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Walmart 2011 Annual Report 7
Walmart International continues aggressive growth, adding sales in both emerging and mature markets.
Net sales for scal 2011 grew 12 percent to $109 billion. Operating income increased to more than
$5.6 billion, supported by more than 4,500 locations and almost 287 million square feet of selling space.
Locally relevant. Our growth comes from a combination of comparable sales and new stores. We’re
opening supercentres in new regions of Canada and changing the competitive environment in Brazil with
a shift to EDLP. Our expectations for growth this year include 23 to 24 million new square feet in current
markets, including signicant investments in soft discount formats and supercenters in emerging markets.
The diversity of our formats allows entry into urban and rural areas and ensures we’re relevant to the
local community. In every market, our customers trust us to lead on price with our EDLP promise. Japan’s
transition to EDLP and operational eciencies contributed to increased prots for each of the past three
years. In the United Kingdom, ASDA has gone even further, providing customers with the ability to check
their basket price against competitors with a few simple clicks online through the ASDA price guarantee.
Opportunity for leverage. Leveraging the local and global footprint and the scale of Walmart saves our
customers money so they can live better. Global sourcing eorts drive merchandise quality and uniqueness.
Operational cost eciencies and various systems, processes and technologies allow us to lower the prices
in our markets. The ability to choose between local and global sourcing provides us with a signicant
competitive advantage in our markets.
A balanced approach. We will continue to balance our commitment to aggressive growth with our
long-term plan to improve returns. Looking ahead, solid returns come from operational discipline,
adherence to the productivity loop and eective capital allocation.
Driving aggressive growth and
increasing leverage globally
Net sales increased 12.1 percent over the
last year. Organic growth included 458 net
new stores, representing a 7.8 percent
increase in square footage. Customer
appeal and support for EDLP continues
to spread in international markets,
with Japan converting all stores
and all departments during FY11.