Wal-Mart Sales Fall in 4th Quarter

Amidst the economic recession which resulted to low consumer spending, US retail giant Wal-Mart announced its declining fourth-quarter sales which have been worse than experts have predicted earlier. Meanwhile, despite offering low-cost products and discounted price, the store chain giant failed to attract consumers to spend more.

US retail giant Wal-Mart announced its declining fourth-quarter sales despite offering low-cost products and discounted price to consumers who are continuously spending less as the economy falls into deeper recession.

According to the store chain, the net profit declined to $3.79 billion during the last quarter of 2008 from $4.01 billion from the same period of the previous year.

In 2007, the company has $1.02 per share, but after its slumping sales, it slided to 96 cents.

Wal-Mart chief executive Mike Duke blamed the company’s slumping sales to the recession which forced companies to implement massive layoffs which affected thousands of Americans, adding that high unemployment rate has resulted to low consumer spending.

According to Duke, the retail giant said that it will lay off more than 700 home-office employers to cut-costs, adding to the 400 workers who were retrenched in September last year.

According to a recent data, Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in the country with nearly 1.5 million American workers in addition to more than 2 million people employed by the company abroad.

Earlier, another retail giant Macy said it will reduce its workforce up to 4 percent, or 7,000 workers following its announcement that its stock value fell nearly 70 percent in 2008.

Meanwhile, all store chains from the US reported record-low sales prompting many retail giants to implement massive layoffs which affected thousands of workers.
 

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