Steven sent a message to Doug McMillon President and Chief Executive Officer of Walmart Stores, Inc. Email Address that said:
Something is wrong with your purchasing/distribution system. Once you enjoyed the reputation of the best system in the retail business, but I think this is no longer true.
I shop at 3 different Wal-Mart stores, 2 Superstores and a Neighborhood Market, and I see product outages at all 3. I first noticed a problem in your system a few years back when my local Wal-Mart Superstore seemed to be out of regular hazelnut flavor Coffee Mate when the shelves were full of the low fat version, which could have led to serious consequences for me if I brought the wrong one home. This situation persisted for about a month before I cornered a manager to complain. She said the computer showed some in stock. After she checked the cooler she reported that all of the product present was the low fat version, apparently someone in the local distribution center was not paying attention to the regular versus low fat information and was filling the order with only the low fat version. After this conversation with the manager, both versions of the product were then on the shelf.
I now frequently see product outages of certain types of Great Value cheese, Smart Balance Light margarine, A W Diet Cream Soda, certain varieties of Alpo canned dog food, certain varieties of Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones frozen foods, and certain varieties of Thomas English Muffins. These product outages last about 3 weeks to a month at a time, and then recur. Occasionally, Scudders Natural Peanut Butter in the large jar and 2 pound packages of Great Value Brown Rice also disappear.
I also am a Sams Club member and experience problems there as well. There the problem seems to be massive quantities of a product that I do not want and none of a product that I do want.
I have been a pretty loyal customer at your stores but when I visit the store and see outages of these products multiple times, I have to go somewhere else to get it. When this happens you risk losing a customer to a store with product available.
The problem is not just bad timing versus the stocking cycle, but something in the order/distribution channel is the cause and no level of advertising can fix it.
Steven
