Wal-Mart is a multinational retail cooperation that has its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Since its start in 1962 by Sam Walton, it has grown to be the largest private employer and grocery retailer in the world. As per the end of January 2018, it had 11,718 stores and clubs trading under 59 different names in 59 countries. Given the diversity of the products it deals with, such as movies, home, and furniture, health and beauty products, sporting products, grocery, photo finishing among others, it is supplied by a large number of suppliers located in over 70 countries. A large amount of goods, transportation over the different location and dealing with various suppliers at different places has made Wal-Mart effective in its supply chain management attaining less than 2% supply chain cost of the total sales cost as of 1989. This article discusses technological innovation by Wal-Mart in its supply chain management (Roberts & Berg, 2012) .
Wal-Mart uses technology in many aspects of its operation. Key to all applications is the development of a dynamic, responsive website, digital application, and inventory management and optimization algorithm. As such it had developed to be a private company with the most extensive information technology infrastructure in the world. In its supply chain management, technology is majorly used for tracking movement, of goods between suppliers and the stores and between its customers and the stores. Furthermore, technology is also used to predict inventory levels, the establishment of a highly effective transportation route and management of customer relationship (Prashanth, Gupta, & European Case Clearing House, 2004).
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Since it became the first store to use the Universal product barcodes, Wal-Mart has advanced further to the usage of radio frequency identification tags (RFID) and smart tags. RFID contains numerical codes that can be scanned from a distance saving time on identification and routing pallets of different goods to their desired destination. This technique makes it easy for the supplier and Wal-Mart staff to efficiently manage inventories of the products coming directly from the manufacturer (Davila, Epstein, Shelton, Cagan & Vogel, 2013) . Inside the stores, it has adopted usage of smart tags. The tags are scanned using handheld scanners and enable the staff to promptly replenish diminishing stocks on shelves (White & Bruton, 2011) .
An enhanced customer relationship has also contributed to a more efficient supply chain. For instance, Wal-Mart has an app which is used by an average of twenty-four million people every month. The app has streamlined the process of purchase, finding the desired product, price comparison, and product delivery. Information obtained from the app user, enable the store to predict demand, manage inventories and also set prices using its new technology platform called Pangaea. In addition to the app, its responsive website enables users to access it on different platforms. As such, the store has managed to move millions of products efficiently from the manufacturer to meet the customers’ needs realizing high sales with a low supply chain cost (Roberts & Berg, 2012) .
In conclusion, it is clear that development of an advanced state of the art information technology infrastructure has given Wal-Mart an effective way of managing its supply chain. Utilization of faster identification system such as the barcode, RFID, and smart tags had reduced the time spent on identification and decision making on the supply chain process. Furthermore, the customers and the manufacturers have been incorporated in the supply chain management by the development of Wal-Mart app and a pricing algorithm. All these technological innovations continuously enable Wal-Mart to compete favorably given the large market share it has acquired.
References
Davila, T., Epstein, M., Shelton, R., Cagan, J., & Vogel, C. (2013). How to Become Innovative . FT Press.
Prashanth, K., Gupta, V., & European Case Clearing House. (2004). Wal-mart's supply chain management practices (B): Using IT/Internet to manage the supply chain . Hyderabad, India: ICFAI Center for Management Research.
Roberts, B. R., & Berg, N. (2012). Walmart: Key insights and practical lessons from the world's largest retailer . London: Kogan Page.
White, M. A., & Bruton, G. D. (2011). The management of technology and innovation: A strategic approach . Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
