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As Wal-Mart continues to push suppliers to the brink of death, more and more suppliers are opening up about their relationships with Wal-Mart. The stories all contain one common denominator: “It’s always hard to make money from Wal-Mart orders.” And while big brands like Proctor and Gamble can supply Wal-Mart at cost, smaller suppliers do so and “wait to die”. In an article from Sinotoys.net, “Bo Lin” (an alias), a toy supplier for Wal-Mart, describes the woes of working with the giant. Aside from Wal-Mart’s low cost bargaining tactics, Bo Lin also describes being bribed by Wal-Mart factory inspection officials to pass inspection, regardless of the circumstances in his factories.
“We’re a small enterprise. Life and death can happen in a split second,” Bo Lin said great anguish.
Last month, a business owned by a friend of Bo Lin’s closed down. That was a stationery processing plant with sales that surpassed 400 million [RMB]. Almost all the goods were supplied to Wal-Mart. Bo Lin’s factory is also a Wal-Mart supplier. “We all used to do business with Wal-Mart for the glory,” Bo Lin said describing the initial excitement of becoming a Wal-Mart supplier.
During our interview, Bo Lin repeated that sentence 5 times.
But after 4 years of struggle within Wal-Mart’s supply chain, Bo Lin is determined to withdraw. “Four years is the cycle of death and rebirth”. This is “established law” for all of Wal-Mart’s suppliers. The difference is only whether to die or withdraw.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Michael Mignano | Permalink
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