Is there a recession coming? Who cares! That’s the verdict, more or less, of Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. The head of the nation’s largest retailer told CNBC he wants to keep prices of Walmart’s private-label products low and play a “role in helping get prices down.”
Whether or not other brands of products sold by Walmart will follow the big-box retailer’s lead is the big question. McMillon hopes companies will “step forward” and expects lower-priced products may make other brands lower prices. “We believe branded manufacturers and all of our suppliers of all types will have to respond to that market in time,” he said.
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Going low certainly hasn’t hurt Walmart’s bottom line. The company’s net income rose 76% to $6.3 billion on a record $611 billion in revenue last year, largely thanks to consumers hunting for cheaper goods as prices soared.
