BY DIVISION
Our consistent sales year round are also the product of improvements to and growth in all the divisions of the business, which cover Food, Consumables, General Merchandise, and Apparel.
Our most important divisions, Food and Consumables, delivered solid sales performance in 2015 thanks to initiatives aimed at enhancing assortment, price, and quality in terms of Consumables, Groceries and Perishables. With respect to the latter, we worked hard on improving its value proposition, starting with the supply stage. As a result, we have been able to grow sales in parallel with reducing shrink for this division.
Within Bodega, the initiatives undertaken translated into greater consistency in planning, supply chain, and product availability. Tuesday Freshness in Supercenter is one of the most important features for the Produce department, and therefore we worked this year on having greater variety and more attractive prices for our customers.
We relied on a greater quantity of local Seafood products, which allowed us to be better prepared for our customers during Lent. In our Bakery, we developed more effective production plans, providing more clarity regarding our flagship programs in each business format.
Greater depth of variety was achieved in our Supercenter General Merchandise department, for instance in Electronics, with high-tech items made available for our customers, such as 4K screens, GoPro cameras, and drones.
Moreover, investments were made in licensing events for the Toy department, among which the favorites include items such as The Avengers, Star Wars, and Minions, to let us enhance the assortment within said division.
Worthy of mention is the focus placed on differentiated items for Sam’s Club, in conjunction with our commercial partners, so as to have novelty items, the right packaging for a warehouse membership club, imported items, quality brands, and exclusive items. We do all this with the purpose of providing greater value for each product our members buy, and at the best price on the market.
By centralizing the Apparel division, we were able to accomplish greater synergy that translated into growth above the market within Self-service and Clubs formats; this was thanks to the strengthening of our buying volume and a clear by-format differentiation.
Our Private Labels in Suburbia –Metropolis, Contempo, and Weekend- were further driven by using digital strategies such as fashion capsules and connection-generating content for our customers. Through these efforts our brands are solidly positioned within different social media.
We continue working to make our eCommerce business one of the driving forces of growth. Therefore, we have put together a comprehensive catalog for our Supercenter units and made it available at walmart.com.mx, in addition to expanding our differentiated catalog, which focuses on high-value brands and products for our customers.