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14.6.2010 Digital Drives Wal-Mart's Global Growth Plan

Wal-Mart, the retail giant, is seeking to enhance its presence on mobile and the internet in a bid to increase its global customer base to one billion shoppers. Speaking at the company's annual meeting for shareholders, Mike Duke, Wal-Mart's CEO, said it serves 200 million people a week at present, a figure it hopes will have multiplied by five 20 years from now.

More broadly, Duke suggested a number of developments are currently in train that will require all major corporations to react. "The world is changing fast in big, disruptive, complex ways," he said. "There will be well over a billion more people on this plant and hundreds of millions of people will rise into the middle class." In response, Wal-Mart is looking to expand its reach outside the US, and plans to create some 500,000 jobs worldwide in the next five years.

As part of this process, it will combine its trademark hypermarkets with more modestly-sized outlets to ensure it meets the needs of its clientele in different countries. Another fundamental transition taking place in the retail category is the shift towards digital media, which enables consumers to take direct control of the shopping experience.

Mobile is of particular importance, not least because it is the primary means of accessing the web in many emerging markets. E-commerce similarly "goes to the heart of the customer experience," and will only increase in prominence going forward. "Building the best websites will be just as important as getting our store formats right in the future," said Duke.

B.L. 14.6.2010