Wal-Mart is hoping to to Push More and More Goods 'Made in U.S.A.'

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has long lured Americans with a cornucopia of low-cost merchandise from overseas, ranging from softball bats made in China to candles from Vietnam. 

For the past nine months, however, Wal-Mart has been trumpeting patriotic promises to stock more U.S.-made goods. Manufacturing means "good middle-class jobs, and that's exactly what our country needs," said Bill Simon, chief executive of Wal-Mart's U.S. arm, in a revival-style speech at a recent supplier meeting in Orlando, where a children's choir sang the national anthem.

So far, Wal-Mart has announced plans to offer U.S.-made socks, towels, candles and light bulbs, among other things, creating more than 1,200 jobs. On Monday, it will announce that Redman & Associates LLC will open a plant in Rogers, Ark., next year to make battery-powered toy cars. The cars, large enough for children to drive, currently are imported from China. Another Arkansas-based company, Hanna's Candle Co., says it has doubled its workforce to about 200 people, including temporary workers, in the past year because of an increase in sales to Wal-Mart.

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Wal-Mart has promised to increase purchases of U.S.-made merchandise by $50 billion, which would work out to an average of $5 billion a year. That affects just roughly 2% of what Wal-Mart spends annually on merchandise at U.S. stores, said Matthew Nemer, an analyst at Wells Fargo Securities. It is less than 1% of the U.S. trade gap in 2012. 

"It's a great place for us to start," said Michelle Gloeckler, a senior vice president at Wal-Mart. "We believe it will be bigger."

The campaign is partly public relations, depicting Wal-Mart as a good citizen, but also promises financial benefits. To the extent it can find low-cost manufacturers in the U.S., Wal-Mart can reduce inventory costs because goods spend less time in transit. With U.S.-based suppliers, Wal-Mart can get new merchandise into stores faster when consumer fads change. 

It is too early to gauge the impact on U.S. manufacturing, said Robin Sherk, a New York-based analyst at market research firm Kantar Retail, "but if anyone can move the needle, that would be Wal-Mart because of their scale."

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