Walmart cuts staff at some US ecommerce warehouses

Ecommerce sales represent 13% of Walmart’s total global sales. The retailer said digital sales rose 17% year over year in its fiscal Q4.

Walmart Inc. is cutting staffing levels at some ecommerce fulfillment centers in the United States as the nation’s largest private-sector employer steps up investment in automation.

The retailer is working with the affected employees to find other positions at Walmart, according to a March 23 company statement. In a regulatory filing, Walmart provided advance notice of the cuts to 201 employees in Pedricktown, New Jersey. Reuters reported earlier that the potential impact extends to hundreds of other employees in California, Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The move “was not made lightly, and we’re working closely with affected associates to help them understand what career options may be available at other Walmart locations,” the company said in an emailed statement.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company is paring jobs as it bolsters warehouse automation to reduce the cost of handling online purchases. The retailer has so far avoided the kind of mass layoffs underway at rival Amazon.com Inc., which this week said it would slash payrolls by another 9,000 jobs in addition to 18,000 recent cuts.