1. By Delphine Marini and Bridget Wolansky
The Wal-Mart Effect
By Delphine Marini and Bridget Wolansky

2. Who Knew Shopping Was So Important?
Chapter One
Who Knew Shopping Was So Important?

3. What did Walmart change about deodorant packaging that cut cost 5 cents per unit?
They got rid of the cardboard box that they were packaged in.

4. What new department did Walmart add to their stores that doubled their size and made them become known as supercenters?
Groceries

5. True or False. Walmart sells more groceries than any other company in the world

6. How many Americans live within 5 miles of a Walmart ?
More than half.

7. What makes Walmart different than McDonald’s and Starbucks regarding their appearance?
They don’t fade into the landscape; they sit in the middle of large asphalt parking lots, and are on a slightly different grade than nearby roads.

8. What state was Walmart started in?
Arkansas

9. What areas of innovation has Walmart perfected over the past years?
Warehousing, logistics, data management and merchandising.

10. Why is Walmart finding itself under attack politically and legally?
For the poor treatment of its workers.

11. What are two main perceptions of shopping that make consumers choose to shop at Walmart or not? (the difference between how the author and his wife shop)
Some shop to search out for the best deals and some go to “explore, to be surprised, and persuaded”.

12. True or False. Walmart has changed our expectations as buyers and reshaped the companies that supply it.
True

13. Sam Walton’s Ten-Pound Bass
Chapter Two
Sam Walton’s Ten-Pound Bass

14. Who started working for the second Walmart ever made when he was 14 and worked his way up in the company and was able to retire a millionaire in his 50s?
Larry English

15. What was the most important cost of the company that store managers we required to strictly control?
Payroll costs

16. What are the bedrock values instilled in early Walmart workers by Sam Walton?
Hard work, frugality, discipline, loyalty and a restless effort at constant self-improvement

17. What percent more hours are Walmart staffers working than their competitors?
15%

18.   What did Sam Walton encourage the managers of stores to do beyond beating their competitors?
Visit other Walmart stores on a regular basis and learn everything they could from each other.

19. What year did Forbes rank Walton as the richest person in America
What year did Forbes rank Walton as the richest person in America? And what was the net worth then?
In 1985, the net worth was $4.5 billion

20. What do Wal-Mart auto service departments now do?
They keep it simple. They do nothing but tires, batteries, and oil changes

21. Who was the first in charge of Wal-Mart’s pharmacy service?
Clarence Archer (Arch).

22. How many scrips were pharmacists expected to fill a day? And now?
They were expected to fill 100 scrips a day, now it is 200 to 300 a day.

23. Why did Wal-Mart have 40 lawsuits in 2005?
Employees complained that they were forced to work off the clock, either working through scheduled breaks or punching out and continuing to work for no pay.

24. Making Bacon, A Wal-Mart Fairy Tale
Chapter Three
Making Bacon, A Wal-Mart Fairy Tale

25. Who were the inventors of Makin Bacon?
Jonathan Fleck and his daughter Abbey.

26. How many Makin Bacon dishes did Fleck sell?
1.25 million through Wal- Mart, and more than 4 million nationwide.

27. What is Makin Bacon and Wal-Mart’s relationship an example of?
When things go well with Wal- Mart, it’s good for everyone: vendors, factory workers, customers.

28. Why is Wal-Mart more reliable business wise than Target?
Target can go large quickly as it goes small. With Wal-Mart, “if you’re in there, if you’re not in there, you know”.

29. What is Sam Walton’s strategy?
Shopping at his competitors ceaselessly, looking for what they did better than Wal-Mart.

30. What has Walton done with the promotional discounts?
He got rid of them and made a everyday low shelf price.

31. And what has that allowed for?
To smooth out and rationalize the demand from customers- they buy it when they need it. It makes the supply more predictable

32. What is Wal-Mart’s most famous team?
Procter & Gamble’s

33. What two things did the pallets do that Wal-Mart loved?
They took costs out of the system, and increased sales.

34. What is Retail Link?
A proprietary system that Wal- Mart first made accessible to vendors in 1991