Walmart Gearing Up To Reduce 7,000 Back-Office Jobs

Just weeks after announcing it is acquiring Jet.com, Walmart is gearing up to cut 7,000 jobs in its back office over the next few months.

According to media reports, the job reductions are a result of a move by the country’s largest retailer to centralize its invoice and accounting departments and are expected to happen at all its stores. Walmart is aiming to get its employees out of the back office and onto the stores’ floors to increase customer service. The company is in a fierce battle with Amazon, which is dominating the online retail world and is eating away at traditional retailers. According to reports, most of the workers are expected to land new jobs at Walmart that involve contact with customers. The reports emphasized that the job reductions aren’t part of downsizing efforts on the part of Walmart. Some of the customer-facing positions will encompass things like working in the online pickup department or as a technician in the pharmacy.

The move on the part of Walmart comes at a time when the retailer is trying to enhance customer service, hoping that it will help boost its sales and lure customers who have been increasingly turning to the internet to shop. Walmart has reportedly been decluttering store shelves, moving shift workers out of stockrooms and onto the floor and boosting its online offering.

Its purchase of Jet.com for $3.3 billion is also part of a move to take on Amazon. One of the reasons Walmart was attracted to Jet.com is its real-time pricing algorithms that can figure out which sellers are offering the best value and shipping rates and adjust shoppers’ prices based on the items in their checkout cart. That means customers automatically save money without having to do any work, like searching for coupon codes. As customers put items in their shopping cart, they are encouraged to purchase more to create a more cost-effective shopping cart. Customers who buy items labeled “smart cart” save even more. If customers waive the option of returning an item, the price of the product will decline more.