Culture and Curiosity Drive Innovation at Walmart

The Culture of WalmartSam Walton began revolutionizing retail sales in the United States in 1962 when he purchased a small building on the downtown square of Bentonville Arkansas from Luther E Harrison and opened a store that he called Waltonamp8217s 510 amp160Embracing the concept of discounting he made the decision to pursue high sales volume rather than high sticker prices amp160To that end he kept his prices significantly lower than those of his competitors and reaped the benefits amp160Today Waltonamp8217s 510 has of course become Walmart and the 11000 stores and clubs it operates under 55 different names in 27 countries are the marvel of the retail worldWaltonamp8217s determination to build success is best expressed in Walmartamp8217s current corporate mantraamp160 amp8220Culture is the foundation of everything we do amp160We define culture as our values in action amp160Itamp8217s how we deliver superior customer service create a great frontline work environment and improve performance in order to achieve our common purpose of saving people money so they can live betteramp8221A 2019 study by Retail Store Toursamp8482 assessing the leading factors behind retail success found that Walmart ranked especially high in three distinct areas amp160amp8220In curating hundreds of stores and retail formats in the last yearamp8221 the report states amp8220we discovered the winning factors in retail today amp160These include employee training and culture retail environment use of technology business model store design customer management brand story unique concept the human touch and changeamp8221 amp160According to the study Walmartamp8217s outstanding culture competitiveness and curiosity most positively impacted its instore and online businessesA Chance EncounterI had the opportunity to experience this corporate culture personally in the fall of 2006 when I struck up a conversation with a fellow standing next to me at the annual ANA Masters of Marketing Conference in Orlando amp160At the time I was Chief Revenue Officer at Enpocket the leader in mobile advertising with a 47 share of the US market and Stephen Quinn was the Chief Marketing Officer of Walmart amp160I was already well aware of the impact mobile would soon have on both advertising and retail but Quinn like nearly everyone else at the conference knew little about the technology amp160After all the launch of the iPhone was still nearly a year away amp160Being a mobile evangelist I started talking to Quinn about the retail possibilities that the new technology offered amp160To his credit he quickly invited me to BentonvilleMy team and I spent six weeks preparing for that meeting amp160We consulted with Walmartamp8217s ad agency interviewed some of their employees and even shopped at several Walmart stores amp160By the time we arrived in Bentonville in March 2007 we had a thirtyminute presentation prepared amp160It was packed with mockups case studies and prototypes because we had a lot to explain amp160The launch of the iPhone was still several months awayCuriosity Drives News Ways of Thinking We presented to a small group of highlevel Walmart executives amp160Afterward Quinn and his colleagues came alive with questions amp160They asked if it would be possible to place short codes on products so that consumers could obtain additional information simply by texting amp160I remember Quinn was particularly interested in whether coupons could be delivered via mobile and whether they could be segmented by store locationMy team had just delivered an alien message about a new way to shop using unfamiliar equipment yet the Walmart team embraced what we had to say amp160Quinn and the others recognized immediately the implications for their business and they acted on it without any handwringingWhat has long separated Walmart from the rest of the pack and what separates the company still is its receptivity to new ideas and its fearlessness in putting those new ideas into action amp160Quinn and I had never met before bumping into one another at that ANA conference amp160He had never heard of me or my company and yet he took the time to listen and then act on what I had to saySo as long as its corporate culture remains curious Walmart will no doubt continue to lead the instore and online retail marketplace because culture and curiosity are the key ingredients needed to win in retail todayPhoto by Ed MartinClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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Culture and Curiosity Drive Innovation at Walmart

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Daniel Hodges

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