Wal-Mart Announces Plans for Growth

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, said Tuesday that it plans to expand both domestic and international operations.

The company also said it won’t open its revamped Web site until Jan. 1--a later-than-expected start date that will miss this year’s holiday shopping season.

Wal-Mart, which employs more than 1 million people, said it will open, remodel or move as many as 340 stores during its next fiscal year. It will add 160 to 165 of its super-centers, which are warehouse-size stores with full grocery departments, and about another 100 stores overseas.

It will also open 40 new discount stores, 20 to 25 Sam’s Club wholesale warehouses and five to 10 new Neighborhood Markets, smaller stores with food, drugs and general merchandise. That concept is still being tested.

The expansion announcement came as the company reported that for the five weeks ended Friday, sales at stores open at least a year rose 7.2%, a drop from the 9.5% increase recorded in the same period last year. Total sales for the period were $15.7 billion, up more than 26% from $12.4 billion in the year-earlier period.

Wal-Mart shares rose 94 cents to close at $51.25 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Relocations or expansions of existing discount stores will account for approximately 100 of the super-centers, and the remainder will be new locations, four in California. Two of the new Sam’s Clubs will be in California.

Internationally, Wal-Mart said it will open 90 to 100 units in current markets, including new stores and clubs as well as some relocations of certain units.

The units include several Cifra formats such as restaurants, department stores and supermarkets in Mexico. In Germany, Wal-Mart will continue with the remodeling of acquired hyper-markets.

Last year, Wal-Mart opened 123 domestic super-centers, while the number of old-style Wal-Mart stores dropped by 52. The company increased its international stores by 114 and added eight Sam’s Club stores.

The company said it also plans to open four new regional general goods centers, four food distribution centers and two fresh food distribution centers in the U.S.

Wal-Mart said in June that it planned to open its redesigned Web site in the fourth quarter to meet a growing demand for online shopping. Internet sales are forecast to almost triple to about $10 billion in the quarter, according to Forrester Research. It’s also a crucial period for online retailers to introduce sites to new customers, analysts said.

“The expectations for the Wal-Mart site were quite high and probably got ahead of their ability to exceed them,” said Christopher Vroom, an analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners.

Other analysts said Wal-Mart may be wise not to rush a revised site if it has not been fully tested. Glitches could sour consumers on the site and send them to rival online merchants.

Wal-Mart associates later this month will begin testing the redesigned site, which features a selection of goods and such services as travel and photo centers. The company promises to offer more than 600,000 products online by the end of the first quarter.

Wal-Mart wants to make its site accessible and easy to use for customers of all income levels, said Glenn Habern, senior vice president of new business development.

*

Bloomberg News and Reuters were used in compiling this report.