WALMART JACKS UP NEARLY 2,000 TOY PRICES…
Ho, ho, ho. Guess what Walmart did only days after Black Friday? It jacked up the prices on nearly 2,000 toys. I guess that the Grinch decided that the sales figures were just too low and that he had been do something quick or risk losing his stock options.
From Bloomberg:
Wal-Mart managers in the U.S. received instructions to mark up an average of 1,800 types of toys per store, according to a company e-mail dated Nov. 30 obtained by Bloomberg News. The e- mail didn’t disclose specific increases. The prices were changed “to better enable your store and the company to have a successful financial month,” according to the e-mail.
The directive from Wal-Mart, which has about 3,800 U.S. stores, told managers to do the markups as soon as possible. The move may help Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke fulfill his October prediction that sales in U.S. stores open at least a year will be positive this quarter, after six straight drops.
“In previous years Wal-Mart has come out and hammered everyone with unbelievably low toy prices,” said Eric Johnson, director of the Center for Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire. “They stepped away from that this year, and after Thanksgiving their prices have crept back up.”
Corporate is as corporate does.
My store will be having a huge after Christmas toy sale soon. We have over 5 storage trailers out back loaded with toys, and no help to get them moved to the sales floor. I don’t think they will get sold in the few shopping days we have left before Christmas.
WM is going to have a good month, even with our sales being down. My store has done almost no holiday hiring, so the payroll expense should be low. This working short handed has people calling in sick just to rest up from the high work load. We’re all tired.
Shalom Just Me,
Been there, done that, but I was a much, much younger man.
Only nine more days.
B’shaom,
Jeff