Walmart

In the wake of hiring an independent marketing firm to perform in-store demonstrations at its Sam’s Clubs, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. will cut 11,200 jobs at the division, according to published reports.

Although some experts are forecasting that national brands will rebound as the recession eases this year, a retail analyst expects store brands to keep gaining market share, the Private Label Manufacturers Association’s PLMA e-Scanner newsletter reported.

U.S.-based store brands are benefiting big time from the current economic downturn. As consumers continue to turn to better prices and value, retailers have clearly stepped up their game by enhancing their brands’ overall product quality and by adding strong marketing muscle behind store-brand initiatives.

Walmart said it will close 10 underperforming Sam’s Club stores later this month and cut 1,500 jobs to reduce costs.

Throughout the recession, retailers and manufacturers have stepped up efforts to bring about innovation that seizes the moment and “drives the recession wave” rather than “rides the recession wave.”

Manufacturers continue to modify ingredients for health in 2010.

Sam’s Club has teamed up with Nutrisystem, Inc. to offer Sam’s Club 47 million members cards for the weight-management and services provider’s 35-day program, which includes its recently introduced Omega Chews, in over 600 of the Wal-Mart division’s clubs across the country, beginning late this month.

Browsing the show floor at the FMI Show in March 2008, Cory Deily, director of security and loss prevention at Reading, Pa.-based Redner’s Markets, Inc. wasn’t looking for a new security system.