In the world of business, we see that there are many ups and downs and the best of businesses also need to make some tough decisions so as to sustain their presence in the markets. It is also important that businesses understand the trends of the market and place themselves in an appropriate manner. While you might not be aware, Walmart which is the world’s largest retailer also has a physical presence in India with its own stores under the “Best Price” brand name.
However, you might have also observed that the days of physical stores are limited because of the fact that established retail chains are eating away sales and people have also moved towards e-commerce. For this reason, a new surprising report out of India is that Walmart is downsizing its physical presence in India. This means that the company is looking to shut down its stores and has already laid off many of its employees including senior management too.
As per the Reuters report, India is already having a shortage of jobs and Walmart India has fired around 50 of its executives on behalf of its restructuring in the country. While Walmart has not announced anything yet, this information is available via sources who have given them to Reuters. While we say that Walmart has a physical presence in India, it does have 28 wholesale stores where it sells goods to small shopkeepers, and not to retail consumers. According to Reuters’, the growth in the wholesale model for Walmart India has not been robust which is why firings have been done.
One source told Reuters that “It’s happening because the focus is shifting to e-commerce rather than physical (stores),” in context to the employees being fired at Walmart India. Also, the report mentions that Walmart is looking to focus on business-to-business and retail e-commerce from now on.
