General Consultant Discussion

Working with Walmart I am getting more and more customers who are facing the new Walmart method of payment in that Walmart only pays for products when they are scanned (sold) at the cash register. My customer delivers a skid of product. No invoice is sent to Walmart but is created for internal use only. When the consumer purchases the product, Walmart sends a check. There is no Invoice reference nor is there a store reference, just a lump sum. Walmat no longer pays for inventory. They pay the supplier after they get paid and my customer foots the bill for any product not passing thriough the cash register (i.e. stolen or broken). Sweet deal. Right now we are treating Walmart as a balance forward Customer because there is no invoice to apply the cash against. Has anyone found a good way to handle this?

One of the many problems of sleeping with the devil...... I wonder if others share the same saga. I have one client that works with Wal-mart. I ask what their experience is.

Great post Howard. I have not run into this but I have had customers who deal with major stores (Staples, Office Depot) and essentially these behemoths drive the bus. When they say jump you ask them how high. I remember that they essentially returned anything they wanted and you'd have to credit them back.

It is like a consignment warehouse. Sell when sold. Not sure how to configure anymore, but it is the same concept. Treat stolen broken like a inventory transaction instead of a sale.

Harold, does Wal-mart provide the sales details or does your client have to go onto W'mart's system to mine the data themselves?

This is how Walmart puts the squeeze on vendors. When a new store opens it may take hundreds if not thousands of dollars to stock the shelves and it is basically free to Walmart. Then you have to rely on their software to make sure you get paid. Basically ALL risk is pushed to the vendor and none to Walmart. Walmart does not have theft problems, the vendor does. Basically Walmart lives but everyone else dies.

I agree with Jeff - Walmart IS the devil...