“[E]nhance the shopping experience at Walmart”? Is that even possible?
So we’ve covered the Sam’s Club layoffs already, but Wake-Up Wal-Mart tipped me off to something interesting:
Walmart’s spokesperson made it clear that this wasn’t about the economy, or the employees performance, rather, they were outsourcing the jobs to Shopper Events a company who’s only purpose is to demonstrate products in Walmart stores.
[Emphasis added]
Here’s the Shoppers Events mission statement:
Our mission is to apply a standard of excellence to the in-store event in order to increase consumer demand, align with key branding initiatives, and enhance the shopping experience at Walmart.
Something stinks here. Anybody at Wake-Up Wal-Mart going to do some more research? For instance, who owns Shoppers Events, exactly?
Shalom Jonathan,
Here’s a few links to take a look at:
Shoppers Events leadership.
Event Marketing Shows Momentum.
Brian Pear on LinkedIn.
What this reminds me of is the way that Sam Walton attempted to claim all of his stores were independents to avoid regulation. I was joking at first that the company was testing the waters to make all employees temps, but feck if I don’t think I could be right.
If Walmart gets away with this, then all Walmart employees are in danger of working for captive spin-offs like Shoppers Events.
We’re definitely thinking the same way here, Jeff.
This is the same type of attitude demonstrated by Federal Express. They claim that their ground employees are independent contractors, when their job activities are governed by Federal Express. Fedex and Walmart are very much in bed together. Companies shipping to Walmart are required to only use Fedex as their shippers or they will no longer be suppliers to Walmart.