Driving sales through customer relevance

We’re passionate about driving sales wherever we operate. Customers around the world choose Walmart for our low prices, convenient access to compelling merchandise and a shopping experience that meets their expectations. EDLP, enabled by being a low-cost operator, is the foundation of our customer proposition. In fiscal 2015, we continued to make progress on the transition to EDLP in markets such as Brazil and Africa. In other highly competitive markets such as the U.K. and Canada, we remained focused on price investment to drive sales. We’re also leveraging best practices globally — improving our fresh and private brand assortments and driving greater operational efficiency. Our EDLC agenda had a strong year, with our ‘We Operate for Less’ and ‘We Buy for Less’ programs saving us $150 million in China, for example. We’re also providing customers greater convenience by opening more small-format stores. And, when necessary, we’ve closed underperforming stores and divested non-core elements of our business. We’ll continue to strategically optimize our global positioning across key geographies and formats to maximize future growth potential.

Accelerating e-commerce and digital/physical integration

In all markets, we’re committed to providing customers convenient access to Walmart. We’re innovating through e-commerce, mobile and various pickup sites to provide customers more shopping options than ever before. We’re especially focused on grocery home shopping, with expanded operations in the U.K., Mexico and Japan. Asda doubled its Click & Collect sites, and in Japan, we automated the order picking process to fulfill Seiyu.com grocery orders more efficiently and sustainably. E-commerce sales growth has been strong. Brazil e-commerce sales in fiscal 2015 grew faster than the market despite strong competitive pressures, and in China, Yihaodian saw traffic increase more than 60 percent. No matter the shopper preference, we’ll continue to strive to be the destination of choice.

Building world-class talent and trust

With nearly 800,000 associates serving customers in the International business, we’re committed to investing in our people’s success through training initiatives and opportunity, ensuring we have high performing associates in all markets. We’re leveraging our global leadership talent by giving them opportunities in various markets, such as Mexico and Brazil, to lead improvements in business performance. Our leadership team is focused on a common goal to be the most trusted retailer everywhere we operate. We aim to strengthen customer trust with a strong focus on EDLP, high quality fresh food and excellent customer service. For example, in China, we’ve invested to improve our distribution network for fresh products and also utilized Walmart’s “Worry Free Fresh” program to provide a money-back guarantee if our produce and meats don’t meet customer expectations. Our commitment to having world-class compliance and leading on social and environmental issues also contributes to building trust with customers. In fiscal 2015, we continued to execute a comprehensive compliance-focused training program, including areas encompassing anti-corruption, food safety and other compliance areas. Our consistent focus on good corporate citizenship helps strengthen community relationships.