Robertson Walton, the son of Sam Walton, is the current chairman of the board of directors of Wal-Mart. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, was born in Bentonville, Arkansas in 1918 town. Sam's family was not wealthy when he was a child, which led him to develop the habit of thrift. In 1936, Sam entered the University of Missouri to pursue a bachelor's degree in economics and served as president of the university's student body. When World War II broke out when he graduated in 1940, Sam resolutely signed up to join the army and served in the U.S. Army Intelligence Department. After World War II, Sam returned to his hometown. He borrowed US$20,000 from his father-in-law, opened a small store with his wife Helen, and learned how to purchase, price, and sell. At this time, Sam met Henry Vinier, a manufacturer's sales agent from New York, and learned his first lesson in pricing. Sam said: "Henry sells women's pants for only $2 a pair. We keep buying the same pants from the same place, but sells them for $2.50 a pair. We found that if Henry sells them at Henry's price, the sales volume of the pants will increase. So I learned a seemingly simple truth: If I buy something for 80 cents and sell it for $1, the sales volume will be three times that of selling it for $1.20! Looking at each item, I made half the money, but I sold three times as many items, and the total profit was actually much greater.” To this day, his son’s philosophy on this price has not changed. Currently, Wal-Mart has 1,702 traditional chain stores, 952 supermarkets, 479 "Sam's Club" stores, and 20 "neighborhood market" grocery stores in the United States. In addition, there are 1,088 chain stores in other countries, forming an extremely powerful "Wal-Mart" store. empire". Walmart stores sell everything from household groceries, men's and women's clothing, children's toys, to food and beverages, furniture and more. A prominent feeling among the various stores under the Wal-Mart name is small profits but quick turnover, and prices are reduced every day. Wal-Mart's goal is to target the middle- and low-income people and sell a wide range of products at low prices. For decades, Wal-Mart has adhered to the business strategy of small profits but quick turnover. The reason why Wal-Mart is able to achieve low prices every day is because it has lower costs than its competitors and has faster product turnover. Walmart bypasses middlemen and purchases goods directly from factories. As early as the 1980s, Wal-Mart adopted a policy that required excluding manufacturers' sales agents from transactions, ordering directly from manufacturers, and at the same time reducing the purchase price by 2-6%, which is approximately equivalent to the commission amount of the sales agent. After the uniformly ordered goods are delivered to the distribution center, the distribution center will screen and repackage the goods on the spot according to the needs of each branch. This "zero inventory" approach, similar to that of online retailers, allows Walmart to save millions of dollars in warehousing costs every year. David Glass, former president of Wal-Mart, once said: "Distribution facilities are one of the keys to Wal-Mart's success. If there is anything we do better than others, it is the distribution center." Flexible and efficient logistics and distribution systems are the key to Wal-Mart's greatest success Sales volume and low cost inventory turns are at the core. Wal-Mart's first distribution center was established in 1970, covering an area of ??6,000 square meters. It was responsible for supplying 32 stores in 4 states and centrally processed 40% of the goods sold by the company. As the company continues to grow, so does the number of distribution centers. Up to now, Wal-Mart distribution centers serve approximately 2,500 shopping malls in 18 states in the United States, and the distribution centers cover an area of ??approximately 100,000 square meters. 85% of the company's sales are supplied by these distribution centers, while its competitors only distribute about 50-65% of their products centrally. Today, Wal-Mart has 100% of its logistics system in the United States, of which distribution centers are a small part. Wal-Mart's complete logistics system not only includes distribution centers, but also more complex data input procurement systems, automatic replenishment systems, etc. The coordinated operation of the commodity supply system requires high-quality information transmission and sharing between entities in each link. Wal-Mart invested US$400 million to launch a commercial satellite by Hughes Company, achieving global networking. Through the global network, more than 4,000 stores around the world can take stock, shelves, and sales of each product within one hour. , and notify the truck driver of the latest road condition information, and adjust the best route for vehicle delivery.

Since taking over as chairman of Walmart, Robertson has continued to live in an inconspicuous old house. It is difficult to hear any news about Robertson’s life in American media reports. Opportunities for the U.S. economic transformation include small profits but quick turnover, and service-oriented. Wal-Mart's business philosophy and corporate culture seem simple and traditional. However, Wal-Mart is a lucky one. From the manufacturing industry in the 1950s to the service industry in the 1990s, Wal-Mart is the leader. , the U.S. economy has undergone tremendous transformation, and Wal-Mart has seized the historical opportunity of the U.S. economic transformation. In the 1950s, in the daily lives of Americans, some basic consumer needs were still an important part of household expenses. Today, Americans’ real income has doubled, and the composition of consumption has also undergone fundamental changes. Access to services has begun to occupy a larger share. If the manufacturing industry dominated the Fortune 500 in 1955, two-thirds of the top 100 companies now come from the service industry. Even for comprehensive companies, most of their revenue comes from services such as financial operations. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the 10 years from 2001 to 2010, 1.3 million new jobs will be created by traditional manufacturing, while the number of jobs provided by the service industry will reach 20 million during the same period. While maintaining its fine traditions, it continues to create retail business models that adapt to the needs of the new era. This is another important reason for Wal-Mart's success. The chain operation method and modern technology have given Wal-Mart, which is engaged in the traditional retail industry, wings to take off, promoting the continuous expansion of its business scale. In 1979, it took Wal-Mart one year to complete $1 billion in sales. By 1993, it took just one week, and by 2001, one day was enough. It is through tapping the potential of high technology that the cost has been continuously reduced and the sales have been promoted rapidly. In the future, can the retail empire Wal-Mart continue to maintain its growth potential? Perhaps overseas market expansion will determine Wal-Mart's future development.