May 27, 2015—Wal-Mart’s auto centers, the maintenance bays attached to many of the company’s big box stores, are getting a service overhaul in order to improve the experience and entice more customers. In order to do this, the company is dedicating staffing and training programs to the department.
The company has more than 2,500 auto care centers nationwide, which many pundits have criticized for being underused and a forgotten segment of the company, according to various reports.
Wal-Mart plans to increase its management teams within the service centers. Many of the new managers at Wal-Mart auto centers will be promoted from hourly ranks within stores. The new managers, who will be deployed nationwide, are currently being trained on topics such as operations, compliance, and customer service.
This is only one example of Wal-Mart’s renewed focus on customer service. Wal-Mart has raised wages and stepped up training company wide. Doug McMillion, chief executive officer for Wal-Mart, is trying to pull the chain out of a U.S. sales slump. The auto care initiative is one of the ways the company plans on doing that.
Currently the company has no plans to change the physical layout of the auto care centers.
