Information Technology In Walmart And Kroger: An Exploration

Research Methodology

This report highlights the use of Information technology in the company Walmart and Kroger. Walmart is one of the biggest retail corporations in America that operates a chain of hypermarkets which is also known as supercentres (grocery stores, discount department stores) all over the world. Walmart is a public type company. Around 10,566 stores are available and 23,00,000 people work worldwide (Biden, 2022). Walmart offers a variety of products in almost every category which includes groceries, furniture, hardware, health goods, appliances, and wellness. Kroger is a retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the US. This company operates a total of 2750 grocery retail stores under its banners and division in 35 states. Around 465,000 employees work under this company (Biden, 2022). The company Kroger offers full grocery, expanded and pharmacy general merchandise which includes living products, home goods, electronics and toys. This report describes the use of information systems in both the company to manage the organisation, people, and technology.     

Nature of study: 

The research methodology deals with the flow of the research process and serves through guidance to carry out the research study. The scope of this study is to understand the use of information systems in both companies Walmart and Kroger (Macri, 2018). This section deals with how the research was designed the methodology used to study the role of IS in the company and how they help to manage the collection of data. This study is exploratory research that helps in providing insight into technology trends in both companies. This section mainly comprises of research design, study area, nature of data & sources of data collection, tools used for data collection, research approach and method of analysis.

Table 1. Research Strategy

An information system is a group of components that helps in managing data storage and processing. Its role is to analyse and process the key aspects of ruining any organisation which includes record keeping, communication, data analysis, decision making, and many more. Walmart and Kroger have similarities in their information system as they both use the management information system to achieve their competitive advantage. This MIS helps both the company to meet their target on time. Both the company Walmart and Kroger manage their supply chain best to retain the customer (Garry, 2022).  The major advantage of using the IS in the company is that it makes working easier and more efficient. It helps in managing the people management, technology and organisation culture. Data security of data theft is one of the major disadvantages of the IS used in the organisation. information system sometimes not function properly, smooth operation interrupting and system breakdown can cause the customer dissatisfaction. Information systems help both the company to achieve their competitive advantage. In Walmart IS helps in maintaining low cost, focusing on a niche market, strengthening with customers and suppliers which help the company Walmart to achieve its competitive advantage (Cox, 2021). Whereas Kroger uses the IS for differentiating the product and services and increasing their capability to enter the high competition market which helps in achieving their competitive advantage. The company uses the IS to manage the data collection which includes personal data information, operational data information. IS eases the process of decision making and simplifies and help to store the data and maintain the records and documentation which help the company to keep the data for a long period.

Research Design

The information system that Walmart company use includes the EDI procurement system and MIS (Management Information System). EDI stands for electronic data interchange system which is used to process the data through the network of networks. This helps Walmart suppliers to supervise their sales of products (Garry, 2022). EDI makes supervision easy for the small vendors to provide goods effectively. This system helps the company suppliers to gather the information from different stores to stores. MIS (management information system) has different aspects in the company. Using EDI in Walmart procurement includes the system of the company Walmart which were connected to its suppliers, MIS includes the supply chain management which is used by the Walmart, it helps the company to focus on the customer’s needs and reducing the cost (Mata et al., 2020). The Walmart procurement includes: Reducing the purchasing cost and providing the best price to the customers, company directly procured by the manufacturers.   

The information system used by the company Kroger is SIM (Supplier information system), tracking shoppers’ system and supply chain management to improve the customer experience. Supplier information system helps to provide the centralised data based for the suppliers to provide the product to the company. The feature of this management and communication system is that they are designed to ensure its suppliers that comply with the law, specifical relation to inspection, monitoring, ever-increasing regulation and certificate requirements (Morgan, 2022). The other information system used by Kroger is the QueVision system which helps in tracking the number of shoppers in the stores and the checkout. This system of the company helps to counter people above each exist and the entrance that tabulates the number of people leaving and joining. Another system used by Kroger is supply chain management which helps in improving customer satisfaction. Kroger Co. here stated that they are implementing a suite of Web-enabled software from Retek and Minneapolis to help them better manage the SCM in their company.

Comparison of different information systems in Walmart and Kroger

Automation is playing an important role in today’s market of online grocery. The automated warehouse is not new to the retail supply chain but the government of the US never allow them. For example, during a pandemic, 4% of Americans groceries was done online. This study analyses the different information systems in both the company Walmart and Kroger which helps them to gain their competitive advantage. There are two strategies to automating online grocery fulfilment which includes: LFC (Local Fulfilment Centres), and larger robotically enabled warehouses. Walmart began piloting the LFC model with an impressive robotics system called Alphabets (Stair & Reynolds, 2018). This robotics system helps in picking and packing orders 10 times faster than humans. In contrary to Kroger which has committed to building 20 automated warehouse facilities. Kroger warehouse is being constructed in a partnership with Ocado with a fully automated electronics commerce grocery warehouse. A major difference between Walmart and the Kroger facilities is size- Walmart planning the next few Alphabets implementation is around 8000 square feet in operation where Kroger facility will be 3,50,000 square feet.        

Information Systems in Walmart and Kroger

Figure 1. Supply chain analysis

Source: (Walker, 2019)

As per the Macri survey on 550 respondents considers that Walmart has the best supply chain. Around 80% of respondents consider that Walmart has the best supply chain while almost 40% of respondents believe Kroger does as shown in Figure 1 (Tan et al., 2018). Both the company uses the management information system to improve and manage their supply chain., the company Kroger looking to improve the supply chain management by adopting the web-enabled software called Retek. This system will help the company to maintain the stock in the company and alert them before the end of stock. It helps to analyse the stocks used and sold to manage better supply chain management.

With 245 million customers visiting 10,900 stores with 10 active websites, Walmart is a name to reckon in the retail sector. Whether it is social mention, online activity or in-store purchases, Walmart will always be the biggest retailer in the world (Walker, 2019). The GCI (Global Customer Insights) analysis estimates that Walmart has seen close to 3,00,000 social mentions every week and with 2 million associates they hire around a half-million associates every year. Walmart plans to spend about 14$ billion in the coming year, adding automation and improving its supply chain whereas Kroger is using data and analytics to improve the customer experience. Kroger considers many factors to determine which item to stock including In-person traffic, Shelf-life Expectancy, Seasonal items, Customer behaviour (Walker, 2019). Kroger doubled its digital business in 2020 and commits to doubling its digital business and profitability by 2023.

Conclusion 

Information technology has the power to lower the barriers and bridge the gap to provide better services to the company. This study comprises that the use of information systems helps the company Walmart and Kroger to achieve their targets. Walmart and Kroger have been able to efficiently upgrade and use their information tools like EDI and MSI. This report comprised that the company easily achieved its efficiency in cost maximisation. This study concludes that the Kroger company improves their supply chain management using the Retek system. It can be concluded that the process of adopting the IS provides multiple benefits to the organisation, people, and customers. It would be appropriate for the company to adopt technology changes as per market requirements by offering more innovative and creative solutions to customer problems.

References

Biden, M. (2022). Role of Information system in Walmart and Kroger. Ibm.com. Retrieved 28 January 2022, from

https://www.ibm.com/services.

Clark, R. (2020). Supply Chain – The Kroger Co. The Kroger Co. Retrieved 28 January 2022, from

https://www.thekrogerco.com/blueprint/supply-chain/.

Colangelo, E., Hartleif, S., Kroger, T., & Bauernhansl, T. (2019). A Service-Oriented Approach for the Cognitive Factory — A Position Paper. 2019 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Information and Communication (ICAIIC), 12(6), 115-165.

https://doi.org/10.1109/icaiic.2019.8668990

Cox, A. (2021). Walmart vs Kroger: A strategy battle for online grocery. FreightWaves. Retrieved 28 January 2022, from

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/walmart-vs-kroger-a-strategy-battle-for-online-grocery.

Garry, M. (2022). Technology Helps Kroger Keep Fast-Checkout Promise. Supermarket News. Retrieved 28 January 2022, from https://www.supermarketnews.com/technology/technology-helps-kroger-keep-fast-checkout-promise.

Macri, K. (2018). Manufacturers think Walmart and Kroger manage supply chains best. Supply Chain Dive. Retrieved 28 January 2022, from

https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/manufacturers-think-walmart-and-kroger-manage-supply-chains-best/525957/.

Mata, F., Fuerst, W., & Barney, J. (2020). Information Technology and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based Analysis. MIS Quarterly, 19(4), 487. https://doi.org/10.2307/249630

Morgan, M. (2022). Kroger Supplier Information Management System (SIM). Thekrogerco.com. Retrieved 28 January 2022, from https://www.thekrogerco.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/kroger-supplier-self-registration.pdf.

Stair, R., & Reynolds, G. (2018). Fundamentals of information systems (7th ed., pp. 117-125). Cengage Learning.

Tan, B., Yan, J., Chen, S., & Liu, X. (2018). The Impact of Blockchain on Food Supply Chain: The Case of Walmart. Smart Blockchain, 11373, 167-177. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05764-0_18

Walker, B. (2019). Kroger vs. Walmart: Which Is Better? | The Grocery Store Guy. The Grocery Store Guy. Retrieved 28 January 2022, from

https://thegrocerystoreguy.com/kroger-vs-walmart/.

Whang, S. (2021). The impact of information systems on organizations and markets. Communications Of The ACM, 34(1), 59-73. https://doi.org/10.1145/99977.99990

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