In the 1960s the concept of gift shops, or discounts, spread across the United States. Following this trend, Sam Walton endeavored to create the first Walmart, opened in 1962, in Springdale. The entrepreneur used several marketing tactics and dedicated himself to looking for goods at very affordable prices. With that in hand, the store flourished;

Walton recounts carefully studying his competitors, looking for the pros and cons in their business practices and then improving upon winning tactics, such as consistently keeping prices as low as possible, minimizing infrastructure costs, and ensuring customer satisfaction. Walton also believed in sharing profits with associates through salaries, bonuses, and other incentives. In fact, his mission to create a certain kind of work culture is one of the book’s main topics. Walton believed the customer must be taken care of, first and foremost. In his view, treating associates well translated into treating customers well. He believed true profit lay in the repeat business of loyal customers, and so the customer became his number one priority. A humble and earnest man, Walton considered material possessions like fancy cars, big houses, and other excesses to be distractions from serving the customer well. In "Principles: Life and Work", Ray Dalio explains how dreams, reality, and determination will help you achieve success by making the principles of life and work go together, with an open mind. When it comes to business, however, he has always been inclined to reject the system. Change is an integral part of his philosophy.

Frequently Asked Questions

I often read biographies to learn more about how other successful people started their journey. After I finished like 40% of the book he already had founded Walmart and opened hundreds of stores (and bought an airplane). I'm missing more of the youth part and struggles here. Confidence of Sam in his success from the times of his childhood... As he said he couldn't even think about failure... Walton’s business values and principles are succinctly described in Chapter 17, where he shares his 10 rules to build a successful business. These rules form the core of Walton’s business philosophy, and they are reflected in many of the book’s earlier chapters. The rules are: Hayes, Thomas (April 6, 1992). "Sam Walton Is Dead At 74; the Founder Of Wal-Mart Stores". The New York Times . Retrieved March 14, 2022.

He discovered cheaper suppliers in a different state and brought their merchandise into his store with car trailer that was homemade. I think it will be interesting to watch Sam Walton's legacy as the world of retail moves out of the physical space into the cloud. There are some real problems that his organization may or may not really yet know how to handle.

Summary Points & Takeaways from Sam Walton: Made in America

Communicate with your associates, listen to the ideas of everyone in your company. The development of a company is a collective effort; This book captured Sam Walton’s voice and spirit and I bought in right away. There are many concepts I’d like to include in my teaching or coaching - I’m not in retail or a conventional “business”. I plan on using much of my highlights from Made in America in my Sociology class. I don’t know much about Sam Walton as a person, except from my experiences in his stores and from this book. I understand there are many critics, but I am not one of them.

To ensure productivity, Walmart has several ways to reward the work of its associates, such as a profit-sharing plan and other financial association programs, bonuses on loss control expectations, and incentives for formal education for its directors.Samuel Moore Walton was a born entrepreneur. In his book, "Sam Walton: Made in America", the founder of Walmart claims to be, in many of its basic values, such as religion, family and politics, a conservative. Take action first and a lot of things will fall into place. We always think about preparing ourselves perfectly for a situation before we take any action on it however if you look at Sam Walton's story he usually learned by taking action.

This kind of laser focus is rare in business. It is so easy as a company gets larger to become lost in the weeds of things or start to think of economy of scale. That exists pervasively in nearly every industry that one might think was client focus and has opened huge gaping opportunities for competitors to interface and thereby steal customers. As for his management style, I found it amazing that even as a successful a man as he was, there are plenty of stories of fights with his management to implement something that is so obvious today (such as greeters). This took him 1 year to get all his regional managers on-board. Reminds you that no matter who you are, you still have to sell your ideas. This is one of those book that you have to have on your bookshelf. Sam Walton is a great example of a man with very strong values and principles, despite all of the success and failures Sam never sacrificed his core values. If I had to summarize the book into top 3 lessons this is what it would look like: Discounter stores. In the early 1960’s, a new type of retail store called a discounter store began popping up. The idea was to sell products at cheaper prices, but with a higher volume of sales they still made a lot of profit. Sam Walton saw discounter stores very successful in the northeast US and he knew they would come to Arkansas soon.I learned from a very early age that is what important for us kids to help provide for the home, to be contributors, rather than just takers. In the process, of course we learned how much hard work it took to get your hands on a dollar, and that when you did it was worth something. One thing my mother and dad shared completely was their approach to money: they just didn’t spend it.” p.6 Empowering managers and associates to test their radical ideas contributed to Walmart´s success. Sam Walton gives the associates their due credit recognising their constant dedication and vital role in remaining in touch with the customer. Distinguished Eagle Scouts" (PDF). Scouting.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 12, 2016 . Retrieved November 4, 2010.