Retailer Profiles :  Wal-Mart Stores

   Profile Pages such as this one on the site will be dedicated to providing specific information on individual companies that are leaders in the food retailing industry.( As a reminder, this is a personal website with no direct affiliation to any company )

Wal-mart :

◊ By sales $ Wal-mart is the largest overall retailer in the world with over $ 359 Billion Canadian in 2003 which is just under what the sales were for the other top four global retailers combined.

◊ Active in all 50 U.S. states they also have operations in 10 other countries including Mexico, Canada, China and Japan.

◊ Most of their operations around the world carry the Wal-mart name in almost all formats and include Supercenters, Discount Stores, Sam's Club Warehouse Stores and Neighborhood Market Food stores. The following are links to some of their operations in North America and from around the world :

Corporate Site     Wal-mart United States     Wal-mart Argentina     Wal-mart Germany

Wal-mart China     Wal-mart Mexico     ASDA Wal-mart United Kingdom

Sam's Club United States     Seiyu Japan     Superama Mexico     Amigo Puerto Rico    

Wal-mart Canada   Sam's Club Canada    Wal-mart Photocentre Canada    Bompreco Brazil

◊ Wal-mart is one of if not the largest employer in the world with over 1,380,000 " associates " where 1,080,000 are in the U.S. and the remainder with their international operations.

◊ Their Neighborhood Market supermarket style stores and Sams Club stores are their avenue of expansion into Canada. So far their entry here was the purchase of Woolco stores from Woolworths in 1994 but to date they've opted to grow their Canadian operations through expansion and not acquisition not that it can be ruled out.

 

Did You Know ?

◊ On average Wal-mart is sued two to five times a day in the U.S. alone according to the Wal-mart Litigation Project of which over 50 are mentioned in their Annual Information forms submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission ( SEC ).

◊ The executive compensation package for CEO Lee Scott Jr. in 2002 totaled over $ 23 million Canadian including stock options, salary and incentive bonuses.

◊ In Canada, Wal-mart is for the first time faced with a single dominant retailing leader for competition in Loblaws whereas other countries they've entered into through acquisitions etc. were more competitive where Wal-mart bought out some of the lesser players. ( ie. ASDA in the U.K. was # 3 in that market )

◊ Their German operations have been their worst performing with losses estimated in the hundreds of millions from the combination of their 90+ stores.

◊ It is estimated the Wal-mart's around the world serve over 138 million customers weekly.

◊ The Wal-mart stores Supercenter format and other ideas were rumored to be based on the retail operations of Tesco of Britain and that Tesco has been the source of their inspiration in a number of areas over the years.