I. Introduction
a. Thesis: Walmart has replaced GM as the template for American businesses because they understand their customers' insights. (I'm still working on this, I want to talk about the era of customer insights and how necessary it is to listen to your customers in order to be successful)
i. mention the factors that contribute to the shift of power from companies like gm to companies like walmart--this will probably be a comparison between GM and Walmart. how did GM lose its title as the template of American business? failure to listen to their customer's wants and needs and adapt this into their business model--contrast this with Walmarts ever evolving customer ventric business model
II. body
a. brief history of Walmart: follow Walmart from Sam Walton's days to now. Customers have always been number one. Emphasize the various ways they make this evident in their company culture and physical retail stores
i. different marketing eras that Walmart and GM live in. GM was sales driven and Walmart is customer driven
b. Walmart's values: a comparison between walmarts values to GMs. again, mention the importance of keeping the consumer #1
c. How does Walmart listen to their consumers: low cost, high efficiency, new sustainable products, adaptation
i.low cost: Walmart squeezes every penny from suppliers and passes the savings on to the consumers
ii.high efficiency: your purchases are electronically sent to their hub within 15 minutes of the purchase, they know what you want and they keep thier stores stocked to ensure that you get what you want, they started off with their own distribution system--another way to almost guarentee customers' needs will be met quickly (focus on the fad products)
iii.new sustainable products: walmart is realizing the importance of offering sustainable products and the power it holds. this is crucial for two reasons: 1. their customers new needs are being satisfied and 2. their image is improving because they are helping the environment--compare this to GM: failed to innovate, lost favorable opinion in the public eye and lost customers
iv. Walmart is still growing during the recession because it has adapted. it has seized the opportunity to scoop up the customers that are downgrading their purchases. Walmart must impress them or else these new customers will not continue to shop at Walmart after the recession.
d. how does Walmart communicate to their customers
i.commercials: new campaign's focus is completely on the customer saving money and walmart's green movement/the power it yeilds
ii.in store promotions: not as effective as their commercials, but the inside is not pretentious, highlights your savings, constant rollbacks and comparisions to other stores so that the customer feels good about their purchasing decisions
iii.comparison to GM--when it was the template of american businesses, its ads were not as targeted to their customers insights and needs--it basically told the customers what they should have so it could make more money**will elaborate in my paper, still need more research to formulate this thought
e. walmart is listening to its customers needs at the expense of their employees--
backlash against walmart is targeted towards the treatment of their employees (healthcare, lawsuits for gender discrimination)
however, while they may be subtly changing these practices (its more behind the scenes, so harder to see), they don't necessarily have to because its customers are not demanding a change. most people upset at walmart would never shop there, walmart does not have to listen to them. this won't completely change until its core customers demand a change.
--GM was the complete opposite, in its era they focused more on the employees than the customers
III. Conclusion
a. Walmart is very good at forecasting customer demands/listening to customer insights. This characteristic is the reason why they have replaced GM.
b. Walmart cannot, however, expect that sheer growth will keep them in this position. must adapt and continue to predict customers' needs if they want to remain the template of American business.
c. Lessons from GM: GM became consumed with its powerful position and that was its downfall, Walmart must learn from this mistake.
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Caitlin - You have some good ideas in your outline, but there are a few things I would consider. One thing you should probably acknowledge about Walmart is that, while they certainly want to satisfy the customer, many of the sustainability efforts (well, at least the earliest ones) were implemented because of the financial impact they made on the bottom line (for example the lighting used in the refrigerators produced a lot less heat and, thus, required a lot less energy... reducing their overall energy costs substantially). The balance between cost-savings and customer experience should be explored or at least acknowledged. Also, the section on how Walmart listens to its customers does not seem to have a lot on how they actually listens - it seems to be more focused on what they do in response to customer insights. I would try to make that section a little more clear and focused on what they do to listen. We can talk more about this in-person if that would help.
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