Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) inches down in early trading session on Tuesday as the company would eliminate more than 2,000 workers at five US e-commerce facilities, as per Bloomberg. According to the report, which used regulatory filings, the layoffs include more than 1,000 positions at a warehouse in Fort Worth, Texas, 600 positions at a fulfillment center in Pennsylvania, 400 positions in Florida, and 200 positions in New Jersey. Additional job cuts are also anticipated in California.
A request for comment from Reuters was not immediately answered by Walmart.
Hundreds of employees at five Walmart sites that process e-commerce orders were reportedly told by Reuters on March 23 to find new positions at other corporate locations within 90 days.
According to the state’s employment commission, the layoffs include more than 1,000 workers at a warehouse in Fort Worth, Texas. The retail behemoth also plans to cut 400 employees in Florida, 200 in New Jersey, and almost 600 at a fulfillment site in Pennsylvania. In California, a further cut is anticipated.
The worker reductions at the Walmart facilities, which the company disclosed last month without providing a number, now have more detail according to the regulatory filings.
According to an email from a spokeswoman, Walmart is expanding in some places while it modifies its retail locations and fulfillment centers to accommodate more online purchases. This may enable the business to reassign some employees to different positions rather than fire them.
As a result, it is still unclear what effect the changes will have overall on employment at Walmart, the biggest employer in the US private sector. The corporation has stayed clear of the kinds of huge layoffs rival Amazon.com Inc. is enacting, which said this month that it will remove another 9,000 positions on top of the 18,000 recently.
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is making steps to increase its attractiveness with a new online appearance after making substantial investments in its e-commerce to catch up with Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).
According to Tom Ward, the retailer’s U.S. e-commerce CEO, in an interview with Bloomberg, Walmart wants to “curate an experience when customers go through our doors, whether they’re real doors or digital doors,” with the revamp.
Ward emphasized the need of emulating brick-and-mortar retailers by focusing on seasonal merchandise and popular new sales trends.
By giving “a more engaging way to shop,” the retail behemoth is also attempting to draw more attention to its online services and expanding marketplace of third-party merchants, according to a statement on Ward’s website.
Walmart’s efforts to promote a variety of products and reduce chaos were mirrored in a redesign of its website and mobile app, which was announced on Monday.
Over the past two years, Walmart increased its U.S. e-commerce revenue to 11% to 12%. Over 13% of U.S. sales came from the internet sector last year, up from 12% the year before.
Walmart’s online membership service Walmart+ was successful with higher-income households that were sensitive to inflation, signaling a fundamental shift in the retailer’s strategy away from serving lower- and middle-income customers.
