Customer Benefit Package (Walmart vs Luxury Clothier) Essay

Wal-Mart is no doubt the biggest retail store in North America. It is considered to be the most efficiently run retail business in the world. Wal-Mart compared to luxury retailers have a lot of contrasting factors both in goods and services provided. The most significant factor that I see when one is to compare Wal-Mart to a luxury retailer is the price. Wal-Mart is considered to be a discount retail store which is why their products are reasonably priced goods whereas luxury retailers tend to be highly priced. To contrast the Customer Benefit Package of Wal-Mart against a luxury clothier for purchasing a suit or a new formal dress, there are many contributing factors. Different people look for different types of benefits from the products to satisfy their needs. Typical sources of benefits are Good Comparative Price, Good Quality, Good After-Sales Service, Reputable Company Image, Well Known Product/Brand, Low After-Sales Costs, Prompt Delivery, Well Designed Product, Fashionable, Ease of Purchase, and Reliability. In terms of price, Wal-Mart has definitely an advantage over its competitors particularly a luxury clothier in this case. Let us say we compare Wal-Mart to Zara. Zara’s prices are definitely higher than Wal-Mart. In terms of quality, Zara sources out more quality materials used on their products to provide their consumers with that certain quality they are expected of because of the name as compared to Wal-Mart, which limits their stocks on a per style, per season basis due to purchase cost. This gives the customer a sense of pride knowing that not too many people will have the same item on their closet. Zara or any luxury clothier is focused more on quality design for this is their main area of business. They spend on the design, style and quality. A luxury clothier or Zara for that matter is a well-known brand. Consumers buy their products because of their name. They have trust in these brands. These brands carry sophisticated designs with upscale fashion and offer excellent or one on one customer service. This is an advantage that they have over Wal-Mart. They provide their customers with that assistance in referring or suggesting other products, such as accessories that may suit the buying customer. In case of Wal-Mart, they have their in house brand, George, which provides consumers with reasonable  priced products and carry other brand names as well so consumer has more choices. The difference here would be the preference of the consumer. Do I go for a dress or suit with a brand name or a suit or dress that would fit me well and does not matter what brand it is. A luxury clothier would have more variety of choices since clothing is their main line of business. For its goods, a luxury clothier carries more accessories to go with the suits or dresses they sell. Their staffs are knowledgeable enough to assist the consumer what accessories they can wear together with the suit or dress. Wal-Mart on the other hand, does not have this kind of service where they can suggest to their consumer what to wear together with a suit or dress. Wal-Mart’s staffs are not trained for this kind of service. Another major contrasting factor between Wal-Mart and a luxury clothier is its service. This plays a major role in the decision making process of the consumer. Am I satisfied with how the stores staff assisted me? Did I have an intimate shopping experience? How long did I have to wait to pay? Was the staff courteous and knowledgeable about their product? One would even go as far as coming back to that store just because of how he/she was treated by the staff. I like shopping in that store because the staff treats me like a VIP. Wal-Mart offers various after sales service that keeps their customers going back to them. The Cash Back Reward program that they have entices its customers to go back and shop in their store. This is where they have an advantage over luxury clothiers as the latter does not have this kind of a program to customers. Wal-Mart also has an adequate return policy wherein they freely accept returns within a specified time frame. Wal-Mart has a lot of cashiers considering the size of its store. For a luxury clothier, they usually have 2 to 4 cashiers and on a busy day, you would see lines in the cashier. Wal-Mart boasts of offering top quality products and services, providing its customers with a â€Å"one-stop† shopping experience. They offer various products from food, clothing, housewares, gift items, garden centre, and auto centre. It also offers services such as financing, travel agency,  pharmacy, vision centre, salons and photo centre. It also offers McDonald’s in almost every store. You can also shop online by creating your account with them. There are definitely a lot of contrasting ideas between Wal-Mart and luxury clothier. There are many contributing factors mentioned. Why do people go to Wal-Mart? Like many consumers’, the main reasons would mostly be due to convenience, impulse buying due to being a â€Å"one-stop† shop, after- sales service and the price. For a luxury clothier, it would be more of the brand you are buying, the quality and reliability of the product, image of luxury clothier, updated style or fashion, and one on one customer service.