Internationally, how does "Wal-Mart" take into account local market preferences while planning its product lines: what's the share of "local" brands? Michael Bergdahl's answer: Wal-Mart will tailor its product offerings to take into account local preferences. The products in each store are selected to match local buying preferences. Wal-Mart will study the demographics of the local market area to determine ethnicity of its customer base for an individual store and buy products accordingly. The local store manager has authority to recommend and even buy local products for the customers. Wal-Mart’s buyers go out in the market, talk to customers and visit competitors stores including small “mom and pop” retailers to gather product ideas. Another source of great market information for Wal-Mart, to help them to better understand the local market, are their suppliers. For this reason local suppliers are welcome at Wal-Mart as long as they are honest, deliver on time and offer products at low prices. By the way, being a Wal-Mart supplier may sound like a dream come true but for many suppliers working with Wal-Mart is their worst nightmare. Many of Wal-Mart’s suppliers don’t even make a profit and some just break even.