Walton Group
Summary
Company Background
Walton is a multinational company headquartered in Bangladesh. The company was established back in 1977 as Rezvi & Brothers and got registered as R. B. Groups of Companies Limited in 2001. The group of companies produces electricals, electronics, automobiles, smartphones, and other appliances under the brand name “Walton”.
The company is equipped with largest R&D facilities and has a substantial market share in both domestic and international markets. According to the company website, Walton is a professional manufacturer with high reputation and unbeatable capacity of producing what it produces in the most competitive way in terms of cost, quality, innovation and design. The company has 22 production bases in 680+ acres of land employing 20,000+ employees.
Walton belongs to the R.B. Group, which is a local business conglomerate that produces and markets the products under the brand name “Walton”. Therefore, the group is known as Walton Group. The conglomerate has 8 sister concerns including Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited, Walton Micro-Tech Corporation, Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited, and Walton Motors.1
Major products of the company are refrigerator, television, air conditioner, laptops, mobile phones and a latest addition is elevator. The company also had started producing motorcycles initially. Currently, it has become the tech giant in Bangladesh as it holds 66% share of refrigerator market, 50% share of television market and 33% share of the air conditioner market. The business of the company in technological sector started in 1997 when Walton started importing and marketing black-and-white television sets. The company later on started importing parts of television and motorcycles to start assembling them. The assembling business continued until 2010 when the management found that it can start manufacturing the products locally. Imported products were not meeting the need of the consumers in the local market. Upon establishment of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited in 2006, the company started producing refrigerator and motorcycles that got huge response from the consumers owing to the competitive pricing and high quality. The company then moved to produce air conditioner.
The distribution channel of the company is extensive throughout the country. It has a market coverage using more than 13,000 POS (Point of Sale) and different distribution channels such as Walton Plaza, Dealers, Walton E-Plaza, Distributors, Sub-Dealers, Corporate Sales, International Business Unit (IBU), Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and Original Design Manufacturer (ODM).
Global Operation
Walton has become the first local electronic company of Bangladesh to export its products in more than 40 countries around the world, mainly in the Middle-East and African countries as well as some European countries such as Romania and Germany.2 Primary products of export are televisions, air conditions, and mobile phones. The brand maintains international representative offices located in Qatar, China, Nepal, India, Thailand, and USA. The company has started exporting smartphones to the USA market and air conditioner to the Indian market. The company also plans to invest $500,000 in the USA through Walton Corporation United States of America.
