Wal-Mart and its Market Structure

In a world where most retailers are categorized as having a monopolistic competition market structure, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. appears to have an oligopoly market structure. Nevertheless, because there are far too many retailers to deal with, then they also have a monopolistic competition market structure. Regardless, Wal-Mart would rather have it this way because it has not hurt them at all by having competition. When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened its doors to their first discount …showed first 75 words of 588 total…

…showed last 75 words of 588 total…predicted to be the leading grocer and retailer in the nation. At the end of 1996, Wal-Mart Supercenters had a 62% share of total supercenter sales. The sales for 1996 totaled $17.78 billion, up from the $11.51 billion for the previous year. These numbers, and Wal-Mart's other numbers continue to grow year after year, and at this rate it may be hard to maintain a monopolistic competition market structure. They may have no choice but to consider themselves an oligopoly.