Wal-Mart Puts Suppliers on Notice

NEW YORK – The cost of doing business with Wal-Mart Stores has just gone up for the nation’s business community. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer with $55.5 billion in fiscal 1992 sales, has issued a stringent set of guidelines to its army of vendors, said marketing executives who deal with Wal-Mart. The guidelines would give the Arkansas-based chain greater control over merchandising and force suppliers into account-specific planning. Sources says Wal-Mart ‘Business Planning’ packets – which demand that vendors submit customized marketing plans specifically for the chain – are already in the hands of several key vendors.