Wal-Mart Stores Inc., once a case study in moving and selling goods, is now turning to consultants for help with the most basic of retail tasks: Keeping its shelves stocked.
The retailer has hired firms including Acosta Inc. in the U.S. and Retail Insight in the U.K. to walk the aisles and track whether hundreds of items are in stock. Products are missing as a plan to add thousands of items to stores this year crowds storage space and tighter labor budgets leave workers less time to stock shelves.
“You cannot keep cutting labor hours and expect the shelves to get filled, especially when you have more products to be replenished,” Colin McGranahan, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in New York, said in an interview. “Store-level execution is coming down. There are only a few ways to cut corners without unintended repercussions, and that’s what is happening at Wal-Mart.”
Wal-Mart’s reputation as the most efficient and cheapest merchant has eroded amid nine straight quarters of declining U.S. same-store sales. Pressured by unemployment and rising fuel costs, Wal-Mart shoppers are making fewer trips and visiting other stores more often, according to a study from WSL Strategic Retail.
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