Walmart stops selling Egyptian cotton sheets made by Welspun

Welspun, a textile giant, was selling bedding sheets to large retail stores like Walmart and Target under the advertisement that they were made from Egyptian cotton.  However, they had not used 100% "Egyptian" cotton in the production of its bedding sheets an investigation revealed.  Walmart said it was going to give a full refund to customers who purchased the sheets and stop selling bedding sheets made by Welspun.
This article highlights the importance of companies building trust with the final customer.  When it came to Walmarts knowledge that the sheets were not Egyptian cotton they offered customers who bought them a refund.  This is a marketing concept that builds customer relationships.  Companys that use the marketing concept and seek to build long-term relationships with their customers will be likely to retain those customers.  This was Walmarts way of making things right with the final customer.  This was a smart strategy because when a retailer that goes out of their way to correct a problem, the customer might in turn spread the word and recommend them due to the good experience they had.  It also builds trust between the retailer and the customer which is essential to long-term relationships.
This is also a business-to-business issue because Walmart is an intermediary (retailer) for this textile manufacturer. It's unclear what level the relationship was between Walmart and Welspun, but in order for Walmart to retain its trustworthiness it had to discontinue selling Welspun's products to save face with the final customer.  Walmart is justified because Welspun did not meet their needs in their role as an organizational customer.  Walmart was under the assumption that the product the supplier was selling was 100% Egyptian cotton and when that turned out not to be the case, it was in their best interest to sever ties.
Read about the story here.
Posted by J. McConnell