Case Study #1 Wal-Mart China

How Wal-Mart China should push “sustainability” into the next level Research Conducted by Wal-Mart China and third parties found that customer satisfaction was most affected by the value perceived by customers. The Chinese market is known for its price sensitivity. Customers seem to be far more concerned with whether or not they are receiving the best price, then whether or not Wal-Mart China is committed to its sustainability initiative. This sentiment was illustrated by the disappointing sales of CFL bulbs in Wal-Mart China. CFL bulbs offer real energy savings which would benefit the purchaser in the long run, but they cost more the
For improving their retail their retail operations, Wal-Mart China might consider a crowd sourcing technique. Crowd sourcing would involve using the internet to present the question of, how to improve sustainability practices in retail stores, to a large set of problem solvers all over the world. Experts, businesses, and individuals are likely to have 1000’s of suggestions for improving sustainability practice in Wal-Mart China retail stores. At the point of sale, it is a good opportunity in educating consumers on what Wal-Mart China has been doing towards the goal of “sustainability” as well as what customers can do as individuals to help us achieve the goal. As mentioned above, people from upper-middle class in China are generally eco-friendly but don’t have enough knowledge and exposure as to how to BE eco-friendly. For instance, work can be done on weekly product newsletters they pass out for consumers. By not just showing products on discount, but having a section for what simple but powerful things customers can do to impact the environment as well as offering weekly “green” products would be a start. This can be combined with the Life Cycle Analysis based on which we put products from vendors on a comprehensive scoring system and accordingly generate a weekly “green”