Scott Olson
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) plans to open or expand 150 stores in the U.S. over the next five years, according to an internal memo spotted by The Wall Street Journal. The store expansion plan would mark a shift from the current strategy to keep the retail giant’s store count flat and the five-year investment focus of growing the e-commerce business to compete with Amazon (AMZN).
The internal memo indicated that Walmart (WMT) plans to open around 12 new stores this year and convert one smaller location to a Walmart Supercenter. The new strategy will also see Walmart (WMT) convert several smaller-format stores to Supercenters. “We plan to build new stores in a way that we have not done in many years,” stated a Walmart spokeswoman.
During the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, Walmart (WMT) did not open any new store, but closed several. However, the company has been spending heavily on significant store upgrades.
Earlier in the week, Walmart (WMT) announced on that U.S. store managers will receive up to $20K in stock grants every year. The new policy will begin when the new fiscal year starts on Thursday. The goal with the stock award program is to improve leadership retention and make it easier to attract new managers from other retail chains. Walmart (WMT) said the amount of the annual stock grant is based on the store format. U.S. managers of the large supercenters will receive $20Kin stock grants, while those leading the smaller Neighborhood Market stores — as well as the so-called “division 1” stores, which sell mostly general merchandise — will get $15K in stock grants.
Shares of Walmart (WMT) were up 1.47% in premarket trading on Wednesday. The company’s announcement of an upcoming 3-for-1 split may be bringing in some new buyers.