Slowly, but steadily, Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores continue to improve their sales performance as customers have responded favorably to the changes the world’s largest retailer is making at store level and in e-commerce.
For its second quarter ended July 31, the Bentonville, AR merchant posted increased overall revenue (3.1 percent to $76.2 billion), comp store sales (1.6 percent excluding fuel) and traffic counts (positive 1.3 percent).
“We’re pleased with the positive momentum in our business,” said CEO Doug McMillon. “Our strategy in the U.S. is working as we delivered an eighth consecutive quarter of positive comps, and international company also performed well. We remain focused on building e-commerce capabilities globally and executing our omni-channel plan, as evidenced by our recent alliance with JD.com in China and our agreement to acquire Jet.com in the U. S. Wal-Mart is uniquely positioned to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience where we save them time and money.”
However, while global operating income increased 1.6 percent to $6.17 billion, profit in the U.S declined 6.2 percent from $4.82 billion to $4.52 billion. Wal-Mart’s best performing segment was its Neighborhood Markets unit, where comparable store revenue jumped 6.5 percent.
Sam’s Club continued to be the Bentonville Behemoth’s poorest contributor, posting a 1.3 percent dip in overall revenue, and a 0.6 percent comp store sales figure (ex-fuel), down from 1.3 percent in last year’s second quarter. Traffic counts also declined to negative 0.4 percent.
Wal-Mart also has officially closed on its $3.3 billion deal to acquire Jet.com and that company’s founder Marc Lore has joined Wal-Mart as CEO of walmart.com, the company’s e-commerce unit. As part of his personal deal (not included in the purchase price), Lore will receive about $250 million of company stock paid over a five-year period.
In additional Wal-Mart news, more than 7,000 back-office jobs will be eliminated over the next few months, continuing a program it began in June.
Wal-Mart said the move is part of a company-wide effort to have more employees on the sales floor, and the retailer is offering affected associates job opportunities at its more than 4,600 U.S. stores.
The mega-merchant also recently launched a new system for scheduling workers at 650 U.S. stores in an effort to improve staffing levels during peak shopping times and earlier stated that it will invest $2.7 billion in programs that involve improved training of its workforce.
