During Wal-Mart's recent 2014 U.S. Holiday Meeting in Denver, the company vowed to keep all its cash registers open during peak hours at its 3,800 Supercenters and discount stores every weekend from Black Friday through Christmas.
The "Wal-Mart Check-out Promise," does not include Neighborhood Markets, Sam's Clubs or Express stores.
Wal-Mart spokesman Deisha Barnett said Wednesday the details of the plan are still being worked out, and one of those details is how much the pledge will cost the company in terms of manpower. Barnett said the company will use seasonal employees and give more hours to existing workers, called associates, to bring the checkout promise to fruition.
Peak hours are deemed to be between lunch and dinnertime, Barnett said. Supercenters have about 30 registers.
"Customers told us they want to get out of the stores quickly, so what do we do? We're going to open more registers than ever before," Wal-Mart U.S. Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer Duncan Mac Naughton told about 6,000 store operators and employees at the annual holiday meeting.
"It's what our customers want, and we're going to deliver," he said.
Reaction from experts in the retail and marketing industries was mixed. Feedback on whether Wal-Mart can pull it off ranged from "do-able," to "no way."
After reporting seven straight quarters of declining store traffic and six consecutive quarters of low to flat same-store sales results, Wal-Mart needs a spectacular holiday season to keep its fiscal 2015 earnings and revenue numbers from falling. Already, the company has added more hours to workers in specific areas of the store, such as deli, bakery and overnight stocking, with the intent to improve customer service.
Customer service expert Shep Hyken, chief "amazement" officer of Shepard Presentations LLC of St. Louis, said it's more important for customers to know what they're getting than it is for Wal-Mart to say what it is doing.
"Whether it's Wal-Mart or anybody else ... you sell the benefits, not the features," Hyken said. The benefit of Wal-Mart's fully manned check-out stations is that customers will get out of the store more quickly, but Wal-Mart has not said how much faster checking out will be, he said. Customers want that detail, whether they know it or not, he added.
"If Wal-Mart thinks that opening up a bunch of lines and getting people through is going to make them more competitive ... I don't think that's the case," Hyken said. "What it will do is show that they are listening to their customers and create a better customer experience."
Bill Davis, director of MB&G Consulting in Edmonds, Wash., figured the cost to be substantial. Based on a rounded-up store count of 4,000, with 30 registers per store and at least five additional cashiers at stores on the four weekends and three extra critical shopping days, Wal-Mart will need an additional 20,000 cashiers over the 12-15 days.
"The cost is significant, and while it aligns with Wal-Mart trying to improve its customer service, it goes against Wal-Mart's cost-saving philosophy, Davis said.
"Anything's doable -- it's whether they want to pay for it," he said. "Are they talking a good game or are they going to back up what they're saying? That remains to be seen."
Naomi K. Shapiro, market communications manager for Upstream Commerce, a retail intelligence solutions provider, said she thinks the practice is long overdue. Wal-Mart's pledge is forward-thinking, she said.
To all the skeptics who believe to the contrary, Shapiro said, "Don't base any of your reactions on previous behavior of any retailers because everything in retail is a whole new ballgame now."
Business on 08/21/2014