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What will more job cuts mean for Walmart?

January 11, 2017Written by George Anderson

Doug McMillon at 2016 Walmart shareholders meeting - Photo: Walmart

When Walmart announced it was eliminating 7,000 accounting and invoicing positions within its stores last year, the company positioned the action as a means to bring more associates to the sales floor. Now, Walmart is planning to cut nearly 1,000 corporate jobs by the end of the month, according to reports. What will that mean for its business going forward and should the move be a cause of concern for stakeholders? The Wall Street Journal, which broke the news, said the job cuts will affect employees in Walmart’s U.S. division, including people working in human resources, e-commerce and technology. The jobs being eliminated represent more than five percent of the 18,000 positions at the company’s headquarters. Walmart, which did not confirm the report, issued the following statement to news outlets: “We are always looking for ways to operate more efficiently and effectively.” The job cuts at Walmart follow big investments in e-commerce by the company. The chain paid $3.3 billion to acquire Jet.com in September and last week it made a deal to land ShoeBuy.com. Internationally, Walmart has invested in a strategic alliance with JD.com in China and is reported to be in talks to invest up to $1 billion in Flipkart, the largest e-commerce company in India. Marc Lore, who runs Jet.com and Walmart.com, told Re/Code that Walmart remains interested in other deals in categories with “long-tail, high-margin products and harder-to-crack brands.” In a presentation to investors in October, according to the Journal, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said, “We have a plan to win with customers and drive growth. We will be disciplined with our cost and capital as we do it.”

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