Walmart is the biggest retailer in the world, but its stores in other countries often go by different names. Here's what they look like and what you can buy there.

Rachel Askinasi,Rachel Askinasi

Feb 8, 2019, 22:23 IST

Walmart is the biggest retailer in the world, but its stores in other countries often go by different names. Here's what they look like and what you can buy there.

Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

America's largest retailer has branches all over the world, but you wouldn't know it from the store names.

Walmart has its hand in retail and e-commerce in 27 countries worldwide, according to its website.
The company's first store outside the United States was a Sam's Club in Mexico City, which opened in 1991, according to its website.
Walmart has struggled to expand into markets abroad for years. Competing discount chains across the globe that are able to offer shoppers better prices and service shoppers with unique needs pose a threat that the company doesn't quite face in the US.
After trying and failing at putting its own name on stores in certain countries, the biggest retailer in America - and the world - decided to start acquiring or investing in existing warehouses and wholesalers to keep its hand in the international business game.
Some locations, like Brazil and China, continue to be challenging for Walmart.
See what the Walmart banners look like around the world and what some of these stores are selling.

On February 1, 2018, the retail behemoth changed its corporate name from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to Walmart Inc. The change in name reflected the company's shift away from brick and mortar and toward other ways of selling, like with its online business.

In addition to expanding its assortment on Walmart.com, the retailer has acquired a number of digital-focused brands since 2010.

On Jet.com — the e-commerce site Walmart bought for $3.3 billion in 2016 — shoppers get an extremely localized and personalized experience.

Shoppers can order electronics, shoes, groceries, toys, and a toothbrush all in one package — kind of like what they'd be able to get from a regular in-person trip to Walmart.

Walmart has its hand in retail and e-commerce in 27 countries, with more than 11,200 retail units working under 55 banners worldwide.

The global expansion hasn't come easy for the world's biggest retailer, though.

The initial effort put the Walmart name on stores around the globe, but it proved rather difficult for the company to correctly identify the needs of its non-American consumers.

After multiple failed attempts to expand the Walmart brand into Europe, the company began to change its approach to international growth.

Source: The New York Times

It became less concerned with having the Walmart name on every store and instead focused on acquiring pre-existing discount stores.

Enter: Walmart's global family of superstore chains.

Some countries around the world do have stores that bear the Walmart and Sam's Club names.

But Walmart is often behind stores with other names. In the UK, Walmart has owned the collection of Asda stores since 1999. In 2018, Walmart announced a plan to merge Asda with Sainsbury's to create a British retail giant.

Walmart's African operations are run through Massmart, a retail group that Walmart acquired a majority stake in in 2011. Its stores include Jumbo Cash and Carry, which are located throughout southern Africa, ...

... Game, which sells general goods and non-perishable grocery items at a discounted price across sub-Saharan Africa, ...

... Builders, a collection of home-and-gardening stores, ...

... DionWired, selling tech and electronics, ...

... Cambridge and Rhino, which offers people on the lower end of the Southern African Living Standards Measurement scale — the sliding scale used by the region to divide the market into targetable groups — a hand-curated selection of both nationwide food and cosmetics brands and merchandise that falls under the store's own label ...

... and Makro warehouse clubs in South Africa, which sell food, general goods, and liquor at a low price.

Superama is Mexico's leading supermarket and has all the typical goods a grocery store in the US would carry: produce, wine, cleaning supplies, etc. ...

... and Bodega Aurrera is a discount store selling food and household goods at low prices across Mexico and Central America.

Walmart fully acquired Seiyu — one of Japan's largest supermarkets — in 2008, and the company has since taken steps toward better market research in hopes of improving its all-around customer service in the country.

Changomas is a store designed to meet the needs of all communities in Argentina. It has three different store levels, each one bigger and carrying more goods than the one before it.

Despensa Familiar in Honduras is one of four Walmart-owned discount stores selling a range of general goods across Central America ...

... and Pali in Costa Rica is another.

Walmart made a major investment in a China hypermarket — or, a really large grocery store — called Trust-Mart in 2007.

The company also opened a Sam's Club in China, famously selling bulk goods at low prices.

Lider is a hypermarket in Chile that's said to be a "one-stop shop" ...

... and Canada boasts the brand's eponymous Walmart Supercentre, which features services like pharmacies.

Source: Walmart

Bompreço is another hypermarket Walmart acquired in Brazil in the '90s.

Maxxi Atacado is another part of Walmart Brazil ...

... as is Nacional. In June, Walmart sold 80% of its operations in Brazil, as it was largely underperforming in the market. It took a $4.5 billion charge on the deal.

Best Price Modern Wholesale is a membership-based wholesaler with 23 stores and two fulfillment centers across India ...

Walmart Supercenter stores in China offer localized meat, produce, and dry goods along with clothes, electronics, and more.

Walking into any Walmart in the US, you pretty much know what to expect in terms of the shopping experience you're about to have.

Stores have clearly marked aisles and sale signs ...

... and you'll see a smiling face at checkout. While whoever's helping you might actually be genuinely happy, The New York Times reported in 2006 that the company requires its US sales clerks to smile.

This isn't the case at other locations around the world, as some people have reported that the constant smiling made them feel uncomfortable, rather than putting them at ease.

Shop at a Walmart overseas and you may find yourself wandering past a fish tank ...

... or walking along aisles of a wholesale store that look more like a Costco warehouse than the typical stateside discount superstore.

Walmart first opened in China in 1996. It has since expanded across the country — here is one store in Beijing's Chaoyang district.

It has been a struggle for the company to hold onto this "crucial" market as it vies for consumers' trust and belief in the stores as an authentic shopping option.

One Business Insider reporter, Harrison Jacobs, went inside the Beijing Walmart store to see what it's like to shop there.

He was able to see the differences between the China-based location and the ones in the US. For starters, there are customer lockers when you first walk in the door.

On these shelves, he found high-end cosmetics right next to discount toilet paper, and there were lots and lots of pre-packaged foods.

Shelves are stocked with a wide range of items in an effort to cater to local shoppers. In Beijing, it's common for apartments not to feature a stove, so the Beijing Walmart sells a variety of hot plates.

There are also tanks of live fish ...

... turtles and frogs ...

... and a selection of meat like chicken feet.

While the hypermarkets, supercenters, and membership-based stores around the world may fall under different brand names ...

Source: Walmart International

... they all attempt to give local customers the best prices for the goods they want.

And they do that by selling under names the consumers are used to seeing.

The company also promises to give back to these communities around the world through the Walmart Foundation.

According to the company, all of this expansion allows it to employ around 2.2 million people around the world.

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