Walmart is cutting 11,200 jobs at its Sam’s Club warehouse chain in the US.

The majority of the cuts will hit staff running in-store promotions as Walmart has decided to outsource this function. Sam’s Club employs around 110,000 staff across 600 stores.

Staff were told at meetings yesterday morning. The in-store promotions and sampling functions will be outsourced to marketing company Shopper Events.

Sam’s had tried to tempt customers from rivals such as Costco with more everyday goods and cut back on furniture and clothes. But revenue at Sam’s slipped nearly 1% to $11.5bn in the last quarter. Walmart closed 10 underperforming Sam’s Clun shops earlier this month.

Sam’s chief executive Brian Cornell said the move to outsource promotions was “not a cost cutting measure. It’s really an investment in enhancing our demo programme.” Shopper Events plans to hire “roughly the same number of people” being cut, and Sam’s workers are invited to apply for those positions, he said.

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