Walmart 1999 Annual Report Download - page 11

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items, you have a true one-stop shop-
ping experience.
“But if you only need a handful of items
and, say, it’s Saturday afternoon, our
customers can come down to the
Neighborhood Market.”
CONNECTIVITY COUNTS
The Wal-Mart web of information sys-
tems extends far beyond the walls of
any one store. Starting from the basic
information compiled at the checkout
stand, at the shelves, and gathered by
associates equipped with hand-held
computer monitors, Wal-Mart works to
manage its supplies and inventories
not only in the stores, but all the way
back to the original source.
Wal-Mart has given suppliers access to
some of our systems, which enables
them to know exactly what is selling,
and to plan their production according-
ly. This not only helps us keep invento-
ries under control, but also helps the
supplier deliver the lowest-cost prod-
uct to the customer.
With sales and in-stock information
transmitted between Wal-Mart and our
supplier-partners in seconds over the
Internet, buyers and suppliers are
privy to the same facts and negotiate
based on a shared understanding – sav-
ing a significant amount of time and
energy over more traditional, low-tech
systems. Our buyer benefits from the
supplier’s product knowledge, while
the supplier benefits from Wal-Mart’s
experience in the market.
Combine these information systems
with our logistics – our hub-and-spoke
system in which distribution centers
are placed within a day’s truck run of
the stores – and all the pieces fall into
place for the ability to respond to the
needs of our customers, before they are
even in the store.
In today’s retailing world, speed is a
crucial competitive advantage. And
when it comes to turning information
into improved merchandising and ser-
vice to the customer, Wal-Mart is out in
front and gaining speed. In the words of
Randy Mott, Senior Vice President and
Chief Information Officer, “The surest
way to predict the future is to invent it.”
ost Wal-Mart customers hear a “welcome” when they enter a store – well, actu-
ally, we welcome every customer. But more and more often these days, that
welcome sounds more like ¡Bienvenido! or perhaps Willkommen. Don’t
worry, it still means “welcome” – in Chinese, French, German, Korean,
Portuguese or Spanish.
That’s because we’re doing business not
only in the United States, but also in Argentina,
Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Mexico, Puerto Rico
and, in our latest international expansion, South
Korea. And in the process, we’ve learned that the
Wal-Mart Way of doing business – quality, service and
Every Day Low Prices – translates into any language.
“Wal-Mart is still very early in the curve, but we already
are a proven global brand,” said Bob L. Martin,
President and CEO of Wal-Mart International. “The United States has only 4.5 percent of
the world’s population, so the way we see it, that leaves most of the world as potential
Wal-Mart customers.”
The International division’s sales rose to more than $12 billion in fiscal 1999 – an increase
of 63 percent over the previous year’s sales of $7.5 billion. And International’s operating
profit for the year was $551 million, for an increase of 110 percent from the year before.
In fiscal 1999, along with growing our business in such familiar venues as Mexico,
Canada and Puerto Rico, Wal-Mart also took its first steps into South Korea, acquiring a
majority interest in four units previously run by the Korea Makro company; acquired the
74-unit Interspar hypermarket chain in Germany, approximately quadrupling the size of
our operations there; and announced plans to triple the size of our operations in China.
“In the markets we currently serve there are significant expansion opportunities, and in the
new regions we are exploring, there are millions of underserved customers,” Martin said.
“But still, despite the size of all these numbers, our future hinges on doing exactly what
we’ve always done – building our success one store at a time, one customer at a time.”
“THE WAL-MART WAY” HAS TRULY GONE GLOBAL,
AS CUSTOMERS WORLDWIDE COME TO KNOW OUR
SERVICE, SELECTION AND EVERY DAY LOW PRICES.
M
EVERYBODY’S
HOMETOWN STORE
EVERYBODY’S
HOMETOWN STORE
INTERNATIONAL