Walmart’s New Marketing Campaign
The Decision to Drop “Always Low Prices. Always.” as a Tagline
Walmart’s decision to introduce a new tagline (namely “Save Money. Live Better.”) was the right move. It was an effective measure designed to upgrade the company’s brand and regain the lost market share. Good branding improves the value of an organization because it is closely related to the people’s perception of the company’s customer service and reputation (Reddy, Reddy & Venkatesulu, 2016). Therefore, a decision to drop the slogan “Always Low Prices. Always.” was a good move within the context of a rebranding strategy because it gives an opportunity for the company to further improve its recognition and expand customer base (Kotler, 2011). It must be noted that Walmart’s stock prices are noted to have fallen by 27% between 2000 and 2005. Therefore, the company needed a rebranding to have a better chance to build up financial value and guarantee financial stability in future.
First of all, the new tagline of the company reflects the company’s policy that allows increasing employees’ benefit plans and family savings of the customers. Secondly, the new tagline was designed within the framework of Walmart’s sustainability campaign aimed at decreasing its energy consumption costs. Thus, the tagline was developed in line with the company’s employee-centred approach, which was meant to resolve a great number of issues that the company had with its employees. For example, the company had suffered as a result of multiple lawsuits from the employees who complained about poor working conditions, low pay, and gender-based discrimination. It is reported that about 70% of Walmart’s employees had left the company within their first year of employment (Goworek & McGoldrick, 2015). In some ways the company’s new tagline was designed a promise to mind the welfare of the employees, as well as that of consumers, by helping them to save more. Furthermore, the new tagline was designed to reinforce the image of the company as a store that was committed to help customers save their money by offering quality products at lower prices in order to improve their living. Thus, the new tagline was designed to attract new customers and keep the old customer base. Therefore, the decision to drop the slogan “Always Low Prices. Always.” was a great move given the circumstances surrounding the company.
Protecting Walmart When the Economy Is on the Rise
Walmart seems to do well during the recession. However, this is not a surprise because it concentrates on selling cheap products that only target low-income customers. Using its advantage of economies of scale, Walmart is able to drive prices down more than its competitors can. It is, therefore, able to thrive during the recession by attracting more low-income customers. However, the company needs to protect its business when the economy is on the rise. One of the ways it can achieve this goal is through building a wider product portfolio. This means that the company can tailor its products to appeal to diverse consumer segments so that a sales decline of one product is offset by sales of other commodities (Goworek & McGoldrick, 2015). Specifically, Walmart should start by targeting upscale customers with high-end products. A customer base composed of upscale customers would be of great benefit to Walmart when the economy is on the rise because the spending of this category of customers is not affected by economic factors. Secondly, a wider product range of different prices is able to capture a larger customer base, which should improve customer loyalty in the long term (Foxall, 2014). A range of products can be sold to different segments of the retail market. It does not have to abandon its approach of targeting low-income customers; rather it should expand to target new all-season customers who are not likely to change their consumption depending on the economic status. Such measures will protect Walmart when the economy is on the rise.
References
Foxall, G. (2014). Strategic marketing management (RLE marketing) (Vol. 3). London: Routledge.
Goworek, H., & McGoldrick, P. (2015). Retail marketing management: Principles and practice. London: Pearson Higher Education.
Kotler, P. (2011). Philip Kotler’s contributions to marketing theory and practice. In Review of Marketing Research: Special Issue–Marketing Legends (pp. 87-120). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Reddy, S. K., Reddy, U. M., & Venkatesulu, K. (2016). Brand revitalization. International Journal of Science Technology and Management, 5(1), 321-326.