How walmart got started

An Overview of Walmart

Everyone’s favorite big box store, Walmart is the world’s largest retail corporation that sells everything from groceries to musical instruments. More than 270 million customers visit Walmart for their purchases every week while many make online purchases through its websites.

Walmart started as a single small discounted store in 1962 in Arkansas. For 50 years, it has now grown into the largest retailer with over 11,200 stores in 27 countries and websites (e-commerce) in 10 countries. The current CEO of Walmart is Doug McMillon.

Read the article and get a detailed sketch of this retail giant through the SWOT analysis of Walmart.

Key facts about Walmart

In-House Drivers and Route Optimization

Another part of the Walmart strategy that has paid off for them is the decision to insource their transport across the board. Currently, the company boasts one of the largest truck fleets in the world, and their drivers are some of the highest-skilled drivers in the industry. They made it a priority from very early on to invest in this because they knew that it was crucial to managing a vast landscape of stores. They could have very easily subcontracted this work out to a courier service directly but decided that bringing it in-house would provide synergies that would be valuable.

They spend a lot of time and resources training and upskilling their drivers so that they can maintain the safest possible distribution network in the business. The drivers clock in over 700 million miles every year but still have one of the best safety records on a global scale. This speaks to the attention to detail and care taken to strengthen this part of their business, where a lot of companies might try to cut corners.

Having the best drivers isn’t everything though, you then have to figure out how to utilize them most effectively. Walmart does this expertly through complex route optimization processes that plan out all the travel that these trucks must go through to meet the demands of the various stores.

The main thing that they focus on is minimizing empty miles. Every time a truck is travelling without goods inside it, that opportunity cost is eating into the bottom line. So, everything that the company can do to optimize how they use their available space is going to pay dividends over the long run.

To this end, they employ sophisticated logistics management software that tracks current inventory levels, store purchases, incoming supplies, and truck positioning – to craft routes and distribution schedules that can deliver as efficiently as possible. This technology undergoes a complex weighting of various criteria including fuel consumption, environmental impact, traffic conditions, and more – ensuring that all the transport resources are used to their full potential. This has been tweaked over time and continues to learn from ongoing data that consistently compounds its value.

None of this optimization would be possible though without the right data behind it, and that’s another area where Walmart has invested a lot of money into. The technological infrastructure that sits behind these thousands of stores is monumental. It allows the distribution nodes to understand the exact situation in real-time for any store they work with. As conditions change or consumer behavior adjusts, they can take that into account and adapt the transportation planning accordingly.

It’s difficult to appreciate just how transformational this is until you’ve spent some time working on inventory management solutions. This part of business has changed dramatically in the last few years with the Internet of Things, machine learning, and advanced algorithmic decision-making starting to make its mark in the world of logistics. Walmart has shown itself to be a leader in this regard, which continues to push them forward as a company.

Of course, the shift towards online shopping is going to disrupt the typical way they do things, but the principles of logistics remain the same. As Walmart begins to compete on last-mile delivery to the houses of their individual customers, they are going to rely on many of the same technologies to manage inventory, track deliveries, and optimize routes so that they can sweat their assets as efficiently as possible.

The big competitor here is Amazon, who have built a distribution network unlike anything we have ever seen, but Walmart still holds its own because of the infrastructure it has in place. Some are talking about how we may see Walmart converting some stores into further distribution centers for online orders and if so, they would have some of the best-located nodes that anyone could imagine. We’ll have to wait and see.

Store Concepts[]

United States

Walmart — discount chain. Introduced in 1962. Only features one entrance. Carries general merchandise and limited groceries. Some newer and remodeled discount stores have an expanded grocery department, similar to Target’s PFresh department. Many of these stores also feature a garden center, pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, a bank branch, a cell phone store, and a fast food outlet. Some also have gasoline stations. Discount Stores were Walmart’s original concept, though they have since been surpassed by Supercenters. As of January 31, 2019, there were 386 Walmart Discount Stores in 41 states and Puerto Rico. Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, District of Columbia, West Virginia, and Wyoming are the only states and territories where an original store does not operate. Exterior Of A Walmart Supercenter In Manhattan, Kansas, Which Opened In 2003

Walmart Supercenter — hypermarket chain. Introduced in 1988. Includes a larger grocery section including meat and poultry, baked goods, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Many Walmart Supercenters also have a garden center, pet shop, pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, and numerous alcove shops, such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, video rental stores, local bank branches, fast food outlets, and a larger section of home products Features more products, two entrances in which one side leads to the groceries, while the other side leading into the general merchandise and the home products section. Also, services by checkout aisle. Walmart Supercenter signs were used until the newer logo appeared on the stores. Many Walmart Supercenters have featured McDonald’s restaurants, but in 2007, Walmart announced it would stop opening McDonald’s restaurants at most of their newer stores, most likely due to nutritional concerns. Most locations that opened up after the announcement had Subway as their restaurants, and some McDonald’s inside the stores were replaced with Subways. In some Canadian locations, Tim Hortons were opened. Recently, in several Supercenters, like the Tallahassee, Florida location, Walmart added Burger King to their locations, and the location in Glen Burnie, Maryland, due to its past as a hypermarket called Leedmark, which operated from May 1991 to January 1994, boasts an Auntie Anne’s and an Italian restaurant.

Sam’s Club— warehouse club.
Walmart Neighborhood Market — grocery chain.

Competition

Interior of an older-style Walmart in Greece, New York. Note the red stripes on the floors and electronics in the middle.

In the US (and formerly Canada), Walmart’s main competitor is Target (who pulled out of the Canadian market in 2015). There is primary competitors include grocery stores and department stores like Aldi, Kmart, Kroger, Ingles, Publix, Harris Teeter, Shopko, and Meijer, and Winn Dixie, Canada’s The Real Canadian Superstore, Sobeys and Giant Tiger, and Mexico’s Comercial Mexicana and Soriana. Competitors of Walmart’s Sam’s Club division are Costco and the smaller BJ’s Wholesale Club chain. Walmart’s move into the grocery business in the late 1990s set it against major supermarket chains in both the United States and Canada. Several smaller retailers, primarily dollar stores, such as Family Dollar and Dollar General, have been able to find a small niche market and compete successfully against Walmart. In 2004, Walmart responded by testing its own dollar store concept, a subsection of some stores called «Pennies-n-Cents.»

Walmart also had to face fierce competition in some foreign markets. For example, in Germany it had captured just 2 percent of the German food market following its entry into the market in 1997 and remained «a secondary player» behind Aldi with 19 percent. Walmart continues to do well in the UK, where its Asda subsidiary is the second-largest retailer.

In May 2006, after entering the South Korean market in 1998, Walmart sold all 16 of its South Korean outlets to Shinsegae, a local retailer, for US$882 million. Shinsegae re-branded the Walmarts as E-mart stores.

Walmart struggled to export its brand elsewhere as it rigidly tried to reproduce its model overseas. In China, Walmart hopes to succeed by adapting and doing things preferable to Chinese citizens. For example, it found that Chinese consumers preferred to select their own live fish and seafood; stores began displaying the meat uncovered and installed fish tanks, leading to higher sales.

Walmart: удобство покупок

Сеть Walmart имеет множество филиалов по всему миру, что позволяет легко и быстро найти ближайший магазин. Благодаря комфортным расположениям и удобным часам работы, Walmart доступен для посещения в любое время. Он может стать прекрасным местом для шопинга семьей или друзьями в выходные дни или вечером после работы.

Walmart также предлагает удобные способы покупок. В сети магазинов есть кассовые регистры с самообслуживанием, а также профессиональные кассиры, которые помогут быстро и оперативно оформить покупку. Благодаря использованию новейших технологий и электронным системам оплаты, Walmart обеспечивает минимальное время, затрачиваемое на ожидание в очереди, что делает покупку еще более удобной.

В Walmart можно легко найти товары, которые необходимы вам. Сеть предлагает широкий ассортимент товаров – от продуктов и товаров для дома до модной одежды и электроники. Это позволяет каждому клиенту найти необходимые товары на одной площадке и сэкономить время на посещение нескольких различных магазинов. Более того, Walmart предлагает проверенные бренды и высокое качество товаров, что позволяет полностью доверять покупкам.

Кроме того, Walmart предлагает удобный возврат товаров. Если вы обнаружили, что товар не соответствует вашим ожиданиям, вы всегда можете вернуть его в магазин и получить обмен или возврат денег. Это обеспечивает покупателям дополнительное спокойствие и уверенность в том, что процесс приобретения товара проходит без проблем.

Таким образом, благодаря удобству покупок, Walmart является одним из самых популярных выборов для многих покупателей. Используя удобные способы покупок, широкий ассортимент товаров и гарантию возврата, можно с уверенностью сказать, что Walmart делает покупки максимально простыми и удобными для своих клиентов.

Walmart Supercentres & Wholesale Club

In 1981, Walmart acquired around 92 of Kuhn’s Big K stores which were primarily located in the southeast of America.

Source: Pinterest

This allowed it to have a firm foothold in the south-eastern US market. Along the way, Walmart never stopped expanding into newer states and cities every year –

Expanded into Georgia and South Carolina in 1981
Expanded into Florida and Nebraska in 1982
Expanded into Indiana, Iowa, New Mexico, and North Carolina in 1983

Sam’s Wholesale Club

In April 1983, Walmart opened the Sam’s Club – a membership-based discount wholesale warehouse store – in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

Sam’s Club operated as a Walmart subsidiary and went on to become one of the most famous wholesale stores in the United States. | Source: Walmart

Sam’s Club operated as a Walmart subsidiary and went on to become one of the most famous wholesale stores in the United States.

In 1985, Walmart had opened more than 880 stores and netted in $8.4 billion in sales and the number of employees grew from the 7,500 associates in 1975 to 104,000 associates.

Walmart celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1987 and by then, the company started to embrace newer technologies such as computer systems into their operations to maintain & track inventory, sales, and send an instant communication to its stores.

In February 1988, Sam Walton stepped down as chief executive officer while remaining as the Chairman of the Corporate Board of Directors, while the position of CEO was given to David Glass.

David Glass | Source: Walmart

It was also during the same year that the first Walmart Supercenter store was opened in Washington, Missouri. These Supercenter stores were at first called “Hypermart USA”.

Walmart’s Supercenter, formerly called “Hypermart USA” in 1980 | Source: Walmart

The supercenter concept was created to offer everything under one store – it contained everything that an average Walmart discount store offered along with tire and oil change shop, optical centre, photo studio & lab, banks, cellular telephone stores, hair and nail salons, video rental stores, and fast food outlets.

Walmart’s Supercenter store | Source: Walmart

By 1988, Walmart had become the most profitable retailer in the United States, though it still did not outsell its competition K-Mart and Sears in terms of the value of items purchased until later.

By 1990, Walmart became a fully nationwide retailer when it expanded its operations into California and The Walmart Visitor’s Center was opened in the same year.

The Walmart Museum | Source: TripAdvisor

The Visitor Centre was the original Walton’s 5-10 store converted into a museum and the name was changed from The Visitor Centre to the Walmart Museum after a few years. Walmart also acquired The McLane Company, a major foodservice distributor, during the same year.

IPO Walmart

Walmart стала публичной на Нью-Йоркской фондовой бирже 1 октября 1970 года. Первоначальная цена размещения составляла 16.50 долларов за акцию. После продажи 300,000 5 акций компания привлекла около 1980 миллионов долларов. Walmart впервые разделил свои акции в 11 году. Акции Walmart продолжали падать несколько раз за эти годы. В настоящее время компания разделила свои запасы 2 раз; каждый сплит представляет собой сплит 1 к 140. Несмотря на многочисленные дробления акций, цена акций Walmart значительно выросла после IPO. Каждая акция Walmart в настоящее время торгуется выше XNUMX долларов.

Bargaining Power

It would be impossible to discuss Walmart’s strategy without talking about the incredible level of bargaining power they enjoy over their suppliers. As one of the first retailers that went on an aggressive land grab strategy, they were determined to expand their offering as widely as possible to every town in America. They hoped to bring their consumer promise of low prices to everywhere you could imagine so that the brand became synonymous with saving.

Their success with this rapid expansion meant that they ate up market share in every region that they entered. And after a while, they became the dominant retailer in the country, controlling a significant portion of the goods market. This early domination gave them the leverage that they needed to negotiate the best possible terms with their suppliers.

When Walmart came knocking, suppliers knew that the order sizes were so big that they had to do anything to win that business. Manufacturers around the world would compete to have their goods on Walmart shelves because the scale was just unfathomable. This competition drove prices down and improved payment terms for Walmart itself. They could sit back and let companies eat into their own margins – helping Walmart to provide even lower prices to customers.

This is one of those advantages that gets locked in early and is very difficult to dislodge. If you look back at Walmart’s competitors over the years, this is one of the reasons why they have struggled to make a dent. Walmart’s bargaining power in these negotiations is second to none because a lot of suppliers would reconfigure their entire operation to manage the Walmart order. It was so big in size that it would subsume your manufacturing capacity and while some were able to expand beyond it, a lot of companies were comfortable just servicing the growing Walmart empire.

An example like this shows just how important a first-mover advantage can be in markets like this. When you’re competing on price and convenience, the way that you build scale is by being everywhere. And even though your margins are low in the beginning, if you can capture the market early, you can then put pressure on your suppliers to improve the financial situation over the long term.

You have to have enough cash to wait it out, of course, but this is the same model that we’ve seen from numerous venture-backed companies from the past two decades who chase customer growth first, knowing that once they have the lion’s share of the market, they will have the opportunity to squeeze all the other stakeholders because of the power that you wield. Uber is one modern example that comes to mind here.

And it’s not only on price that you benefit. The improved payment terms that you can negotiate have a significant influence on your cash flow cycle and therefore your ability to scale. Essentially, Walmart created an opportunity for themselves to borrow money for next to nothing which could then subsidize their long-term plans. It’s one of those lesser celebrated pieces of the business that actually has had an outsized impact on their success. And it shows the virtues of a high-volume, low-priced business.

Концепция магазинов сети Wal-Mart

Сегодня в структуре ритейлера выделяют:

суперцентры (с торговой площадью более 18 тыс м2),
дискаунтеры (5 тыс. м2),
«Магазины у дома»,
центры оптовой торговли, действующие под торговой маркой Sam`s Club.

Интересный факт. Краснодарская розничная сеть, созданная Галицким, «Магнит», действующая на большей территории России, работает в аналогичном ключе и уже открыла более 9000 магазинов разного формата.

Создатель компании скончался от смертельного недуга в 1992 году, через несколько месяцев после выхода книги «Сделано в Америке», но по сей день ТОП-менеджеры всемирно известного бренда следуют принципам, действенность которых подтверждается ежегодными достижениями.

Принципы:

Семье должно принадлежать более 30% акций, что предотвращает возможность поглощения и переход управления посторонним лицам.
Все члены команды, от уборщицы до членов совета директоров должны понимать цели компании и получать удовольствие от работы в единой команде. Сэм Уолтон часто посещал свои магазины и разговаривал с сотрудниками лично. Это давало ему возможность проявить уважение к людям, вдохновить их на успешную работу и понять, что еще можно делать лучше, чем конкуренты.
Любой сотрудник – член большой и дружной семьи Волмарт.
Прямые поставки товаров позволяли и позволяют продавать товары по самым низким ценам. Хорошая логистика – несомненное преимущество сети перед конкурентами.
Прибыль компании заключена в тотальной экономии, а не в огромной наценке.
Особенности выкладки, разработанные Сэмом, помогли сети достигнуть умопомрачительных успехов. Выкладка промопродукции пирамидкой на входе и продажа копеечного товара в огромных количествах, сделали бренд Wal-Mart узнаваемым и популярным.
Менеджеры компании четко понимали, что заработать состояние гораздо проще, если помогать людям экономить. Ведь, сделав наценку в 2 цента и продав миллион штук, можно заработать гораздо больше, чем при наценке в 1$, продав всего 1000 шт.

Информация! Слоган компании – Экономь деньги. Живи лучше!

Умопомрачительные скидки

The Revolutions of The 1990s

The 1990s marked great success for Wal-Mart, as well as further growth and the incorporation of new technologies and ideas. In 1990 itself, Wal-Mart overtook the giants of the time, K-Mart and Sears, and became the number one retailer in the United States with sales of $32 billion. In 1991 the company expanded into some of the last few states remaining, which were New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Maine. This year was also the one in which Wal-Mart opened its first store outside of the US, a Sam’s Club in Mexico City South of the border.

Sam Walton passed away in 1992, less than a month after having been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the American president. His eldest son succeeded him as chairman of the corporate board of directors. As Wal-Mart continued to expand in 1993, it achieved the billion-Dollar sales mark in just a week. In 1994, after criticism from the National Advertising Review Board, Wal-Mart revised its slogan and changed it by a small amount to mean it provided products at low prices, and not the lowest as its slogan conveyed before. 1994 was also when Wal-Mart made its presence in Canada, with 122 stores. By this time the company also had 96 stores operating in Mexico.

In 1995, with countless stores in the US and 276 stores abroad, the company’s sales reached $93.6 billion. This year Wal-Mart expanded into the last American state remaining – Vermont – and finally covered the whole of the United States. It also opened three stores in Argentina, and five in Brazil. Wal-Mart made its way to China in 1996, and made over a hundred billion Dollars in sales in 1997. It acquired 21 stores in Germany in 1997 as well. In 1998, Wal-Mart entered the United Kingdom by acquiring the retail brand Asda.

Инновации в управлении

В течение последующих десяти лет Сэм открыл еще девять лавочек в Арканзасе и Миссури, изучил теорию торгового дела и на практике отработал несколько самостоятельно придуманных принципов управления магазином. К 1962 году, когда Сэм открыл свой первый супермаркет, его торговое кредо в общем уже сформировалось.

Как вспоминает Хелена Уолтон, в Сэме всегда боролись две страсти: одна — к разбросанным по городским окраинам лавочкам типа Mom & Pop («Мама и папа», где мама — бухгалтер и продавец, а папа — директор и грузчик); другая — к располагавшимся в центре города супермаркетам.

Он очень часто бывал в центре и изучал их работу. «Где бы мы ни были, — вспоминает Хелена, — если на нашем пути попадался магазин, мы останавливались, и Сэм рассматривал его, а то и заходил внутрь». Эта страсть к исследованию чужих магазинов осталась с ним на всю жизнь.

Кстати, все магазины Уолтона описанного периода были из разряда Mom & Pop, хотя в принципе он уже давно мог открыть крупный супермаркет. Проблема была лишь в том, где открыть такой магазин. Знакомые Сэма, тоже владельцы мелких лавочек, мечтали о том, что когда-то откроют супермаркет в центре города. Однако Уолтон решил открыть его на окраине.

Супермаркет, открывшийся в 1962 году на окраине Роджерса (Арканзас), получил название Waltons Five & Dime. С него и началось формирование всемирно известной сети WalMart Stores, которая сегодня насчитывает более трех тысяч супермаркетов в США, Канаде, Мексике, Бразилии, Аргентине, Китае, Пуэрто-Рико и Германии.

Эта сеть неуклонно разрастается: в течение последних пяти лет компания тратит на открытие новых магазинов $3-4 млрд. в год. Между тем ключевой принцип остался прежним. WalMart открывает супермаркеты в спальных районах, а не в центре города. Это и есть первое изобретение Сэма Уолтона.

Второе состоит в том, что каждый из уолтоновских магазинов, по сути, представляет собой все тот же Mom & Pop, но только очень большой. Покупателя привлекает не столько широкий ассортимент и низкие цены, сколько дружелюбная атмосфера магазина: возможность обсудить с продавцом, давним знакомым, самые свежие сплетни и между делом совершить покупку. Сегодня благодаря множеству социологических опросов это хорошо известно, но тогда, в начале 1960-х, сделать такой вывод было довольно сложно. Сэм сделал. И в своих супермаркетах постарался сохранить атмосферу крохотной лавочки. Он всегда говорил сотрудникам: «Чем больше становятся универмаги WalMart, тем больше мы должны избегать гигантомании, сохраняя атмосферу небольшого магазинчика».

Уолтон всегда сам подавал пример. Он старался как можно чаще общаться с персоналом магазинов и требовал того же от членов совета директоров компании:

Всю свою жизнь Уолтон, как обычный торговый агент, проездил на пикапе. А однажды, проиграв своему партнеру Давиду Глассу какой-то спор, сплясал на Wall Street гавайский национальный танец хулу в гавайской же травяной юбочке. Клиентов у его магазинов после этого только прибавилось.

Walmart’s Growth

On 31 October 1969, the company incorporated the name Wal-Mart Inc. and then changed it to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in 1970. In the same year, Walmart began to trade stocks and went on the list on the New York Stock Exchange. During the first stock split in May 1971, the price per share was $47.

In 1973, the stores entered Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky in 1974. As the company started entering Texas, it had 125 stores, 7500 employees, and sales of $340.3 million.

In the 1980s, Walmart completed 25 years and was rapidly growing in business. The company had 1198 stores with over 200,000 employees and an annual sale of $15.9 billion.

In the 2020s, the world was suffering from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic; Walmart introduced some new employee benefits. Employees can now stay at home and take unpaid leave if they are not feeling well or are uncomfortable coming to work. If the workers contract the Covid-19 virus, they will receive up to two weeks of pay. Walmart is the world’s largest private employer with 2.2 million employees currently working.

First Walmart

On 2 July 1962, Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas and this was his first store that was not a part of the Ben Franklin franchise.

Source: Walmart

Sam’s assistant, Bob Bogle, was the one to come up with the name “Wal-Mart” for the new chain and this name stuck on since then.

Sam Walton found that grocery and variety stores were doing good but there was a lack of players focusing on suburban and rural communities at the time.

Source: redbookmag

Most big-name retailers were all bunched up and competing in cities. This led Sam to position Walmart as a discount store for the masses and majorly focused on catering to the suburban and rural population.

Sam Walton, pictured inside the first Walmart | Source: redbookmag

This approach of “selling brand merchandise at low prices” to retail soon become the driving model for all Wal-Mart stores that followed. In 1964, the second Wal-Mart store was opened in Harrison, Arkansas – neighbouring city to Rogers, Arkansas.

At first, most brands were sceptical upon the viability of this “discount” model and refused to provide him with merchandises for a lower price. This was compounded by the fact that Walmart’s second store’s opening did not go as planned and things seemed to be off to a bad start. But Sam Walton and his team managed to turn things around and proved that its “everyday low price” model would not only work but also be highly profitable and scalable.

Деятельность

Walmart является лидером по внедрению технологий, связанных с использованием в торговле RFID -меток.

Wal-mart в США

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. состоит из трёх основных подразделений :

США (Walmart U.S.
) — розничная торговля и торговля через интернет, а также связанные финансовые услуги, такие как денежные переводы, обналичивание чеков, предоплаченные карты; включает 3522 супермаркета, 415 дисконт-центров и 735 минимаркетов; наиболее широко представлен в штатах Техас (501), Флорида (326), Калифорния (281), Северная Каролина (194), Джорджия (192), Иллинойс (162), Огайо (145), Теннесси (139), Пенсильвания (138), Виргиния (136), Миссури (136), Оклахома (123), Луизиана (122), Индиана (115), Южная Каролина (108), Нью-Йорк (100); оборот на конец финансового года, закончившегося 31 января 2017 года составил 308 млрд долларов, активы составили 104 млрд долларов.

Международное присутствие Wal-Mart

В списке крупнейших публичных компаний мира Forbes Global 2000 за 2017 год компания заняла 17-е место, в том числе 1-е по обороту, 19-е по чистой прибыли, 154-е по активам и 22-е по рыночной капитализации; также заняла 9-е место среди крупнейших компаний США и 22-е место в списке самых дорогих брендов мира .

Показатели деятельности

Год	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Оборот	112,0	129,2	153,3	178,0	201,2	226,5	252,8	281,5	308,9	345,0	374,5	404,3	408,1	421,8	447,0	468,7	476,3	485,7	482,1	485,9
Чистая прибыль	3,504	4,397	5,324	6,235	6,592	7,955	9,054	10,27	11,23	11,28	12,73	13,24	14,45	15,36	15,77	16,96	15,92	16,18	14,69	13,64
Активы	44,22	47,07	67,29	74,32	79,30	90,23	102,5	117,1	136,2	151,6	163,5	163,1	170,4	180,8	193,4	202,9	204,5	203,5	199,6	198,8
Собственный капитал	18,52	21,14	25,88	31,41	35,19	39,46	43,62	49,40	53,17	61,57	64,51	64,97	70,47	68,54	71,32	76,34	76,26	81,39	80,55	77,80
Торговых точек, тысяч	3,373	3,493	3,884	4,073	4,294	4,563	4,799	5,182	6,037	6,779	7,262	7,909	8,459	8,970	10,13	10,77	10,94	11,45	11,53	11,69

Внутри магазина Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores в России

Представители компании неоднократно подчеркивали важность российского рынка для компании. В сентябре 2008 года Wal-Mart Stores зарегистрировала дочернее юридическое лицо в России — ООО «ВМ eastern europe holdings, ЛЛК»

Эта компания вступила в Ассоциацию компаний розничной торговли (АКОРТ) , которая является главным лоббистом интересов российских торговых сетей .

После открытия офиса в России Wal-Mart Stores пыталась создать совместное предприятие с X5 Retail Group на базе сети гипермаркетов «Карусель », но сделка не осуществилась. Тогда же, в 2008 году, американский ретейлер участвовал в тендере на приобретение 89 % петербургской сети гипермаркетов «Лента », но сделка также не состоялась .

В 2010 году Wal-Mart Stores вела переговоры о покупке сети «Копейка » у компаний, принадлежащих Николаю Цветкову , главе ФК «Уралсиб» . Однако после приобретения «Копейки» российским ретейлером X5 Retail Group за 51,5 млрд рублей в начале декабря 2010 года Wal-Mart принял решение о закрытии российского представительства. По словам президента международного подразделения Wal-Mart Stores Дага Макмиллона, компания остаётся заинтересованной в российском продуктовом рынке, но не видит партнеров для сотрудничества в ближайшей перспективе .

В сентябре 2011 года было объявлено о назначении старшим вице-президентом Wal-Mart Stores российского менеджера Льва Хасиса , экс-главы X5 Retail Group . Основными направлениями его работы должны стать интеграция приобретенных сетей, глобальная синергия и инновации .