Store Closures Show Walmart's Tough Enough To Make Hard Decisions

Walmart’s decision to close 269 stores worldwide, 154 in the United States, highlights changes in both how the company operates and in the retail market. Walmart’s move is based on a “clear-eyed, uncompromising, even unsentimental decision-making,” highlighting the company’s newly found discipline under its CEO Doug McMillon. These store closings, however, could also be a sign that Walmart moved too late even though it has all the needed resources to adapt to changes in the market. Walmart has failed to innovate. For example, it has all the data on consumer buying habits, but failed to create an easy, automated shopping process using such information.