Despite it being a challenging retail environment, few of our top retailers are struggling to make ends meet or disappointing customers.
Of course, there will always be a very vocal (but often small) cohort of customers that want to bring attention to whatever their cause might be.
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Sometimes, this outrage is justified. Other times, it's an attempt to gain publicity or intrigue.
But most big retailers are in the business of pleasing customers, so these problems tend to go away quite quickly.
Take, for instance, Walmart's (WMT) new and popular policy of rolling back prices to pre-inflation levels.
Related: Home Depot makes clear statement amid boycott threats
The super retailer has been working to bring down the prices of things like groceries and key household essentials so customers won't feel the pinch of rising prices as sharply.
But every now and then, a retailer is forced to adapt to the changing times and make hard decisions.
This can come in the form of layoffs, which are always painful.
Other tough decisions come in the form of store count reductions or selling off excessive inventory, which sound alarm bells to customers and analysts.
And sometimes a store must restructure its functions, which can be a more complicated process and confuse customers and employees alike.
Image source: Getty Images
Walmart making big retail moves
Restructuring can mean a lot of things in the retail world.
It can be something as straightforward as reworking the way corporate offices function.
Or it may be a difficult change (and come with layoffs) for those who work for a retailer, but it doesn't affect customers all that much.
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Other times, restructuring can be a massive, lengthy process that affects both employees and shoppers.
Such is the case with Walmart, which announced sweeping changes to its stores in memo, sent by Executive Vice President of U.S. Store Operations Cedric Clark and reported by Reuters and Bloomberg.
Walmart stores see changes
According to the new reports, Walmart is planning to eliminate its market coordinator role.
The role was designed to assist market managers in keeping operations running smoothly. They were in charge of data collection and worked across stores in a given geography.
The reduction could potentially see hundreds of jobs eliminated from Walmart's structure.
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“We’re simplifying our market support structure, reducing touchpoints and friction for our store associates,” Clark wrote of the change. “With improved processes and new tools, we’ve determined that the Market Coordinator (MC) role no longer serves the same purpose as when it was created. To help drive speed and clarity for our store leaders, we’re giving ownership of the remaining work to other market-level associates and eliminating this role.”
Coach and coordinator jobs at Walmart Academies are also being reduced or shifted around.
Walmart said these reductions would help it transition “from a one-size-fits-all staffing model to staffing our Walmart Academy facilities based on location, volume of participants, and training needs.”
Walmart said it would move some of its Academy roles based on need, removing them in less busy areas and moving them to where demand was higher.
