@Risk

Walmart believes it can ship and transport product more efficiently than its suppliers can, and so, the company is looking to take over delivery service from many of the manufacturers that provide goods to its U.S. stores.

According to an article at Bloomberg.com, Walmart  is currently negotiating this new plan with its suppliers. The company intends to increase the use of contractors, as well as its own private fleet of trucks, so that it can pick up products directly from manufacturers and transport the goods to its distribution centers and stores.

Of course, improved delivery efficiency has multiple benefits for Walmart, including lower supply chain emissions and reduced supply chain costs. These benefits will, in turn, translate into lower prices for Walmart shoppers, says Kelly Abney, Walmart’s vice president of corporate transportation in charge of the project.

And I assume Walmart is hoping aggressive price reductions can reverse months of slowing U.S. sales.

But, how will this plan affect suppliers? (more…)

Or, maybe a better title for this post is: Walmart FINALLY Pulls Miley Cyrus Jewelry Over Cadmium Concerns.

Yes, Walmart is in the news, again, for selling Miley Cyrus-brand jewelry that reportedly contains high levels of the toxic chemical cadmium.

Back in January, the Associated Press published the results of an investigation that showed some jewelry items sold at Walmart and other retailers were as much as 91 percent cadmium by weight.

The issue is making fresh headlines this week because in April, AP sent reporters to eight Walmart stores throughout the country to see if the contaminated pieces were still for sale. According to AP, all but one of the 13 tainted items remained on store shelves.

These items were tested, and of 61 total samples, 59 contained at least five percent cadmium by weight. 53 measured 10 percent or higher cadmium by weight. (See the full AP article here.) (more…)

Showing just how strongly low prices drove consumer loyalty during the recession, Walmart dominates the newly released 2010 COLLOQUY Retail Loyalty Index.

Previously published in 2008, the COLLOQUY Retail Loyalty Index ranks the top retailers in the nation according to customer loyalty ratings. The 2010 index was built from a December 2009 survey of 3,500 U.S. consumers in five regions: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Northwest. Respondents were surveyed across four retail categories that included Grocery, Personal Care, Department Stores and Mass Merchants.

The results show that customers claimed the highest loyalty to Walmart in many of the Grocery, Personal Care and Department Store regional categories. Costco had the highest customer loyalty ratings in three out of five Mass Merchant regional categories. In COLLOQUY’s index from two years ago, shoppers claimed the most loyalty to Costco, which ranked first in nine out of twenty regional and retail categories. (more…)

Walmart suppliers in China aren’t meeting the company’s most basic ethical workforce standards, according to a new report from China Labor Watch (CLW).

The report, titled “Walmart Standards Fail, Workers Suffer,” focuses on five suppliers that manufacture goods such as decorations, shoes, tool, paper boxes, and curtains.  CLW investigated these suppliers by conducting external interviews with workers. The group found out that workers in these factories typically endure: (more…)