Date of Birth: March 29, 1918
Place of Birth: Kingfisher, Oklahoma, USA
Died: April 5, 1992
Place of Death: Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Classification: Builders & Titans
Although his children became the richest heirs in the world from an empire he built, Sam Walton started Wal-Mart after working his way up in the world of discount retail sales. His vision, smart distribution, and his niche market set him a part with virtually no competition.
In the latter 1930s, Walton, who was just out of high school, attended the University of Missouri. He graduated with good marks in the competitive economics program, then soon after married Helen Robson. With the outbreak of World War II, he served in the Army for three years and returned to Des Moines, Iowa to work with the J.C. Penny Company for a few years. With a loan and his savings, he opened a successful branch of the Ben Franklin store. For over fifteen years, he operated nine stores. When he saw the boom of Kmart and Sears in offering discount prices to the mass of shoppers looking for reduced rates, he approached the Ben Franklin management headquarters. But, they were not interested in his ideas for their company.
In 1962, he opened up his first Wal-Mart store in Arkansas. His plan was to offer low prices to those in rural areas, where he did not have to compete with the bigger chains on the east and west coasts. His store prospered so quickly that within ten years he would have nearly 200 stores to his name. Sam Walton was directly involved with the setting up of each one of his stores, the hiring of managers, and overseeing their smooth operation that stuck to the visions of American quality and great service for a price that couldn’t be beat.
Sam Walton had great distribution methods as well. He built his stores near distribution centers so that items could be delivered quickly – usually within 24 hours. Additionally, he promoted a ‘Buy American’ trademark that appealed to customers in all the nearly 1,000 stores that he had seen constructed. His next step of expansion was Sam’s Wholesale Club, where members, such as owners of small businesses, could buy supplies and eventually everything else Wal-Mart sold in bulk and at even greater discount prices. Sam’s Club had vast appeal because of its members-only style of operation and it’s ability to offer massive warehouses of goods in a no-frills setting with basic employee presence.
This combination eventually led to the hyper-store creation of Wal-Mart Supercenters, which made his previous regular Wal-Mart stores look like the small five-and-dime stores with the Ben Franklin store arena. In the biography of Sam Walton, called Made in America, he discusses how his vision had prospered so well. He had started in the south and the Midwest of the U.S., and only when he had a secure hold on the market, did he attempt to compete against the even bigger retail giants. Wanting to take Wal-Mart to a truly national level, he began opening stores in higher-populated areas. By the time of his death, he left behind nearly 30 billion dollars to his children, who have gone global with the Wal-Mart vision. Now, their annual sales top 150 billion dollars.
