March 26, 2020
By Dan Bartlett, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs
With our nation and world forced to contend with the dangers of COVID-19, consumers across the globe are purchasing essential items for themselves and their families. Their hope is that the goods are priced fairly and competitively.
At Walmart, we have taken extensive measures to maintain access to items such as hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies and household staples while taking steps to help ensure proper safeguards are in place to protect our team members and our customers and members. We’re working around the clock to keep products stocked and prices fair.
Fortunately, most retailers and online marketplaces have demonstrated similar values and are doing the best they can to meet soaring consumer demands. However, crises bring out the best and the worst in people, and some are pricing essential items well beyond what is reasonable. Likewise, some third-party sellers are preying on consumers and enabling those who hoard essential items to turnaround and charge excessive prices to those who need them most.
It is our position—always—that our culture of integrity leads all our decisions. We have made it our business to work directly with state authorities to inform them about our deliberate practices and processes. And, we’ve offered up our experience and expertise to help law enforcement and public officials apply proper oversight for transparent and fair pricing. We encourage our customers and members to always reach out to us if they have any concerns or identify any product issues, so we can take swift action. It is our position to encourage and support lawmakers’ efforts to protect consumers in times of crisis, and we believe the best way to do that is to lead by example.
We take our responsibility to bring value to customers and consumers around the globe seriously. In great times of need, there is no substitute for trust and transparency.
