Everyone has to use distribution centers and ship things multiple times - items come from Asia in shipping containers, which you have to break up and load into

Everyone has to use distribution centers and ship things multiple times - items come from Asia in shipping containers, which you have to break up and load into trucks, since individual stores don't stock inventory in amounts that large. Walmart has an extensive network of warehouses around the country that receive goods before they're shipped to the retail locations. Additionally, given the lag on orders of new inventory from overseas (which can be months), Walmart and other retailers have to maintain a pool of merchandise here in the US that they can ship to individual store locations based on local demand to replenish inventory.