Wal-Mart lays off additional employees in China
The employees had reached agreements with the company to leave their positions, the China branch of the U.S. multinational retail company said in an email to Caixin.
Wal-Mart said that the dismissals started on November 25. The layoffs were part of restructuring efforts aimed at creating a more efficient structure to face changes brought on by a rapidly changing market, the company said. Most of the dismissals were in the company's purchasing department, a Wal-Mart employee said. Sean Clarke, the head of Wal-Mart's operations in China, had been working to improve efficiency in the purchasing division since he took the job in June, the employee said.
Wal-Mart China has shut 20 of its 28 purchasing offices over the past two years, and reduced its number of suppliers to 8,500 from more than 20,000, its data showed.
Wal-Mart saw sales in China increase 24.5 percent last year compared to a year earlier, but each branch had sales of only 177 million yuan – half of the figure for a store run by competitor RT-Mart International Ltd.
Wal-Mart closed 15 stores last year, something the company's leaders said was a first for it in China. The firm said the branches did not meet expectations. It faces fierce competition not only from the likes of RT-mart, but also from e-commerce companies like Alibaba Group. Nearly 15 percent of Chinese consumers shopped for items like food and electronics online every day, the global accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a September report. The figure was much higher than in other countries.
Wal-Mart will proceed with its plan to open 110 stores in China from 2014 to 2016, it said in its email.
Source: english.caixin.com
