The Best One Matthew Keating Brian Klingenberg Calvin Levally Meghan Mahoney

Wal-Mart’s Early Years Entered Brazil a decade ago. They were ‘culturally tone deaf’. Wal-Mart tried to do things the American way by selling golf clubs and baseball gloves to Brazilians as if they were Americans. They pulled out of Germany and South Korea due to heavy losses. It appears that the U.S. retail formula didn’t work everywhere.

Wal-Mart Each Wal-Mart in the various countries has different names to appeal to the locals. Todo Dia – São Paulo Their produce section is styled after a fruit stand with fresh oranges. A huge display hawks the black turtle beans and salted pork ears needed to cook a feijoada, a traditional Brazilian stew.

Todo Dia In addition, to providing food and other items to the locals, they have a Wal-Mart funded community center. It includes a gynecologist’s office, an Internet café, and a bank offering microloans.

Competition As they make Wal-Marts in other countries, they have run into stiff competition from two other companies in Brazil. Pão de Acucar Group – controlled by a Brazilian family Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA of France. They all have the best products on certain items.

International Sales International division includes 3700 stores Provides nearly a quarter of the company’s $401 billion in annual sales. In all but one of the 14 foreign countries where Wal-Mart does business, its sales are growing faster than that country’s retail market.

In India, Wal-Mart and Bharti Enterprises Ltd launched a store called Best Price Modern Wholesale. Executives went to Brazil to study their layout to speed up construction and merchandise assortment.

Playing to Strengths Brazil’s version of Wal-Mart sells a lot of coffee because 99% of households drink coffee. In an Afro-Brazilian region called Candomblé, lavender perfume sales spike some 2000% before February 2 every year. They realized that practitioners used the perfume each February in a rite honoring a sea goddess named Yemaja.

Business Opportunities Hire people to travel overseas to other countries to survey the locals to see what they like so Wal-Mart internationals can play to their strengths. Make local Wal-Marts more culturally diverse depending on the areas they are in. Texas -> increase Mexican food