by Andre Sanchez

It is not an easy thing to write a short  biography of Sam Walton, since he achieved so much in his lifetime that there is nothing ‘short’ about his story.  Most importantly, he founded Wal-Mart along with his brother Bud.  Wal-Mart is the retail store chain that became the biggest in the world in the 1990s. 

Sam was born on 29th March, 1918 near Kingfisher, Oklahoma, where he lived with his parents Thomas and Nancy till they moved Missouri in 1923.  There he had his first retailing experiencing while working in his father store till he finished school.  He was the youngest Eagle Scout in the state’s history, and when he attended Hickman High School in Columbia, he led it to the state football title in 1935.

He was voted ‘Most Versatile Boy’ when he graduated from high school, having served as President of the Student Body, although at home his chores included milking the cow and delivering milk to customers each morning, before starting his paper delivery round. Don’t forget that this was in the thirties, in the middle of the Depression, and Sam had to do all he could to help the family. Money was not easy to come by in these days.  It was in his nature to start work full time, but decided to keep up with his studies so that he could attend the University of Missouri.

This he did and he majored in economics.  In order to finance this he worked as a waiter,  a lifeguard and continued to deliver papers.  Among his accomplishments while at university, he was in the National Honor Society and was voted the Permanent President of his class, as well as being President of a Sunday school class. Sam Walton was a busy young man.

Only three days after graduating Sam started work in Des Moines, Iowa.  He joined J.C. Penney, a famous retail store, as a management trainee, and quickly learned the importance of loyalty:  not only with employees, but the loyalty of customers.  When the war started, he left Penney in 1942 and joined the army. While enlisted he married  Helen Robson who hade graduated from Oklahoma University with a Business Degree.  When he returned from the war he decided to start up his own retail outlet.

Franchises were popular at that time, and he borrowed $20,000 from his father in law and used $5,000 of his savings to purchase the $25,000 franchise from Ben Franklin in Arkansas. It was there that he learned the strategy of cutting prices to sell in high volume, and thereby increase profits.  He soon had enough money to open a second store and just as things were looking rosy, he lost his chain of both stores to a greedy landlord who refused to renew the lease, wanting the successful stores for his son.

However, he was not deterred, and after moving to Bentonville, Arkansas, he opened another store,  ‘Walton 5 and 10’.  Here, he introduced self service and sought talented staff from other stores to manage the new ones that he opened. He introduced novelties such as late opening, and profit sharing to his managers, which are now standard strategies in the trade.  He also introduced the concept of self-service by providing lightweight baskets that the cashiers would empty and ring up the goods all at once, rather than the customer paying at various tills scattered around the stores in different departments.

By 1960 Sam had sixteen Ben Franklin franchised stores trading under the name ‘Walton 5 and 10’, and decided to rename the chain ‘Wal-Mart’ in 1962.  The story goes that the name Wal-Mart was suggested by a certain Bob Bogle, the manager of one of Sam’s stores.  It was said to have been suggested as a means of saving money:  ‘Ben Franklin’ had eleven letters and Wal-Mart only seven, thus saving on neon lights!

It went on to generate the highest sales of any chain in the USA, and then became the biggest in the world.  Sam Walton died in 1992, the second richest man behind his friend Bill Gates.  He was a leader rather than a follower, and many retail methods that are standard today were revolutionary when he introduced them.  Even simple things like providing customers with good lighting and a clean environment made a difference.

If one phrase can sum up a short biography of Sam Walton it is just that.  In the retail trade, he made a difference.

A Short Biography of Sam Walton was originally published at http://www.businessmannow.com