Wal-Mart axes 11,200 staffers
Jan 25, 2010
NEW YORK - WAL-MART Stores Inc will cut about 11,200 jobs at Sam's Club warehouses as it turns over the task of in-store product demonstrations to an outside marketing company.
The move is an effort to improve sales at Sam's Club, which has underperformed the company's namesake stores in the US and abroad.
The cuts represent about 10 per cent of the warehouse club operator's 110,000 staffers across its 600 stores. That includes 10,000 workers, mostly part-timers, who offer food samples and showcase products to customers. The company also eliminated 1,200 workers who recruit new members.
Employees were told the news at mandatory meetings on Sunday morning.
'In the club channel, demo sampling events are a very important part of the experience,' said Sam's Club Chief Executive Brian Cornell in a phone interview. 'Shopper Events specialises in this area and they can take our sampling programme to the next level.'
Shopper Events, based in Rogers, Arkansas, currently works with Wal-Mart's namesake stores on in-store demonstrations. Sam's Club is looking to the company to improve sampling in areas such as electronics, personal wellness products and food items to entice shoppers to spend more. -- AP
Jan 25, 2010
NEW YORK - WAL-MART Stores Inc will cut about 11,200 jobs at Sam's Club warehouses as it turns over the task of in-store product demonstrations to an outside marketing company.
The move is an effort to improve sales at Sam's Club, which has underperformed the company's namesake stores in the US and abroad.
The cuts represent about 10 per cent of the warehouse club operator's 110,000 staffers across its 600 stores. That includes 10,000 workers, mostly part-timers, who offer food samples and showcase products to customers. The company also eliminated 1,200 workers who recruit new members.
Employees were told the news at mandatory meetings on Sunday morning.
'In the club channel, demo sampling events are a very important part of the experience,' said Sam's Club Chief Executive Brian Cornell in a phone interview. 'Shopper Events specialises in this area and they can take our sampling programme to the next level.'
Shopper Events, based in Rogers, Arkansas, currently works with Wal-Mart's namesake stores on in-store demonstrations. Sam's Club is looking to the company to improve sampling in areas such as electronics, personal wellness products and food items to entice shoppers to spend more. -- AP
