Walmart US Chief To NRF: ‘Loyalty in Retail is the Absence of Something Better’

Walmart U.S. president and CEO John Furner took over as the new chairman of the National Retail Federation Monday (Jan. 17), succeeding Qurate Retail, Inc. former president and CEO Mike George, who led the group through perhaps its most tumultuous two years in recent memory.

“I started in retail in the mid-1990s, because I was sure I was not going to work in retail,” said Furner during a panel discussion at the NRF Big Show in New York. “I wanted to be a musician, which wasn’t working out, so to support my income I took a part-time job in a Walmart store.

“I started to figure out that I could launch a really great career here, and I learned that successful retail people are people who really enjoy serving other people and solving problems,” he said.

Customers, said Furner, are changing — echoing a common theme at the 2022 Big Show—and it is essential that retailers understand those changes and cater to them.

“Loyalty in retail is the absence of something better,” he said per the report. “When they find it, they’re gone.”

Consumers love eCommerce in all its various forms, said Furner, but they also love going to the store. In fact, Walmart has reported increased store traffic in recent quarters. Perhaps that’s in part due to Walmart store employees administering COVID-19 vaccines and testing customers for the virus.

“We have learned how to deal with COVID,” said Furner. “Our teams became defined as essential workers.”

Related: Americans’ Favorite Pandemic Activity? Shopping

Earlier this month, NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz noted that Americans’ penchant for nonstop shopping during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is likely to trigger increased inflation.