- Walmart announced it is helping its suppliers and in-store business partners. This is some of the actions the retailer is taking.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, one of the hardest-hit retailers has been Walmart. Walmart has been sanitizing its stores much more regularly as it fights to keep stores open. And the retail giant has been pushing for more delivery services so that its customers will have access to the supplies they need while social distancing.
While Walmart’s customers are still proactively buying food, cleaning supplies, and daily essentials, other products may not be selling as much during this period of high unemployment and economic turmoil. Of Walmart’s 18,000 suppliers, two-thirds are small and medium-sized businesses. So Walmart decided to help them out financially.
“We’re making changes to our Supply Chain financing program, which is a program where Walmart and Sam’s Club work with national banks to allow qualified suppliers to get payments from us faster,” said Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner and Sam’s Club chief executive officer Kathryn McLay in a statement. “We’re improving the program: by adding dedicated resources to speed up the onboarding process, eliminating an eligibility requirement and adding JPMorgan Chase as a partner (they join existing partners Citibank and Wells Fargo).”
It can be challenging for small-sized businesses to get loans especially if they did not need one before. By having Walmart work with them, it helps fast-track the process.
And since Walmart is getting less foot traffic into its stores, the in-store businesses have been taking a hit as well. So Walmart will be offering rent relief for its in-store business partners within Walmart Supercenters and Sam’s Club retail locations. Walmart has over 10,000 leased spaces throughout the country, including restaurant franchises, optometrists, vet clinics, hair and nail salons, and local and regional banks.
Specifically, the rent will be waived for the month of April. And the company will continue monitoring the need for additional support past April. Walmart is the largest private employer in the company with about 2.2 million workers, of which 1.5 million is in the U.S.
Walmart saw a jump in sales during the coronavirus pandemic while people stock up on groceries, hand sanitizer, cleaning products, and other essentials.
Last week, Walmart also announced it was hiring $550 million in bonuses for its hourly workers. And the company revealed plans to hire 150,000 more workers.
