Just bought some Watkins vanilla at Walmart and btw they also have McCormicks.
Note that this particular article was over two months ago. And as another FReeper said here on this thread, Walmart will discontinue something for a while and then maybe later bring it back again in a couple of months or longer. He said it was a negotiating practice.
However, my response to that, basically (in so many words) that they can't expect the consumer to "stick around" with the product that they want -- not being on Walmart's shelves. All that does is drive the Walmart customer to a competitor of Walmart to get the product that they want.
And..., I've seen that myself and I've gone to Walmart's competitors, sometimes never having been in some of the other places before, and finding out that they've got some good products there, that I want to come back and get from them, too. That ends up being lost business for Walmart (at least it has from my own experience...).
The fact that Walmart is dropping name-brand products and keeping their own "off-label" product is beyond disputing, as it's been reported on the news, is in the Ad Age publication (and other sources that I haven't brought here, but that I've read).
It is happening. And what that means is that for those customers who want the name-brand product and not the "off-label" brand of Walmart's -- they are going to be driven to the competitor of Walmart -- which is an extremely stupid move on behalf of Walmart... :-)
Americans shop for the best value and most chains offer store brands and generic products. Run Wal-mart out of business and watch the economy plummet in many areas. Name brands are not always the best.
Also, there are numerous “name” brands that are not made in the USA.
Another thing that draws many to Wal-mart is it’s a one stop and offers everything from a optical dept, oil change, lawn and garden, pharmacy, banking, deli,bakery and gas station and it is open 24/7.