Project Impact growing Walmart business

Increasing customer traffic, growing sales and improved financial returns at Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores are the result of the company’s pursuit of a strategy that revolves around 10 words, according to EVP and coo Bill Simon.

Simon was the keynote speaker at Morgan Stanley’s Arizona Field Trip, and he provided an update on the company’s U.S. store business and a broad-based customer experience initiative known as “Project Impact,” which is the embodiment of the company’s 10-word strategy. According to Simon, in a project impact store Walmart is focused on delivering on the four words, “save money, live better” that form the core of its marketing strategy. Save money, live better is what the company stands for, but from a merchandising perspective, Simon said, the goal is to deliver against a three word “win, play, show” strategy that defines product assortments. Three words also constitute the guiding philosophy of operations, as Walmart wants is stores to be fast, friendly and clean.

Simon, who joined Walmart roughly three years ago, also highlighted how the company has improved its returns in the U.S. business by focusing more attention on improving existing operations while slowing the overall rate of U.S. store expansion. For example, in 2008, capital expenditures in the United States declined 36.7%to $5.8 billion from $9.1 billion the previous year.

As capital expenditures have declined, a greater focus on asset productivity and helped reduce inventory levels and helped the company improve operating income.