Wal-Mart eliminates 11,200 jobs at Sam’s Club chain

Wal-Mart Stores, the largest retailer in the US is cutting 11,200 jobs next month from its Sam's Club chain, after hiring an outside marketing company to run in-Club product sampling and demonstration for the company.

The company also wielded the axe on 1,200 employees who recruit new members and the total job cuts represent about 10 per cent of the Sam's Club 110,000 workers employed across its 600 stores.

Of the 11,200 job cuts, nearly 10,000 workers are part-time workers, who offer food samples and showcase products to customers.

After appointing Shopper Events, a third-party marketing company, to run its demonstration programme, Sam's Club president and CEO Brian Cornell said, ''Today we are announcing the appointment of Shopper Events, a third-party marketing company, to run our demo program. Our goal is to enhance the demo experience, giving our members a chance to discover new items, and find fresh ways to serve their customers and families.''

''The most difficult part of this transition is the impact to approximately 10,000 demo Associates, most of whom are part-time. We do not make these decisions lightly, and know that this is a difficult development for the members of our Sam's Club family who will be leaving the company. I also know that this will be a hard time for others in the Club who have worked with these Associates and, in many cases, formed close relationships,'' he added.

On 11 January, Sam's Club closed 10 clubs impacting approximately 1,500 workers in order to save costs as the Clubs continued to lose money with revenue declining by 0.7 per cent to $11.6 billion in the quarter that ended 31 October.