Popular retail chain Walmart’s popularity seems to be dwindling these days as they are facing controversy and backlash — granted, some issues are more serious than others but the overall sentiment from the majority of customers is disappointment.
The big box retailer is currently one of the targets of a planned twenty-four hour blackout boycott after the company gave in to pressures from the political right wing who demanded the company immediately discontinue its practice of implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies. Parallel to this, customers are showing frustration at the poor service delivery of the retailer, particularly with regards to the checkout processes. Seemingly small issues often add up into bigger issues and if you consider this coupled with recent store closures, could this be the beginning of the end for this retailer?
Walmart shoppers stuck in traffic jam
Shoppers of this big box grocer have taken to social media to vent their frustrations regarding to the checkout processes at the store and the general sentiment appears to be one of annoyance.
Walmart appears to have made the decision to eliminate its self checkout counters and customers are outraged. In part, customers are upset at this change because the retailer is known to work at a slow pace meaning they will now waste more time in store than previously.
Technically speaking, the self checkout lanes have not been eliminated entirely, but rather they are now only available to Walmart+ members. Walmart+ is a membership system the company runs for which customers must pay a monthly or annual fee in order to access exclusive deals and benefits — quite similar to Costco’s business model except you can still shop at Walmart without a membership.
Recently, a frustrated shopper shared a picture of the long, unmoving queues in store on social media with a caption that described the scene as a “traffic jam.”
Another user shared their terrible experience wherein they had waited for over ten minutes in line but was then made to go to the self checkout lanes despites those already being over crowded. The user made a post that said, “It’s annoying and stupid as hell.”
Another point of contention for shoppers is the latest decision to keep items locked away in cages. Previously, only electronic and high ticket items would be kept under lock and key but now it seems even everyday items are being caged away.
From a company perspective, this is obviously a measure taken to prevent theft. However, for a customer this is simply an extra inconvenience, particularly if these stores are known to work at a slow pace. So now instead of simply running in and out to pick up your groceries, customers must first flag down an employee to open the cages of items.
A particularly angry shopper made a post directly calling out Walmart CEO Doug McMillion. The post said “Why don’t these CEOs do their job?” and had the CEO’s account tagged.
The state of the retailer
This decision to restrict access to self checkout lanes is sparking justifiable outrage amongst shoppers who are now being redirected to traditional checkout lanes where the lines are presumably longer.
“Now it’s ok to checkout in lanes marked ’15 items or less’ with over 15 items suddenly,” one shopper even commented.
This issue is raising the question of whether the company truly cares about customer service and convenience. A fair amount of shoppers are even claiming that the company is focused on increasing profits at the expense of customer service.
Walmart has recorded sales amounting to $114.9 billion for the third quarter of 2024. “Across markets, we continue to grow, and our newer businesses helped profits grow faster than sales while we worked to lower prices,” McMillon shared in the third quarter press release.
The takeaway from this is that this sense of overall dissatisfaction from customers is yet to impact the company’s bottom line but 2025 might bring lower figures if change is not seen by customers.