The position of zone manager will no longer exist in Walmart’s (WMT, Financial) U.S. stores as per reports. The reports also state that the world’s largest retailer, Walmart Stores Inc., is planning to add 8,000 new department heads calling it a necessary step for smooth store operations. The company intends to simplify its operations and at the same time boost sales. Budget has already been crafted in February this year of $1 billion for the same.
The shuffle process
The Arkansas-based American multinational retail corporation Walmart Inc. was founded in 1962. With a total of 11,000 stores in 27 countries, it is the world’s largest company by revenue as per the Fortune Global 500 list of 2014 and also the biggest private employer in the world with around 2.2 million employees.
Walmart Inc. has been shuffling its staff since last year. Currently, Walmart is on the verge of shuffling its U.S. retail store staffs which are currently 4,500 in number. The removed zonal managers that are six in total in 3,407 supercenters of Walmart will be reassigned to the post of department manager or assistant manager positions.
Also there are plans to add 7,000-8,000 department manager positions who will be responsible for higher levels of customer service and getting rid of the perceived negative service notions about the company.
The undergoing negative impression of Walmart
Despite being a big name in the retail industry, Walmart has not been able to come at par with customer expectations at various levels. It has been ranked at the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index quite frequently. The company has also been criticized at several occasions for its labor policy and monopolistic attitude, reasons why many communities have been avoiding the retail outlet chain. For instance, a city like New York doesn’t have a single Walmart store whereas its competitors like Costco (COST, Financial) and Target (TGT, Financial) have several stores running in the city. Few more surveys have also listed Walmart at the bottom of their charts which includes charges like:
- 57% of the survey takers found Walmart to have too few checkout lines open which is annoying as well as wastage of time of the customer.
- 19% of the Walmart shoppers complained about poor inventory of the store.
- 30% of the consumers found the staff to be ignorant and uninformed most of the times.
- 23% felt Walmart stock is never sufficient; even the basic and occasionally used items are usually out of stock.
- 10% of Walmart shoppers had a problem with food available at the store –Â no healthy food options but only junk.
In short, customers are visiting Walmart just because it is offering the lowest prices. Otherwise, if given a choice, Walmart doesn’t stand in their grocery shop list. As a result, Walmart has been acting proactively and trying to fix things quickly.
Walmart’s make-up plan
Walmart has been actively chalking out plans to sort out things which have led to customer dissatisfaction. One is raise in salary which will not only attract more talented and resourceful employees but also more customers in return. The company has made quite a few announcements related to wage increase which include a minimum of $9 per hour for all employees or $1.75 more than the current federal minimum wage. The company has also been working toward improving its dairy and meat section which had received several complaints.
Walmart has 20% of the U.S. grocery market, and the company is trying hard to retain the said market share at any cost if not go higher. The company’s move to remove the zone manager has been done strategically so that the new designation may allow the employees to focus more narrowly as well as engage with the employees so that a better customer experience ambiance can be created.
