At Walmart, we’re excited about the progress in our business
and have confidence in the strategies we’re executing in each
operating segment. I feel very good about the areas where
we are strategically focused, and we are prepared to accelerate these efforts. We’re delivering on the productivity loop
and being even more disciplined about operating expenses
and capital spending. We’re investing to serve more customers
globally, especially in e-commerce. We’re putting a major
effort into making sure we have the best retail talent at
every level of our organization. And we’re taking our model
for making a difference and applying it in new ways to some
of society’s toughest challenges.
More often, I see customers using a mobile phone to check
the price of an item. The era of price transparency is right here,
right now and in real time. We welcome Walmart being a
showroom for online shoppers. This may surprise some people,
but because we’re really churning the productivity loop, we
have a lot of open road ahead. If we offer the right assortment,
the lowest prices and the best experience, customers choose
Walmart whenever and wherever they shop.
Walmart has now leveraged operating expenses for a third
consecutive year. In fact, every operating segment grew sales
faster than expenses. We continue to invest savings into
lower prices and improving returns. I’m pleased with the
progress we’ve made with innovations around workforce
planning, on-shelf availability and sourcing. These areas –
and many others – are key priorities for our management
teams. We’re on track to meeting our goal to reduce operating
expenses as a percentage of sales by at least 100 basis points
by fiscal 2017.
We’re also applying this same discipline to capital expenditures.
We’ve reduced total remodeling costs for Walmart U.S.
50 percent over the past two years and are lowering construction costs around the world. Last year, we invested $12.9 billion
to add 34.6 million square feet of retail space. We’re also better
matching our systems investments to the size of the retail box
and the need of the market. Whether it’s expense leverage or
capital discipline, Walmart is accelerating the productivity loop
to drive prices even lower for our customers.