Hi I've worked in development for Walmart apparel and accessories (that's the Head office, not store level) and I'm here to tell you if Lyric plans on delivering for BTS (that's back to school) which is the BIGGEST sales push at Walmart and where they make their $ on fashion items such as Lyric, they would no only need to know EXACTLY how much they were shipping but it would need to be on a boat from Asia now.
Walmart works like this:
They often purchases goods to test on their customers during the summer months, it's common practice. Buyers check numbers daily, if sell through isn't above a certain % they wouldn't re-order for BTS. As a matter of fact they would get out of any agreement they had with the company for BTS orders if they thought it wasn't going to sell.
Also note that b/c buyers are checking numbers daily it's not likely that you would ever see a shelf at store level empty for any amount of time. Buyers watch the stock levels and if the sales were good they would re-order right way. It's also the vendor's responsibility to also check the numbers and respond quickly. If the vendor couldn't ship stock in a timely fashion that would be a mark against the vendor.
Walmart is like a machine, a very well oiled on point machine. If Lyric was selling like hot cakes the shelves would be restocked frequently. What empty shelves of Lyric product say to me is that they haven't been picked up for BTS shipments. This coupled with the fact that they can't confirm that they will be shipping BTS just proves it further. Walmart is a big client, they are the largest retailer in the USA and if the product worked in test stores it would mean BTS orders would go to more stores, meaning big $ for Lyric. This would probably be something the company would be advertising wouldn't it? I know 100% if they were going to be in Wal-mart stores for Back To School they would have the exact numbers. Why would they NOT confirm they were going to be in carried at the largest retailer, for the biggest retail quarter? That's weird to me...
Also note that the junior market at Walmart has the Miley Cyrus line which does knock-offs tees and accessories with song lyrics, which would be more profitable b/c they wouldn't have to pay for the license agreement.
I no longer work there so I couldn't tell if Lyric is selling or not, just that from what I've read things look sketchy.
