Three characteristics Wal-Mart looks for in a supplier, and has found in Rubbermaid, Hershey Foods and The Stanley WorksExecutives at Levi Strauss are hoping business process changes to support their relationship with Wal-Mart will spark a turnaround. But who wins with the number-one retailer? Consultants at Bain studied 20 Wal-Mart suppliers and found that those growing their revenue and profits through business with the giant retailer share three things: They use technology and better business practices to control their costs and slash the price Wal-Mart pays for their products. Example: Rubbermaid. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe They create new products. Bringing back the same product year after year won’t cut it with Wal-Mart. The retailer will either whittle away at your margins, make its own version of your product or look elsewhere for a cheaper version. (For instance, Wal-Mart started its own laundry detergent line.) Example: Hershey Foods. They know their products better than Wal-Mart. They know who’s buying their products and what other products land in the shopping cart with theirs. And they know what draws customers to their displays. Example: The Stanley Works. Related content feature The year’s top 10 enterprise AI trends — so far In 2022, the big AI story was the technology emerging from research labs and proofs-of-concept, to it being deployed throughout enterprises to get business value. This year started out about the same, with slightly better ML algorithms and improved d By Maria Korolov Sep 21, 2023 16 mins Machine Learning Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence opinion 6 deadly sins of enterprise architecture EA is a complex endeavor made all the more challenging by the mistakes we enterprise architects can’t help but keep making — all in an honest effort to keep the enterprise humming. By Peter Wayner Sep 21, 2023 9 mins Enterprise Architecture IT Strategy Software Development opinion CIOs worry about Gen AI – for all the right reasons Generative AI is poised to be the most consequential information technology of the decade. Plenty of promise. But expect novel new challenges to your enterprise data platform. By Mike Feibus Sep 20, 2023 7 mins CIO Generative AI Artificial Intelligence brandpost How Zero Trust can help align the CIO and CISO By Jaye Tillson, Field CTO at HPE Aruba Networking Sep 20, 2023 4 mins Zero Trust Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe