Success philosophy of the US’s retail king
Success philosophy of "America's retail king": I got up from failure, continued after failure, rebuilt on failure and told myself to do better than what failed!
If you had only $150 on hand at the time, would you dare to do like Sam Walton?
Sam Walton was born in 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, USA into a poor farming family and grew up during the Great Depression of the United States. Starting from below the starting line, he rose and established the largest retail empire in the world.
Sam Walton attended the University of Missouri at Columbia, graduating in 1940 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He served as a Captain in the Intelligence Corps from 1942 to 1945. He married his wife Helen in 1943 and they had four children together for 49 years.
"I got up from failure, continued after failure, rebuilt on failure and told myself to do better than what failed" / ph: instagram@samwaltonofficial
Sam Walton has always been interested in retail and started his career in a very humble position. He had his first steps at JC Penney - where he learned his first experience in retail work, as a management trainee before joining the army.
In addition, Sam is also a hired worker for a laundromat in the town of Bentonville, Arkansas, USA. Every day, he and 3 other employees bring ironed items to each customer.
At that time, two retail giants Kmart and Sears owned most of the retail stores in Arkansas and surrounding states. After many deliveries, directly meeting all kinds of customers, Sam Walton discovered that Kmart and Sears did not appear in small and remote towns like his hometown Bentonville.
Knowing this, Sam Walton immediately poured all the money of 150 USD to hire 8 workers and set up the first retail store, named Wal-Mart, in his hometown of Bentonville in 1962.
No one could have imagined that this is the forerunner of the world's largest retail system and the largest of all time later.
At the first time of starting a business, due to little capital and lack of experience, Sam's shop mainly wholesale and retail under the motto of making a profit by the sale of his own work, trading only the most necessary necessities.
Walton continued to expand his business. He opened shops in small communities. The store has also attracted a large number of customers in the town with its service quality such as enthusiastic and attentive service style, guaranteed product quality, affordable prices...
By 1965, Wal-Mart had become one of the most popular retail stores in the town of Benton.
Great ambition created the era of domination, the retail empire - the foundation of the "Walton" dynasty.
Such is the success, but Wal-Mart has spent many years figuring out the growth model.
In 1968, Walmart opened stores in Claremore and Sikekton, expanding beyond Askansas for the first time. Success comes like a kite, in just 2 years, the number of stores under Sam Walton's management has increased to 38 units, bringing in $44.2 million in revenue.
In 1970, Walmart went public on the NYSE, selling 300,000 stocks at a price of $16.50. According to calculations, the investor who owned 100 Walmart stocks at the time at a price of $ 1,650 is now the owner of a fortune worth $ 4.3 million.
He added Sam's Club to the business in 1983. And in 1985, Sam Walton was named the richest man in America by Forbes magazine.
In 1987, on its 25th anniversary, Walmart had 1,198 stores with total sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 employees. Three years later, Walmart Stores overtook its competitors to become the largest retailer in the United States with $32.6 billion in sales, surpassing competitor Kmart Corp. Wal-Mart became the nation's leading retailer in 1990.
Today, this retail group has more than 11,400 stores and generates $530 billion in revenue (equivalent to Switzerland's GDP in 2020) and a huge workforce of 2.2 million people (beyond the number of regular soldiers of China). The system of retail stores and supermarkets owned by Walmart has reached tens of thousands, scattered throughout North America, Europe and actively reaching out to Asia.
During the golden start-up era of "retail king" Sam Walton, what people said about Walmart then was the growth miracle, the big ambition that created the era of dominance.
After successfully making Walmart the number one retailer in the US in 1991 with sales of $26 billion, Sam Walton died just a year later. His successor was Robson Walton - the eldest son of the Walton family, with the responsibility of not letting this empire fall.
Not beyond the expectations of Sam Walton, his descendants have steered his career, continuing to bring Wal-mart's name to the international level, creating a powerful retail empire.
Scattered statistics in 2020 show that the earning rate of Walton family heirs increases by about half a million dollars per minute and 2 billion dollars per month. The total fortune of 7 people in this family according to the Forbes ranking is 220.2 billion USD, far surpassing the name at the top of the billionaire list is Jeff Bezos.
One of the important things that makes Wal-Mart's success is the very simple business formula that he has summed up and handed down from generation to generation. These are: cutting costs, reducing prices, optimizing services, effectively exploiting information technology and ensuring employees' lives. This strategy is seen as the key to Sam Walton's success.
Yet another strategy that, according to Sam Walton, is the most important. It's the staff and the store.
"Not only do you care about your customers, you also have to care about your stores and your employees. You have to hire employees with the right mindset. If you want every employee to care about your customers, you have to make sure that you care about them is the most important part of Wal-Mart's success."
A simple life behind a huge fortune
Despite his huge fortune, the billionaire still lives a consistent life. He still wears his baseball cap, drives an old pickup truck, and enjoys the outdoors with his dogs.
He has always been very charismatic and loved since his school days. He was the class president of his high school and college classes, and was actively involved in community activities such as the Rotary Club and chamber of commerce.
The billionaire self-proclaimed that he is not as smart as many others, but with hard work and dedication, he was able to rise to become the most successful man in retail all over the world. He has founded many philanthropic activities, such as college scholarships.
Sam Walton is a boss who always encourages the morale of his employees, whose own cheering song called "Walmart Cheer" composed by him during his business trip to the land of Korea is still widely circulated.
The "king of retail" is also famous for teaching his children with a humble and hard-working attitude, like the way he faced failure: "I got up from failure, continued after failure, rebuilt on failure and told myself to do better than what I failed."
Before his death, Sam Walton was encouraged by family and friends to write the book "Business Life in America". He co-wrote with collaborator John Huey. The entire business secret of legendary retail billionaire Sam Walton has been wrapped up in the book. This is considered a book worth reading for all readers, especially those who like to collect books on business.
In 1992, Sam Walton died at the age of 74 from cancer. The Walmart empire is now run by the descendants of Sam Walton. The Walton family's total net worth is $130 billion, making them the richest family in America according to Forbes Magazine.
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