The company has confirmed a host of changes being undertaken as the new year beckons.
Author’s Note
This article is based on corporate postings and accredited media reports. Linked information within this article is attributed to the following outlets: BestLifeOnline.com, Walmart.com, GoBankingRates.com, Marketwatch.com, WSJ.com, RetailWire.com, and CNBC.com.
Introduction
My most recent article on the Walmart chain for NewsBreak, “Multiple Reports Suggest Walmart is Closing More Stores,” examined recent unconfirmed media statements that the stalwart superchain was planning to shutter possible mass locations as we head into the new year.
The article excerpted an October 31st piece from BestLifeOnline.com, “Walmart is Closing Stores in These Locations, Starting Now,” that discussed the chain’s previous closures and a recently-announced Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania closing in reference to expected future statuses: In the spring, Walmart permanently closed five separate stores in four states: Kentucky, Ohio, Connecticut, and Washington. More recent closures were just temporary: In September, the retailer was forced to close hundreds of stores throughout Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia as Hurricane Ian made landfall in the U.S. Just this month, Walmart had at least six different locations closed throughout the country. Now, Walmart is shaking up its store count once again. The retailer is closing more locations.
Though reports of new closings are unconfirmed in the sense Walmart has not formally addressed the issue at the time of my article’s writing, the piece also included a quote from a company executive that seemed to give credence to those future plans: “This decision was not made lightly and was reached only after a thorough review process. Our decision is based on several factors, including historic and current financial performance, and is in line with the threshold that guides our strategy to close underperforming locations."
The mention of closing “underperforming locations” is consistent with company practice. Now comes word that the company is presently undergoing a series of sweeping changes as 2023 beckons… and these changes have been confirmed by the company.
Let us explore.
Walmart, 2022
According to a recent piece in GoBankingRates.com, entitled “7 Changes Walmart Is Making This Fall That You Should Know About,” those changes include: Having earlier and more Black Friday sales, trimming excess store inventory, adding extra perks for Walmart+ members, implementing a new content creator program, partnering with Ree Drummond (“The Pioneer Woman”) on her clothing program, parting ways with the Door Dash grocery delivery program, and leaning into the use of electric delivery vans.
From the article, referencing their new content creator program as a consumer-driven marketing mechanism: Walmart now has a new content creator platform called Walmart Creator. Creators who sign up can earn revenue and commissions on sales of the Walmart products they promote to their followers — with no cap. The platform is currently in beta stage but will launch fully in 2023.
Further, the article quoted David Guggina, senior vice president of innovation and automation, via a company press release: “Today, the closest Walmart to customers is right in their pockets – it’s the Walmart app. By continuing to expand our last mile delivery fleet in a sustainable way, we’re able to provide customers and Walmart+ members with even more access to same-day deliveries while keeping costs low.”
Indeed, per multiple reports, Walmart is working on making ongoing improvements to all e-sectors.
Other forthcoming changes I had mentioned in previous stories include the following:
On September 14, Marketwatch.com published “Walmart and Target Among 1,600 Calling For Credit Card Fee Law, Says WSJ,” which detailed expected developments in credit card swipe fees: Merchants such as Target Corp. [s] and Walmart Inc. signed on to a letter asking Congress to pass a law that would require options for the routing of credit-card transactions over alternative networks, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, and Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, who introduced such a bill back in July, said that alternate routing options would increase competition and lead to lower swipe fees when people use many Visa and Mastercard Inc. credit cards.
September 14th’s RetailWire.com also offered recent Walmart news. In “Walmart and Other Retailers Are Canceling Billions of Dollars in Orders,” yet another inventory management system is being put into place, this one which carries some risk: Walmart, Target, Macy’s and Kohl’s are among retailers that have recently said they are canceling some orders to better balance inventory levels, a replay of a strategy used at the onset of the pandemic.
Finally, via a September 15 piece from CNBC.com, “Walmart Unveils Virtual Fitting Room to Push Shoppers to Buy More Clothes,” the retailer expects their latest clothing department change to be among their most successful as a means of managing aforementioned excess inventory: Walmart is launching a virtual try-on tool to help shoppers see how a shirt, dress or another clothing item would look on their own body. It is the latest way that the retailer is using technology from Zeekit, a startup it acquired last year. The discounter is launching the tool as some shoppers trim back purchases of discretionary purchases, such as clothing.
Conclusion
Walmart remains among the most financially healthy companies in the world. Their ongoing changes — and their closures — are most often due to strategic reasons.
As ever, in the event of any further Walmart changes formally announced by the company, I will share them here on NewsBreak.
Thank you for reading.
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