“The current inflationary environment somehow impacts the reading of market performance, since each competitor implements a different pricing strategy. According to Nielsen, we have been able to increase our market share in the self-service segment in terms of units in each quarter of 2022”, reads the financial report that the company sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV).
In the last three months, Walmart has opened 26 new stores, 20 in Mexico and six in Central America. So far this year, 57 stores have opened. Currently, the supermarket chain operates 3,677 stores in six countries: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua.
Performance by region
Mexico had a growth of 12.3% in income, that is, 163,548 million pesos, as well as an Ebitda of 17,995 million pesos, which reflects an increase of 4.2%. In Mexico alone, same unit sales grew 11.1%, especially in the Bodega and Sam’s Club formats.
General expenses grew 490 basis points above revenues, due to strategic investments and higher labor costs. Walmart simplified marketing campaigns, transformed processes and signage materials in warehouse stores in the metropolitan area.
It also increased pressure perception by more than 250 basis points and saved almost 600 tons of paper and cardboard, contributing to its goal of zero waste. For the remainder of the year, the idea is to expand the pilot to 200 stores and finish implementing it in the rest of the Bodega stores in 2023.
Another top investment area was e-commerce talent. Y Walmart Connect is another of the relevant verticals, since through this business division they are leveraging their data and infrastructure to help advertisers connect with consumers in a meaningful way.
During the quarter, they launched the first Mobile Advertising campaign with Bait and Nestlé, which reached nearly half a million users with geo-targeting. They also launched their Retail Media Platform for Unilever, P&G and Nestlé to self-manage their sponsored product campaigns. Walmart Connect grew 14%.
In Central America, on the other hand, total revenues grew 15%, driven by double-digit growth in same-half sales of 14.4%. From 30,443 million pesos, sales increased to 34,337 million pesos, while the operating flow was 3,168 million pesos, at 16.1%.
the retailer installed energy-efficient equipment and solar panels that generated savings and reduced environmental impact. It also invested in automation initiatives to help employees increase their productivity. These initiatives and simplification projects allowed us to leverage expenses by 60 basis points.