As recently as the late 1980s, most Americans had never seen a Wal-Mart advertisement, not to mention one of their large supermarket stores.
Mr Walton, its Chief Executive Officer, did little to change that. He avoided publicity. And instead of marketing, he became obsessed with operations. He invested tens of millions of dollars in a company-wide computer system linking cash registers to headquarters, enabling him to quickly restock goods selling off the shelves. He also invested heavily in trucks and distribution centres, around which he located his stores. Besides enhancing his control, these moves sharply reduced costs.
That was a gamble. While Mr Antonini's Kmart, the main competition, tried to improve its image and cultivate store loyalty, Mr Walton kept lowering costs, betting that price would prove more important than any other factor.
In the end, attitude may have made a bigger difference than strategy. Mr Walton and his colleague, Mr Glass, asked subordinates what wasn't working, and chided them for failing to deliver any bad news. Executives expected to spend much of their week visiting stores actively to solicit proposals from subordinates. And Mr Walton always acted as if a fierce competition was just behind him and gaining. Even publicly, he and Mr Glass were likelier to discuss Wal-Mart's weaknesses than its strengths.
KMart's Mr Antonini, by contrast, didn't think others could tell him much about the business. A Kmart employee since 1964, when he started as an assistant manager, he bristled at criticism and was known as a 'Tefton-coated' boss because suggestions for change slid right off. Insiders say he didn't do much hiring of managers from outside the company who might challenge him, and he flayed or fired consultants who recommended everything from management changes to targeting a narrower consumer market.
KMart's share of total discount sales has dropped to 22.7% from 34.5% since Mr Antonini took over in 1987, whilst Wal-Mart's has soared to 41.6% from 20.1%.
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