Management Information Systems 13e
KENNETH C. LAUDON AND JANE P. LAUDON

CHAPTER 2

GLOBAL E-BUSINESS: HOW BUSINESSES USE INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Walmart’s Retail Link Supply Chain

CASE 1
VIDEO
CASE

Systems SUMMARY An introduction to Walmart’s Retail Link system, one of the largest B2B supply-chain systems in the world. Retail Link connects consumer purchase data to the Walmart purchasing system and to vendor supply systems. Retail Link plays a key role in Walmart’s corporate strategy to become the dominant low-cost provider of retail goods. L=7:13. URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUe-tSabKag CASE

Walmart is a well-known leader in the application of network technology to coordinate its supply chain. Walmart’s supply chain is the secret sauce behind its claim of offering the lowest prices everyday. It’s able to make this promise because it has possibly the most efficient B2B supply chain in the world. It doesn’t hurt to also be the largest purchaser of consumer goods in the world. With sales of more than $443 billion for the fiscal year ending
January 31, 2012, Walmart has been able to use information technology to achieve a decisive cost advantage over competitors. As you might imagine, the world’s largest retailer also has the world’s largest supply chain, with more than 60,000 suppliers worldwide. In the next five years, the company plans to expand from around 5,000 retail stores in the United States
(including Sam’s Clubs) to over 5,500 and increase its selection of goods. Internationally,

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 Chapter 2, Case 1 Walmart’s Retail Link Supply Chain 2

Walmart has over 5,200 additional stores in 26 countries outside the United States, giving it a total of over 10,000 retail units. The rapid expansion in Walmart’s international operations will require an even more capable private industrial