To prevent the spread of COVID-19, San Francisco and other cities have asked people to only leave their homes for essential goods like food and medicine. <\/p>\n
Of course, the essential goods can only be made, packaged, delivered to the store, and sold in the store, when thousands of people who do this work leave their homes.<\/p>\n
A Walmart<\/a> spokesperson said that “while this is a challenging time, people have remained relatively calm,” adding, “we’re thankful for the way our associates have pulled together.”<\/p>\n Walmart employs over 2.2 million associates worldwide.<\/p>\n Nearly every grocery store, retailer and major company in the service industry in America are facing similar conditions. But it’s a particular hurdle at Walmart supercenters, which average around 180,000 square feet, with roughly 120,000 items on the shelves and have about 300 workers.<\/p>\n Walmart\u2019s executive vice president and chief customer officer, Janey Whiteside,\u00a0told Adweek that she wanted to forge emotional connections<\/a> with customers and focus on more purpose-driven elements. <\/p>\n A lot of ad people skewer brand purpose. I’m not one of them. Shoppers choose to spend their dollars at stores that work for them, whatever that means to each individual. Walmart offers low prices, but what else does it offer? If\/when people feel like Walmart is essential to the community, and many do, the brand stands for more than low prices, and that’s a big plus.<\/p>\nUnited Towns Will See Us Through<\/h2>\n