“We save people money so they can live better.”
Watch a few minutes of TV and you’re sure to come across a Wal-mart ad. Whether it’s about their annual roll-backs or just their every-day low prices, these ads have managed to worm their way into TV, newspapers, and all sorts of different media. (Quite effectively considering I could remember their taglines without having ever actually physically being in a store before…)
Wal-Mart regularly ranks as the top corporation in America, and among the top of the world. Coupled with their wide-spread, middle-income target market, Wal-mart should by all rights be up with the best. However, it wasn’t their ubiquitous ads or far-reaching span that netted them the top spot. It was their revolutionary inventory system.
The Management Information System (MIS) they have set up allows Wal-Mart to collect information, such as product type and seasonal changes in sales. This lets people in their back office do more efficient analysis of their inventory and project future sales more accurately.
Implementing these decisions allow Wal-Mart to cut costs and increase profits, all while giving us that low, low, price we all love.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-25/wal-mart-cutting-orders-as-unsold-merchandise-piles-up.html