Walmart is to launch a drive to cut billions of dollars of costs from its supply chain in 2010 by combining its store purchasing across national frontiers as it attempts to globalise its business, The Financial Times reported.

The effort is part of the retailer’s plans to increase the proportion of goods that it buys directly from manufacturers, rather than through third-party procurement companies or suppliers.

Walmart spends about $100bn (£61.26bn) on buying private label products, according to The Financial Times. However, it acquires less than a fifth of these goods directly from the manufacturers, and has generally made its purchases on a country by country basis.

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