Introduction and History:

Wal-Mart is a worldwide retailer headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, United States of America with a strategy focused on helping customers and communities save money and live better and has shown continued success in their use of information technology with e-commerce; a system that allows managers to view point-of-sale information and the use of RFID chips. Wal-Marts founder Sam Walton opened its first official Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas. By 1967 the Walton family owned 24 stores, earning up to $12.7 million in sales and, in the year 1969 the company officially incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Later in 1970s, the company started trading its shares and in 1972 Wal-Mart was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. With the new funds raised from the sale of stock, Sam Walton was able to expand Wal-Mart to a total of 276 stores throughout 11 different states by 1980. The company also installed the largest private satellite communication system in the United States in 1987 that was used to link the company's operations through voice, data and video communication. In 1990 Wal-Mart became the number one retailer and market price of its shares reached 63.50 dollars per share. Through a joint venture with Cifra which is a Mexican retail company, Wal-Mart went global and opened a Sams Club in Mexico and many storefronts in Mexico, Northeastern and South Atlantic regions of the North America in the year 1991. Over the next 15 years Wal-Mart expanded to Central America, Japan, Canada and many more international locations operating in more than 15 countries. For more than three consecutive years, Wal-Mart has held the top position in the Fortune Global 500 companies and is today the largest public corporation with 2,200,000 total employees, whose current revenue is ranging up to 404.16 Billion US Dollars and has a net income of 13.59 Billion US Dollars. (Wal-Mart)

Wal-Marts Management Information Systems:

In 1980s Wal-Mart kept expanding at a very rapid pace went international and also that the world turned into a global village so effective and efficient communication and management of suppliers and customers became the core need of time. Moreover there were threats of pilferage and miscalculations of inventories, therefore company need a much more advanced and sophisticated IT systems in the company.
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Supply Chain Management:

In the mid-1980s, Wal-Mart invested in a central database, store-level point-of-sale systems, and a satellite network. With the implementation of UPC bar codes, store-level information could now be collected immediately and analyzed. It combined sales data with outside information like weather forecasts; Wal-Mart was able to provide additional support to buyers, improving the correctness of their purchasing. Retail Link was a right step for Wal-Marts information system. This system was, estimated at 570 terabytes which Wal-Mart claimed was bigger than all the fixed pages on the internet. Retail Link connects the Wal-Marts internal analysts with suppliers network which displays sales data in real time. Then this is also connected to Wal-marts distribution centers. Whenever there is a sale activity, as everything is connected, so data is sent from store network to everywhere it is required via global satellite transmission. This satellite transmission is a great advantage for Wal-mart over its competitors. In an effort to emulate Wal-Marts ability to share information with suppliers, Wal-Marts competitors like Tesco, Carrefour etc. relied on a system similar to Retail Link which collected store level sales data which could then be shared with suppliers. (Abbaterusso)

Major Supply Chain improvements in Wal-Mart:

Wal-Mart operated approximately 3,900 stores in the United States and 2,600 stores in 13 other countries. At store level, the company stocked more than 100,000 SKUs. Two of Wal-Marts key supply chain improvement initiatives included Remix and RFID (radio frequency identification tags). Voice-based Order Filling (VOF): In 1998, Wal-Mart installed a Voice-based Filling system in their grocery and distribution centers. Each person responsible for order picking was provided with a microphone/speaker connected to portable system. This device was used to guide them finding the items located in different parts of the distribution center.

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Hand held computers: Each employee at the store was given a hand held computer known as Magic Band which was linked through a radio frequency network to in-store terminals. It helped them keeping a track of inventory in stores, deliveries and back-up merchandize in stock. Point of Sales System: The order management and store replenishment of goods were entirely connected with the help of computers through POS system. It helped to monitor and track the sales on the store shelves. REMIX: The aim of the Remix strategy of Wal-mart was to reduce out-of-stock merchandize at stores. Wal-mart was previously working on its the model of general distribution stores serving as a cluster of shops, where high turn grocery items were delivered with the low turn items which was a reason behind stock outs. Then it introduced centers of high velocity distribution. Food distribution centers that were designed to handle high turn food items. These stores were smaller in size and had better temperature controls, which were used for daily grocery items. This system proved to be an incremental improvement to the previous system. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID): RFID tags introduced by the top 100 suppliers of Walmart were an attempt to increase the ability to track inventory and to increase in-stock rates at stores. Simon Langford, Wal-Marts manager of RFID strategy, was enthusiastic about RFID: It gives us visibility as to where the product is. Smart applications will be able to direct our associates to where the product is, so we can replenish shelves sooner.

RFID tags technology allows Wal-Mart to increase stock visibility. The company placed RFID tag readers in several parts of the store. Due to this, store managers would locate that what stock is in the backroom and what is on the front store. It saves time and help finding misplaced stock.

Wal-Mart stores with RFID showed a net improvement of 16 per cent fewer out-of-stocks on the RFID-tagged products.

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Collaboration between WAL-MART and P&G:

Information Partnership: P&Gs Corporate Reporting System was developed to report sales so P&G could track the amount of products sold in different parts of the country and world. P&Gs sytem was helpful in understanding that how much business was sold to its customers. When Walmart collaborated with P&G, they had the following questions to be answered:

(1) How much of the product was sold at stores last year? (2) How many customers bought P&G products? (3) What was the profitability of these products for both P&G and Wal-Mart?

The collaboration between both the companies in the form of development of data highway helped them sharing information to cut their costs and meet the customer demands.

The data highway concept was simple. Wal-Mart had scanners in all of their stores to track, measure and analyze their business. Wal-Mart collected its own data and also shared it with P&G which helped them making decisions about consumer demands. Wal-mart also shared its information with P&G through this data highway to maintain the inventory level of P&G products. Improvement in channel efficiency enabled Wal-mart to reach higher financial goals. (Grean & Shaw)

Customer Relationship Management:

The success of a business is greatly attributable to how efficiently a business meets customers and how well it manages its customer relationship. In any business, CRM (customer relationship management) means a lot, to make your business successful. If you establish good customer relationship it will definitely help you to increase your profit, for the reason that the cost for serving the loyal customers is low as compared to profit generated from selling goods to them.

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To achieve the CRM objectives, you have to begin with the customer strategy, introduce the processes to fit the strategy and then choose the technology that suits that strategy. Ease For Customers: Wal-Mart has the strategy to provide customers with what they want at a discounted price, they value their customers a lot as said, Customers are the reasons why we are in the business and when we exceed their expectations, we are at our best. They do provide an opportunity for their customers to get many of their customized products under one roof and at reasonable prices. To satisfy their customer Wal-Mart provides online commerce services in near about seven countries, Wal-Mart introduced the strategy of multi-channel retailing that helps in availability of all kinds of products to the customers, it increases the choices for them, it reduces their search cost, and it also helps the business to keep their entry barriers high. All the customers search for the products in price, promotion and availability aspect, therefore if any Business wants to excel then it has to fulfill all these aspects in order to lead the market. And Wal-Mart keeps an eye on these aspects through: Wal-Marts Discounting Technique: Wal-Mart prides itself in providing quality products at reasonable prices .Wal-Mart do their best to satisfy their customers as their slogan is, satisfaction guaranteed. They are one of the most successful businesses, because they offer everyday goods at low prices. Availability of Goods: Wal-Mart known as the biggest chain of retailers and customers which provide large number of products like clothing, toys, pharmacy, hardware, consumer electronics, books and much more under one roof which definitely increase customer loyalty. Moreover, they are providing the same products online on their website which help people to buy goods sitting at their homes. And as people nowadays are more interested in buying online, Wal-Mart has gained a lot from ecommerce. Wal-Mart helps customers in making a smart choice as it helps customers to look up at product details hence ending up making a right choice.

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Shopy-Cat Face book Service: A face book service that helps you to select the right gift for your friends based on their face book use. They provide with the option of gift by viewing their profile, the technology behind this service is KOSMICS SOCIAL GENOME, a platform that was used to power social media. Wal-Mart also increases customers loyalty by providing: Better Search Engines: According to Wal-Mart Search is a crown jewel for any e-commerce company to own, they provide better search engines like Polaris that helps shoppers to make the right choice by searching the right product. Mobile application: Wal-Mart provides the Voice Enabled Wal-Mart application in your cell phone. With this application, customer can add the desired products in the shopping list just through voice recognition, and the next time he plans to visit the retail store, Wal-Mart App and customer service helps him finding out in which nearby store and on which shelf his desired product is. These services and strategies help Wal-Mart to maintain better relations with customers. (crm outsider)

Enterprise Resource Planning:

Enterprise resource planning helps to communicate within an organization; it helps to communicate within different departments and to incorporate these departments as one unit. ERP helps management and staff to combine all characteristics of business in one system. Databases and Softwares of Wal-Mart: The most effective move by Wal-Mart was that they advanced their database system by outsourcing their databases to NCR Corporation which bought their data storage capacity up to 7.5 terabyte, which ultimately made it one of the biggest database systems in the world. This database system helps Wal-Mart employees to communicate and collaborate more effectively
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because this system provides information on customer buying trends, merchandise volume and movement in all the stores of Wal-Mart present in different countries. Moreover, the software provided by Neo Vista Company helped Wal-Mart to match their databases and helped WalMart management to communicate with other departments like accounting and HR department. DS3 System: Wal-Mart uses pioneered satellite systems that helps to link headquarter with stores, but now has switch to method of spreading data over phone lines used on their DS3 system that in turn helps in connecting various offices. Networking: Employees uses WLAN to communicate between devices in the limited area through wireless networks which give benefits in term of convenience, affordability, mobility and productivity and also Wal-Mart stores are able to connect with nearby branches through these networks. Media used by Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart connects through cables with different departments that help in information sharing. Communication media helps to interconnect the information in different departments.

Connecting component used by Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart uses the Novell LAN software that helps in tying up all the systems together, they also provide productivity service to Wal-Mart. These effective circuits can provide network connections within its offices. Within the organization Wal-Mart connects through hub, data mining tools and through satellites. By adopting these strategies, Wal-Marts networks are cutting edge over competitors. (enterprise inovation) (Oxbridge)

Problems in Wal-Marts Management Information Systems:

The statistics show that Wal-Mart has so far managed to get less than 2 percent of its U.S. sales online and is facing a great competition from Amazon who is an older player of ebusiness and is growing 5 times faster than Wal-Mart.
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There is a threat to Wal-Mart that its competitors like Tesco can easily match Wal-Mart in technological sophistication and can even surpass it by innovating in new retailing segments with higher-margin goods.

Wal-Marts e-magazine is not updated frequently and people face issues that the items they view online is available in their local Wal-Mart are usually not found there when they reach to the stores as it might have been sold out. This gives a competitive edge to Amazon.com whose e-magazine is always up to date.

Wal-Marts website got hacked last year due to which personal information and credit card numbers of many people were stolen and misused and there are also threats of social engineering.

Wal-Mart largely relies on RFID tags to control their inventories but there are many problems associated with their use such as signal distortion, reader accuracy and speed, and tag transmission capabilities making them still not so practical for widespread use. Most of the RFID tags currently in use have read ranges of fewer than 5 feet. Moreover RFID is highly expensive to implement and Wal-Mart may face technical concerns related to effective data capture while using these tags. (Walmart blog)

Recommendations:
Wal-Mart should constantly improve their in-house technology and bring continuous innovation in their business, so that their competitors cannot match their technology standards. Wal-Mart should keep on updating their e-magazine regularly, and send e-news letters to their customers to prevent their customers from switching to their rivals such as Amazon. Wal-Mart should come up with technology to deal with the hackers and locate the loop holes that could result in loss of information. As future shopping would largely be based on mobile phones, Wal-Mart should bring innovation in their mobile apps to capture more customers in future. Wal-Mart should also open their stores and deliver their goods in third world countries because they can also prove to be a thriving market.

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References:
Abbaterusso, J. Supply Chain Management. Ivey. crm outsider. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://crmoutsiders.com/2009/07/08/wal-mart-an-example-of-thenext-generation-of-crm/ enterprise inovation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://enterpriseinnovation.net/article/walmart-introducessearch-technology-increase-shopper-conversion-rate Grean, M., & Shaw, M. J. Channel Partnership between Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble. Oxbridge. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.oxbridgewriters.com/essays/marketing/the-case-study-ofwal-mart.php Wal-Mart. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.walmart.com/cp/An-Introduction-toWalmart.com/542413 Walmart blog. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://warlmart.blogspot.com/

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