ‘that’s Asda price’. It was immensely successful as it conveyed the idea that Asda was cheap and put money in your pocket in a simple way. The campaign continued for many decades and still appears in some forms while also having a legacy as the pocket tap is the official symbol for Asda in British Sign Language.