Sam Walton V Jeff Bezo

Ok I just finished the book Sam Walton Made in America and it strikes me  that there are really alot of similarities between Sam Walton(Founder of Walmart) and Jeff Bezo.(Founder of Amazon).

Firstly, they are the disruptor of their era. Back in Sam era, each individual state in the US is served by their individual retail store, each of them do not enter into other territories. They stay in their indivdual area and charge their products at high margin at the expense of customers and there nothing customers can do about it.

What Sam did was to bring in the discounting concept, sellling at the lowest price possible

and he knocked those competitors all flat. It amazing in this sense that, he just started out as one store back in Arkanasa , did not have the financing, the distribution network, the technologies blah blah blah as those competitors but he manage to knock them all flat after time.

What Bezo did was similar too, His famous quote, "Your Margin is my Opportunity" be it Brick and mortar retail stores, book stores, music, content viewing, as long as he view he is able to deliver these stuffs at a lower cost, he will do it and he will pass on all these cost saving to customers just like what Sam had done with his discounting concept.

Secondly, They are both extremely customer centric. They both had only one laser like focus , everything they do at their company it all about the customers. 

Thirdly, They had show hand and their net worth is tied totally with their ownership in their respective companies .

Forth, They try to improve their companies everyday instead of resting on their laurel, aiming to be a better company than the day before. They like to experiment with new things even though their current business are already doing so well. Put it simply,they are always on their toes. 

OK, one difference though back in the days when Walmart is growing, we can see net profit growing alongside with revenue. But for Amazon, there always seem to be nothing much at the bottom line. Some might argue it have gone into reinvesting into the business.

Ok some conclusion

Retailing is tough business, and in retailing and It is all about the Jockey and nothing about the horse. Look what happen to JC Penney and Sears