Bryan Roberts has spent over ten years as a Walmart analyst and has gained great understanding of Walmart's strategies, objectives and achievements. He is Retail Insights Director for Kantar Retail EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), based in London. Prior to joining Kantar Retail, Bryan was the Global Research Director at Planet Retail, a leading retail analyst firm.

Natalie Berg has spent years working alongside major retailers and vendors as they seek to better compete with, or partner with, Walmart. Her main expertise lies in areas such as private label, merchandizing, pricing and shopper-centricity. She is a Research Director at Planet Retail, a leading retail analyst firm.

Includes exclusive interviews with Walmart executives and Bill Simon, CEO of Walmart US

1. Is Walmart the best positioned retailer on the globe?

2. Rise of consumerismArrival of the boom times

3. House of (Walmart) brandsShifting away from national brands
Great values
The globalization of private label
The brands behind the private labels

4. Don't aggravate the customerI can't believe it's not on shelves
We didn't add back 3,000... no it was more like 9,000
SKU rationalization: far from perfection but a vital process
Doing more with less
Outsmarting the elephant

5. It's an EDLP worldThe consumer advocate and king of deflation
Recession lesson #1: never take your eye off the customer
The path to efficiency
How Walmart broke the supermarket pricing model
Too concerned with trading down over trading out
No need for weapons of mass distraction
Preço Baixo Todo Dia: is it an EDLP world?
EDLP doesn't exist without EDLC
Kakaku Yasuku - EDLP implementation isn't always seamless
Walmart versus inflation

6. Walmart and its suppliersWalmart and its supplier: the evolution of collaboration
Canoeing with P&G
Dinner with General Electric
Collaboration takes hold
Is collaboration on the wane?
'Tough but fair negotiations'
The dependence of US suppliers on Walmart
Pharmaceuticals and alcohol have a convoluted route to the shopper
Tobacco & confectionery - the McLane clause
Lack of disclosure from private and international businesses
Reliance on Walmart as high as 55 per cent
P&G leading the way
The power is now with Walmart
Walmart's shopper-centricity driving customer-centricity from suppliers
Is Walmart lacking insight?
As Walmart evolves, suppliers must follow suit
Structural alignment is key
Assortment editing and the impact on suppliers
Vendors and sustainability

7. Removing the margin-takersThe evolution of global sourcing at Walmart
New global sourcing strategy unveiled in 2010
Does global buying really exist?
Grocery is still a national business
Walmart's quest for leverage
Global Brands Imports gaining traction
GMCs yielding results

8. Still leading in logisticsThe scale of Walmart's logistics system
In-house supply chain development
Food for thought
Supplier collaboration
Globalizing supply chain excellence
Globalizing one country at a time
Greening the supply chain
Implications for suppliers

9. The surest way to predict the future is to invent itTechnology takes hold in the 1970s
The 1980s: technology acceleration in-store
Opening the inner sanctum: Walmart's use of third-party IT suppliers
Data warehousing: helping Walmart drink from a hosepipe of information
Retail Link: a new era for Walmart and its suppliers
The false dawn of RFID
The globalization of technology in Walmart
Technology and private label development
Price optimization
Bean counting and number-crunching
In-store technology
'Our computer really does give us the power of competitive advantage'

10. Facing up to a multi-channel futureFrom Little Rock to Big Apple
The Supercenter and Walmart's rise to grocery domination
The final frontier: getting bigger by going small
The icing on the cake
The British are coming
Grandma, the Manhattanite and fraternity boys
The kinds of convenience: US drugstores
Living off Walmart's crumbs
Digital evolution
Democratization of technology
Amazon - 'the Walmart of our era'
Going [...]

11. Going global: Walmart's international retail leadershipWalmart International's market entry strategies
By the numbers
Walmart International in context
Walmart International performance
The scope and scale of Walmart International
Channel strategy
Small-box development
Walmart International: the good, the bad and the ugly
Where next?

12. Tomorrow's Walmart

Appendix
Further reading
Index