Walmart CEO McMillon Outlines Vision for ‘Future of Shopping’ at Annual Shareholders’ Meeting
Associates from around the world hear they remain the secret to
Walmart’s success
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today at Walmart’s 47th Annual Shareholders’ Meeting,
President and CEO Doug McMillon said Walmart has “started to invent the
future of shopping again,” as the company leverages technology to
empower associates and improve the customer experience.
“Together, we’re building a new Walmart,” McMillon told more than 14,000
associates from across the U.S. and around the world in Bud Walton Arena
at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. “We’re going to make
shopping with us faster, easier and more enjoyable. We’ll do more than
just save customers money and you, our associates, will make the
difference. Looking ahead, we will compete with technology, but win with
people. We will be people-led and tech-empowered.”
Serving Customers in a Changing Retail Environment
In outlining a vision for the future, McMillon said Walmart will stay
ahead of changes by providing the best prices and great merchandise,
while saving customers time and creating a fast, easy and enjoyable
shopping experience. “We’re making every day easier for busy families
and we’re using new ways of working to do it,” he said.
This week, Walmart announced the company has recently begun a trial
that enables store associates to deliver store items to customers in
a new way to improve “last mile” delivery. The trial, which is early in
development, pays participating store associates to deliver customer
packages on their existing commute home from work, substantially
increasing the retailer’s reach into suburban and rural communities.
McMillon noted other tests that will empower and benefit customers. They
include digital endless-aisle shopping in stores, automated pickup
towers in stores for online orders, pickup stations in store parking
lots, robotics and image analytics to scan aisles for item availability
and shelf presentation and machine learning and more advanced algorithms
in pricing systems.
McMillon went on to highlight initiatives helping to drive company
results by creating a better working experience for associates and
shopping experience for customers. They include:
-
Free two-day shipping on more than two million items, with no
membership fee; - A discount for customers picking up online orders in stores;
-
Grocery pickup in many markets around the world and delivery from
stores in some; -
Jet Fresh delivery, which provides delivery of fresh groceries to the
home in 1-2 days and is now available to half of the U.S. population
and growing.
Driving Success Through Associates
McMillon struck an optimistic tone about the future of work and
technology, encouraging the company’s 2.3 million worldwide associates
to “be lifelong learners.” While investments are being made in
technology, he stressed that people remain central to Walmart’s
business. “The secret to our success will always be our people – it will
be us,” he said, highlighting Walmart’s commitment to train and equip
workers with the tools and skills they need.
“I think we should recognize that we’ll be able to learn, grow and
change together,” he said. While Walmart will always be a place where
associates can learn to run a store or lead a distribution center,
McMillon went on to say the company is creating jobs in new areas,
including data scientists, machine-learning engineers and mobile app
developers. “More than ever, Walmart will be a ladder of opportunity.”
A Trusted Retailer Making a Difference Around the World
McMillon spoke about the company’s role in serving communities. “Customers
have always trusted us for our low prices, but they also want to know
that the products they buy are good for their families, the planet and
the people that made them,” he said.
McMillon pointed to ways Walmart gives back to communities, including
programs to source $20 billion from women-owned businesses – a goal that
was met last year – and to source $250 billion in products that support
American jobs over a 10-year period. He also highlighted projects to
source more local and sustainable products and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions in the company’s supply chain by one gigaton by
2030, praising Walmart’s suppliers as allies in this work.
“Our world is increasingly transparent and we’re out to earn trust,” he
said. “When people shine a light on Walmart and see our decisions – the
jobs we create, the activities in our supply chain – we want them to
like what they see.”
For more information on Walmart’s Shareholders’ Meeting or to watch a
replay of the event, please visit WalmartShareholders.com.
About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save
money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail stores, online,
and through their mobile devices. Each week, over 260 million customers
and members visit our 11,723 stores under 59 banners in 28 countries and
e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2017 revenue of
$485.9 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.3 million associates
worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate
philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about
Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com,
on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart
and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.
Contacts
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Media Relations Contact:
Randy
Hargrove, 800-331-0085
