2018
Annual Report
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Walmart U.S.

In FY18, Walmart U.S. continued to elevate the customer experience and deliver strong results. Net sales increased 3.5% to over $318 billion. Comp sales and traffic were strong, and eCommerce sales grew 44 percent. We’re becoming more efficient as physical stores leveraged expenses in all four quarters. Customers are responding to our investments in eCommerce, technology, price and associates as we make everyday shopping easier for busy families.

Walmart U.S.

Running great stores

More than 250,000 store associates further developed their retail skills at our nearly 200 training academies.

We’re using technology to make shopping easier for customers by deploying efficient processes for associates, including new apps, to deliver a best-in-class retail experience. Associates are spending less time doing repetitive tasks and more time serving customers and driving sales. We are also improving merchandise flow from distribution centers to stores, resulting in better inventory management and high in-stock availability. Stores are cleaner and space is used more efficiently. For example, 125 of the 200 training academies we opened were built inside space made available by inventory reductions.

We value our associates and increased the starting hourly wage rate to $11, launched adoption benefits, expanded paid parental leave and enhanced training through Walmart Academies.

Walmart U.S.

Delivering value

More than 21,000 self-checkout hosts now supporting customers with checkout in our stores.

As we innovate, one thing will never change: Walmart’s commitment to delivering value. Our commitment to everyday low costs helps fuel the productivity loop and has enabled us to invest billions of dollars into lowering prices for customers. To lower costs and drive efficiencies, we’ve accelerated automation and robotics in distribution centers and stores, including front-end transformation with more self-checkouts and Scan and Go. While technology changes certain roles, it also creates new opportunities for associates to serve customers in roles like online grocery personal shoppers and self-checkout hosts.

Walmart U.S.

Being great merchants

We recenlty launched 4 new private brands in apparel for women, women’s plus, kids and men.

We win the trust of customers by consistently delivering great assortment and quality merchandise at a great price. A quality fresh food business is the centerpiece of a great in-store experience and we’re adding 2-3 days of freshness by partnering with suppliers to move products through the supply chain faster. While we continue to offer a large assortment of national brands, private brands are also important, and we’ve improved quality in this area and added new brands in apparel, home and pets.

Walmart U.S.

Providing convenience

More than 120 fully automated pick up towers are now in stores.
See How Walmart’s Pickup Towers Work

For today’s customers, time is limited. So we’re leveraging stores to make shopping easy and faster. We plan to expand Online Grocery to about 2,100 stores this year and we’ll lean into grocery delivery by expanding the offering to nearly 800 stores. We’ve also digitized in-store experiences with mobile express pharmacy, money services and returns. Walmart Pay adoption has accelerated. And, we’re making the checkout experience easier with Scan & Go.

Walmart U.S.

Taking the next step in eCommerce

Walmart’s eCommerce business is rapidly growing. We’re focused on nailing the fundamentals, leveraging our unique strengths and innovating for the future. Through our Customer Value Index, comprised of five metrics – have it, find it, display it, price it and deliver it – we monitor our progress on improving the basics of eCommerce. We’re enabling customers to choose Walmart for all the ways they want to shop by expanding our assortment, leveraging our fulfillment capabilities and connecting our stores, located within 10 miles of nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population, to the digital world. Over the past year, we’ve doubled the number of items available on Walmart.com, including more of the top everyday items customers are looking for, as well

eCommerce sales grew 44% in fiscal 2018 to $11.5 Billion.

as unique private-branded products. We know customers want to save time and money, and we’re working hard to exceed their expectations. Initiatives such as free two-day shipping means customers can choose from millions of items for fast delivery to their homes, and online grocery pickup and delivery allow us to bring to life new shopping experiences that customers love. To stay at the leading edge of innovation, we launched Store No 8 – an incubation arm for uncovering ideas that will transform the future of commerce.

Walmart’s eCommerce business is rapidly growing. We’re focused on nailing the fundamentals, leveraging our unique strengths and innovating for the future. Through our Customer Value Index, comprised of five metrics – have it, find it, display it, price it and deliver it – we monitor our progress on improving the basics of eCommerce. We’re enabling customers to choose Walmart for all the ways they want to shop by expanding our assortment, leveraging our fulfillment capabilities and connecting our stores, located within 10 miles of nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population, to the digital world. Over the past year, we’ve doubled the number of items available on Walmart.com, including more of the top everyday items customers are looking for, as well as unique private-branded products. We know customers want to save time and money, and we’re working hard to exceed their expectations. Initiatives such as free two-day shipping means customers can choose from millions of items for fast delivery to their homes, and online grocery pickup and delivery allow us to bring to life new shopping experiences that customers love. To stay at the leading edge of innovation, we launched Store No 8 – an incubation arm for uncovering ideas that will transform the future of commerce.

Walmart International

Actively manage
the portfolio

We serve 27 countries internationally with more than 50 store formats.

Walmart International’s strategy is clearly defined and centered on prioritizing the markets we serve. Our markets play different roles in our portfolio, which enables us to strategically align our business and drive key initiatives. Our emphasis for capital allocation is on our North American core markets (Canada, Mexico, and Central America) and our key growth markets (China and India). We are intentionally focused on investing in markets, channels, and formats that position us to win.

Walmart International

Disciplined growth through differentiated customer proposition

In China, our partnership with JD Daojia makes it possible to deliver items from stores to nearby customers in less than an hour.

We are focused on building a differentiated customer value proposition through everyday price leadership, strong private brands, and our improved fresh offering. We are seeking to build seamless shopping experiences for our customers through the integration of physical and digital. Successful omnichannel execution will position us to be the world’s leading digitally enabled retailer. We continue to develop our capabilities in this area, including through partnerships such as those with JD.com and New Dada in China, and in online grocery with Rakuten in Japan.

Walmart International

Lowest cost operator

We operate 58 global food upstreaming facilities to reduce costs and improve quality.

Walmart International is committed to being the lowest cost operator and continually seeks ways to optimize our cost structure to further fuel our customer value proposition. We are leveraging our global scale in areas like global sourcing and private brands as well as creating operational efficiencies in our stores by investing in supply chain and vertical integration. Furthermore, the utilization of new data tools reduces our cost to serve and allows us to invest for long-term growth.

Walmart International

Build Strong Foundations

Walmart diverts 77% of materials and discarded products from landfill and incineration globally

Talent, technology, and trust are the building blocks of our business. We are dedicated to training and developing world-class talent throughout our markets and empowering them to lead us into the next generation of retail. We will also continue to digitally transform our business to remove points of friction for our customers and associates. As always, we remain committed to being the most trusted retailer in the world.

Sam’s club

Focusing Our Efforts

We’ve recently added value to our membership with free shipping for Plus members

At Sam’s Club, we’re focusing the business to accelerate growth. We have a clear vision for where we’re going, and we're making progress. Most importantly, we’ve identified our target member – a larger family with a higher income, typically in the suburbs. They may own a small restaurant or buy for their office as well. We are moving quickly to align the entire business to serve this member better. We’re focused on the merchandise they care about most. We also right-sized our fleet of clubs, and we’re beginning to convert some of the closed locations into eCommerce fulfillment centers. And we’ve simplified our membership card types and added free shipping on most items for our Plus members.

Sam’s club

Transforming the Business

Since launch, Scan and Go checkout has accounted for over $1 billion in sales

To transform our business, we’re focused on three priorities: people, product and digital. We’re raising the bar on talent and making Sam’s Club an even better place to work. We’re curating a high-quality assortment for our members – leaning into fresh food, exciting new items, and Member’s Mark, our popular private-label brand. Our digital strategy is making shopping at Sam’s Club easy and fun through Scan and Go, Club Pickup, and an easy-to-use app and website. Our improvements are resonating with members: in the fourth quarter of FY18 comp traffic was up 4.3% and comp sales were 2.4%* (without fuel).

*13-week period ended Jan. 26, 2018, compared to 13-week period ended Jan. 27, 2017, and excludes fuel. See additional information in the Q4 earning release from Feb. 20, 2018 regarding non-GAAP financial measures.