Wal-Mart Cutting Orders as Unsold Merchandise Piles Up

[Purveyor]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is cutting orders it places with suppliers this quarter and next to address rising inventory the company flagged in last month’s earnings report.

Last week, an ordering manager at the company’s Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters described the pullback in an e-mail to a supplier, who said others got similar messages. “We are looking at reducing inventory for Q3 and Q4,” said the Sept. 17 e-mail, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News.

U.S. inventory growth at Wal-Mart outstripped sales gains in the second quarter at a faster rate than at the retailer’s biggest rivals. Merchandise has been piling up because consumers have been spending less freely than Wal-Mart projected, and the company has forfeited some sales because it doesn’t have enough workers in stores to keep shelves adequately stocked.

“We are managing our inventory appropriately,” David Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said today in a telephone interview. “We feel good about our inventory position.”

The order pullback isn’t “across the board” and is happening “category by category,” he said in a previous interview.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-25/wal-mart-cutting-orders-as-unsold-merchandise-piles-up.html

[thelordofhell]

1. I guess the Walton spawns lost 10 bucks on their trust funds

Fuckin' tank those bastards..........

[Jacoby365]

2. Maybe the protests against Walmart

are actually having an impact on their bottom line.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Maybe the economy is having an impact, more like it.

That, and the fact their shelves are not being re-stocked fast enough, a problem they seem resisit to addressing.

[Trekologer]

8. Mostly due to poor productivity by the part time/temporary workforce

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/09/25/wal-mart-returning-to-full-time-workers-obamacare-not-such-a-job-killer-after-all/

I didn't know that they were hiring their part time employees as temps and making them re-apply every 180 days. That is below sleazeball tactics.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. I di dnot know that either....sheesh!

[mucifer]

4. Kinda puts a little tear in my eye it's so sad.

[Rex]

5. Maybe people are tired of cheap broken crap from China.

Fuck Wal-Mart.

[libdem4life]

6. Um, when your low pay qualifies workers for Food Stamps and requires child care and health care

costs, in addition, it might not be a sustainable business plan. Also, in the rural, poor areas, the Dollar Stores are popping up right and left. I'd guess it's longer and longer between the "WalMart Run".

[progressoid]

7. People can't even afford cheap shit from China anymore.