Personally I believe the biggest problems with the stores vs internet, was the long period in which so much stock was NOT present! Shelves were empty- result of cost cutting stupid mistake, it forced customers,faced with many other retailers closing stores at the time, to go to Amazon and order what they needed? The head office in, race to emulate Amazon and eliminate “associates labor costs” put massive amounts money into the development of Robots, which we are now seeing the results. Not too mention while, doing inefficient remodels in the stores by people who never worked on the floor!?
The associates,on public assistance and unskilled for professional consideration, many not able to speak English, are having hours cut so much they could qualify as below the poverty line. Ironically being counted by our government as “employed” although their hours had dropped from 36-38 to 20, than 8 for an entire week at a time! You have to be pretty jaded as corporation to cut these people's income in half willie nilly.
The head office has failed miserably in training their management teams in the art of People Motivation vs Hatred for the company and the job! The corporate evangelistic, magazine Walmart World, 99.9% can't even relate to it! Comes across like thier working for a to a totally different company! In 10 years I had two managers tell me I was doing a good job? The other times I was called into the office was someone complained, albeit minor, seemed to be the ONLY time they ever acknowledged myself or any other worker? Oh sure, they would bring us in on our anniversary and “Read” from the evaluation sheet that we were satisfactory, above average or excellent but it seems pretty robotic in nature lacks sincerity. That's why we have lost a lot of really good workers to Amazon.