Abstract
The advancement in technology has had a lot of impacts on the operations of many businesses all over the world. This is attributable to the fact that as technology advances, businesses get platforms to improve their products, products’ delivery, as well as the provision of better services to customers. One of the companies that have greatly benefited from the adoption of better technology and innovation is Wal-Mart. The company has benefited through the adoption of technology and innovation such as the use of Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization strategies, new information system technology, and data-gathering technologies.
Wal-Mart is known to be one of the top retail stores that have maintained consistency as far as the delivery of products to its customers is concerned. Its strategy of low prices has greatly given the company a competitive edge although other companies have grown in terms of scale such that they can offer competitive prices. As such, technology and innovation have remained as the most suitable approaches for Wal-Mart to remain relevant in the market.
Recently, Wal-Mart has adopted several technological strategies such as a new information system technology, data-gathering technologies, search technology, search engine optimization strategies, and Search Engine Marketing, all aimed at increasing its relevance in the market.
Information System Technology
The implementation of a new information system technology is beneficial to the number in several ways. The new information system, which uses RFID, focuses on the tracking of inventory as well as the restocking of the shelves (Roh, Kunnathur, & Tarafdar, 2009). This system has been instrumental in helping the company achieve economies of scale by reducing costs.
As such, Wal-Mart, through the implementation of the new information system has been able to offer a quick response to change in demand, maintenance of low costs, as well as ensuring that customers are satisfied (Kambatla, Kollias, Kumar, & Grama, 2014).
Data-gathering Technologies
The retail business of Wal-Mart is driven by data and technology. The company has adopted the use of data to predict the behavior of its customers. For example, Wal-Mart started its @Wal-MartLabs to gather and use data for predictive purposes.
Search Technology
Nowadays, the majority of customers are finding products and services through online searches. Wal-Mart has adopted and even created its search engine, Polaris, which makes the use of sophisticated semantic analysis to analyze the needs of customers concerning the search terms that they use.
Search Engine Optimization
The use of search engine optimization strategies has helped in the ranking of Wal-Mart’s products in major online search engines. With such strategies, Wal-Mart can rank high in search engines in comparison to its competitors. This approach ensures that potential customers can search and find Wal-Mart’s products online easily.
Search Engine Marketing
The adoption of search engine marketing techniques has been beneficial to Wal-Mart in that it helps the company increase the visibility of its brand in online platforms. Search engine marketing has been instrumental in positioning and creating brand awareness.
Before the adoption of the newer technology, managers at Wal-Mart had to work with cumbersome data. However, with the new technology, the handling of data has become easy and simple (Kambatla et al., 2014). Other technologies offered by competing vendors such as route purchasing, business intelligence personality, e-mail bids, electronic invoicing, budget tracking, among others, could have been used to improve the supply chain management at Wal-Mart.
References
Kambatla, K., Kollias, G., Kumar, V., & Grama, A. (2014). Trends in big data analytics. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 74(7), 2561-2573.
Roh, J. J., Kunnathur, A., & Tarafdar, M. (2009). Classification of RFID adoption: An expected benefits approach. Information & Management, 46(6), 357-363.