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Behind Wal-Mart - The Story of man Sam Walton

From a farm boy living in the outskirts of Oklahoma to becoming the richest man in America in the 1980s

and revolutionizing the way the country did business, Sam Waltons legacy continues to live on. By the

time he passed away in 1992, Sam Walton had amassed a fortune in excess of $25 billion and today, his

brainchild Wal-Mart continues to bring in revenues of over $300 billion, making it the worlds largest

retailer.

Born on March 29, 1918 near Kingfisher, Oklahoma, Samuel Moore Walton grew up on a farm with

his brothers and parents, Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton. They moved to Missouri when his

father decided that farm life was not substantial enough to support the family and he became a farm loan

appraiser. While this meant that the family would constantly be on the move throughout Missouri, Walton

did not let this affect him.

In his grade eight school at Shelbina, Walton became the youngest Eagle Scout in the history of the state.

While attending Hickman High School, Walton excelled in both sports and academics, winning the state

title as quarterback and also becoming Vice President and later President of the student government. He

was also voted Most Versatile Boy at his graduation.

After high school, Walton enrolled in the University of Missouri, pursuing an economics degree in an

attempt to find a way to help support his family. To pay his tuition, Walton worked as a waiter, lifeguard

and newspaper delivery boy. Outside of class, Walton kept busy as an ROTC officer, member of the Beta

Theta Pi fraternity, and as President of a Sunday school class. He was so popular with his classmates that

when he graduated in 1940, he was voted permanent President of the class.

Walton knew he had an interest in commerce and aspired to attend the Wharton School of Business, but

knew he could not afford it. Just three days after graduating from college, Walton found employment as

a management trainee with JCPenney in Iowa. Though he was earning $75/month, he resigned in 1942 in

order to be free to serve in the US military. He worked at a DuPont munitions plant in Oklahoma until he

was called to join the army.

One year later, Walton was called for service with the US Army Intelligence Corps. Here, he worked

as a security officer at aircraft plants and prisoner of war camps within the US. After just three

years, Walton had reached the rank of Captain but felt his time with the army had come to an end.

It wasnt until 1945, when Walton was 27 years old, that he decided to enter the retail industry. With a

$20,000 loan from his father-in-law and $1,000 of his own savings, Walton purchased a Ben Franklin

variety store in Newport, Arkansas. A franchise of the Butler Brothers chain, this would prove to be

the beginning of his remarkable retail success and would also be the testing ground for many of the

pioneering ideas that Walton would later implement in his Wal-Mart stores.

Theres a lot more business out there in small town America than I ever dreamed of, said Walton. The

success of his first variety store took even Walton by surprise, leading in sales and profits in the six-

state region in which the Butler Brothers operated. By consistently stocking his shelves with discounted

products, keeping later hours than most others, and buying wholesale goods from the cheapest suppliers,

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Walton managed to significantly increase his sales volume.

But, Waltons success would not be allowed to go unchecked. When the landlord of the store realized

his opportunity, he refused to renew Waltons expired lease and instead gave the store to his own son.

P.K.Holmes essentially forced Walton out of business and bought his inventory for $50,000, which at the

time Walton called a fair price.

Although he had lost his business, this setback would not deter Walton. He launched another Ben

Franklin store in Bentonville, Arkansas and called it the Walton Five and Dime. Its success enabled

him to open a second store in Fayetteville, Arkansas, which was not a Ben Franklin franchise, but was

equally successful. He continued to expand and by 1962, Walton owned sixteen variety stores throughout

Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas. It was also during this expansion period where Walton first began

the practice of profit sharing, offering managers limited partnerships in order to create incentives and

generate company loyalty.

In 1962, Walton opened the first official Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas, with a mission to provide

discounted goods to rural America. The chain of stores continued to spread across the U.S. and was

formally incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in 1969. Three years later, it became a publicly trade

company.

In the early years, stores were intentionally setup within one-day driving distance from the companys

distribution centre so as to ensure immediate restocking. Between 1970-1980, Wal-Marts sales increased

from $313 million to $1.2 billion with the number of stores increasing 8.5 fold. Walton financed his

expansion through a combination of vendors money and bank debt, which he was largely able to pay off

with the companys profits from going public.

In 1983, Sam Walton decided to open another chain of stores. Sams Club became a members-only

warehouse chain, which first opened in Midwest City, Oklahoma. Here, products were sold in bulk and

arranged in a warehouse style. Sams Club found similar success to Wal-Mart and Walton was able to

expand the chain throughout the U.S.

In 1990, Wal-Mart had become Americas number one retailer. But, Walton had even bigger dreams

for his company; he wanted to go global. In 1991, Wal-Mart made its first presence on the international

market by opening a store in Mexico City and from that point on there was no turning back. Wal-Mart

continued to expand across the continental U.S. and in international markets.

Today, Wal-Mart is the largest grocery chain in the U.S., the largest private employer in all of the U.S.,

Mexico, and Canada, and earns revenues of over $300 billion. Similarly, Sams Clubs reports sales

revenues of almost $40 billion and also continues to expand into international markets.

Kartikey Sharma

http://rew2019.wordpress.com/