Under the weak performance, Wal-Mart was involved in a food safety storm.
"China Science and Technology Investment" Luo Xiaofan
Recently, some consumers exposed to the media that beer purchased in many branches of Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wal-Mart") was suspected of tampering with the production date to extend the shelf life. On May 19, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision and Administration announced that it had filed an investigation into Wal-Mart, and the incident immediately attracted widespread attention. The next day, Walmart's apology rushed to the hot search.
At the same time, China Technology Investment has noticed a number of consumer complaints that they have purchased expired food through different channels of Walmart. In addition to being accused of lax control in supplier management and food safety management, Wal-Mart is also facing the dilemma of declining passenger flow and weak performance growth under the impact of new formats such as e-commerce.
It was exposed to sell beer with a tampered date
Recently, when Mr. Qiu of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, was shopping at Walmart's multi-store, he found that the bottom of an imported beer was erased from the old date and printed with a new date, questioning Wal-Mart's rescheduling of expired food to continue selling.
It is reported that the product is Lithuanian Kanapili reserve beer 4 cans, the unit price of 19.8 yuan. The bottom of the bottle shows two dates of "one deep and one light", the production date of the deep imprint is October 5, 2020, and the shelf life is until October 5, 2021. The production date marked by the slightly lighter marks is May 5, 2020, and the shelf life is until May 5, 2021.
On May 7, the Shenzhen Municipal Supervision Bureau intervened in the investigation after receiving consumer reports; on May 11, Wal-Mart submitted the customs declaration form, inspection and quarantine certificate and other import information of the Lithuanian Kanapili Select Beer 4 cans, and on the same day, Wal-Mart issued a notice to stores nationwide to remove the Lithuanian Kanapili Select Beer 4 cans, and asked the stores to check the number of beers that changed the production date. On May 14, Walmart asked its stores to recall the reported batch of beer.
On May 19, the Shenzhen Municipal Supervision Bureau reported that after verifying evidence such as physical objects, videos and related purchase notes, it confirmed that the situation was true. At present, the Shenzhen Municipal Supervision Bureau has filed a case against Wal-Mart, and the case is still being collected and handled.
On May 20, Walmart China issued a statement saying that the goods were imported from Lithuania and completed the whole process of production and packaging in Lithuania, and according to the preliminary survey results, the alteration of the production date occurred in the production process. At present, the goods involved and other products of the supplier have all been removed from the shelves, and cooperation with the supplier has been stopped.
A person in charge of Walmart China's public relations department told China Science and Technology Investment that it is still cooperating with the investigation work of relevant government departments and it is inconvenient to disclose more details.
In this regard, Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng pointed out that although Wal-Mart said that the "tampering with beer production date" incident was committed by suppliers, wal-Mart's negligence in food safety management is also difficult to blame.
Frequent occurrence of expired food
On May 12, Liu Hao (pseudonym) purchased a pack of "Jiatun Weihua Biscuits" at Wal-Mart Shandong Jiningshen Road Branch, and the next day he was ready to eat it only to find that the production date of the biscuit was April 18, 2019, the shelf life showed 12 months, and the biscuits had expired for nearly a month.
*Screenshot of the order provided by Liu Hao
On the same day, Liu Hao went to the Wal-Mart service desk to process the after-sales service, and a staff member checked the receipt and expired biscuits he presented, and admitted that the biscuits were indeed sold by Walmart. For subsequent compensation, the staff member said that it was necessary to consult the superior leader.
After a staff member who claimed to be a Manager of Walmart came forward, he denied on the spot that the expired biscuits were Wal-Mart's products, saying that "we do not have this batch of goods" and suspected that Liu Hao dropped the package of goods for blackmail. After Liu Hao called the police, after consultation, the Wal-Mart manager said that Liu Hao could be given 200 yuan as "humanitarian compensation". In this regard, Liu Hao said that he could not accept it.
On May 14, Liu Hao received a call from the person in charge of Walmart, who still said that Walmart did not have such a batch of goods, and believed that even if the relevant departments were found, it would not be possible to identify whether the expired biscuits were sold by Walmart, and pointed out that Liu Hao could be compensated 500 yuan for "private".
Liu Hao rejected the outcome of the consultation, saying that he would continue to complain, hoping that Walmart could admit and apologize for the sale of expired food and make due compensation.
*Expired cookies bought by Liu Hao
In addition to offline stores, China Technology Investment also learned that many consumers also encountered the problem of expired food when purchasing goods through channels such as the official flagship store of Jingdong Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart online mini programs. Some consumers pointed out that the "Shanghaojia shrimp slices" purchased in the official flagship store of Jingdong Walmart have expired, and they have contacted customer service to ask for compensation but have not been processed.
In addition, some consumers complained that when buying Walmart's own brand food, they also found that the food expired. It is reported that "Huiyi" and "Wojixian" are wal-Mart's two major private brands, and their own brand goods are directly produced by manufacturers, and the price is more competitive than similar goods.
On June 8, 2020, consumer Wu Ying (pseudonym) spent 19.6 yuan at Wal-Mart's Wuchang Nanhu branch in Wuhan to buy 12 bottles of Huiyi brand pineapple-flavored salt soda, and after drinking a few bottles the next day, he found that the shelf life of the soda he purchased was nearly a month old, and his family had diarrhea symptoms. Wu Ying proposed compensation to the staff of the Wal-Mart store in accordance with the food safety law, but the staff refused.
According to the provisions of article 148 of China's Food Safety Law, if a consumer produces food that does not meet food safety standards or operates food that is known to be insolvent to meet food safety standards, in addition to claiming compensation for losses, consumers may also request compensation from producers or operators to pay ten times the price or three times the loss; if the amount of additional compensation is less than 1,000 yuan, it is 1,000 yuan.
Jiang Bao, a senior partner at Beijing Lianggao Law Firm, pointed out that supermarkets, as operators, have the obligation to conduct reasonable review, and consumers who suffer damage due to food that does not meet food safety standards can claim compensation from the operator for losses or from producers for losses. Producers and operators who receive claims for compensation from consumers shall implement the system of responsibility for the first responsibility, pay compensation in advance, and must not prevaricate.
Weak performance
In recent years, Wal-Mart has been frequently complained about selling expired food and negligence in food safety management, which may be related to its weak performance and rumors of selling.
Since 2020, rumors about Walmart's sale of its business in China have been endless, and although the company has repeatedly denied rumors of the sale, it is undeniable that the heyday of the hypermarket model has long ended, and Walmart China's performance has not been satisfactory.
In the past five years, Walmart's revenue in China has slowed down significantly, and the revenue growth rate has not exceeded double digits. According to the data of fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2020, Walmart China's net sales were $10.702 billion and $10.671 billion, respectively, and even showed a downward trend.
For the weakness of performance, Walmart also pointed out in the full-year financial report and fourth quarter report of fiscal 2021 that "Sam's double-digit growth was offset by weak sales in hypermarkets", while the "weak sales" of hypermarkets and frequent closures were related to the expiration of rental dividends on the one hand, and on the other hand, offline traffic was constantly being diverted by new formats such as e-commerce and community group buying.
Walmart's retail stores in China include Walmart Hypermarket, Sam's, and Walmart's Huixuan Community Stores. Historical financial reports show that from 2013 to 2017, the number of wal-Mart shopping malls in China has been on an upward trend, and in 2018, Wal-Mart has for the first time seen the number of stores remain unchanged.
In 2019, the number of wal-mart malls in China declined for the first time, from 420 to 412, and the number of store closures exceeded the number of new stores, many of which were "old stores" that had been open for more than a decade. As for the reason for the closure, Walmart said that it was mainly due to the expiration of the lease of the venue and the consideration of optimizing the commercial layout. In 2020, the number of Walmart stores in China increased to 434, but in April this year, Walmart closed six stores in China.
In order to accelerate the transformation to meet the challenges of new formats, Walmart opened its first Huixuan community store in April 2018, and said at the end of 2019 that community stores are one of its key formats in the future. However, according to the store information disclosed by the "Walmart Community Store" WeChat public account, Wal-Mart currently has only 7 community stores in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and since October 2020, the "Wal-Mart Community Store" WeChat public account has stopped updating content.
Zhu Danpeng pointed out that the poor development of Wal-Mart's community store is related to Wal-Mart's overall organizational structure and process on the one hand, and on the other hand, Wal-Mart does not flexibly dock the precise needs of the community.
In the case of weakening the advantages of hypermarket formats and the exploration of new community stores, how Wal-Mart accelerates the transformation towards new retail and e-commerce, while improving the level of food safety management, China Science and Technology Investment will continue to pay attention to.