In the last few years Wal-Mart had fantastic sales growth rates. However, now the company seems to be loosing its number one position. Stagnant shares prove that Wal-Mart is no longer a perspective growth company. I attempt to find out how the company can regain its competitive advantage and boost its sales.

There can hardly be found a bigger name in the discount retail industry than Wal-Mart.  Having built itself into the leader in a highly competitive environment, the company continues to set barriers for its competitors. However, in the recent years Wal-Mart’s sales growth rate has been declining, which is causing a major problem for the company. It is apparent now that Wal-Mart can loose the number one position in the retal world. The company has to reconsider its strategies to regain its success.

The numerous strengths of Wal-Mart allow the company to take advantage of several opportunities, the first being the ability to benefit from their strong market position.  Having such dominance in the retail industry, Wal-Mart has the ability to take some chances and branch into new international markets.  India with its population of  nearly 300 million people could be the primary target of the company. Since the company is already presented in China, it wouldn’t be that complicated to extend it geographically into India. 

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The only minus of this decision is current Indian government regulations, making it impossible for Wal-Mart to enter the Indian market. However, the company can operate in India through a joint-venture with local partners.

The major threat to the company is competition.  Wal-Mart has several competitors such as Target, K-Mart, Ahold. To regain its competitive advantage, the retail giant has to offer new products. It seems to be a wise strategy to choose because of the company’s ability to run the new products through their world class supply chain which would reduce implementation costs and retail prices.

In addition, it would be desirable for the strong marketing department of the company to focus on positive PR to counter balance current legal litigation. 

The health care market is another brilliant opportunity for Wal-Mart to take advantage of. Wal-Mart can boost its sales by entering this market. It has been projected that with baby boomers aging there will be a greater demand for health care in the future. It is expected that by the year 2015 the health care sector will be a $4 trillion dollar industry. The retail giant number one can use its strengths to reduce costs of health care products. In turn, reduced cost of health care products will provide Wal-Mart with a competitive advantage in the discount retail industry.

Although Wal-Mart has achieved a tremendous success running its business in the U.S. market, it cannot ensure that the companies will also be successful anywhere else. There are several reasons why Wal-Mart doesn’t succeed in the global market. On the one hand, there are external problems such as late entry, the negative economic impact on small-town stores, joint venture and nationalism, inadaptability to local culture, government regulations, etc.  On the other hand, there are the internal problems such as human resource management, lack of active involvement in research and development, lack of flexibility of some of its more focused rivals, etc.