Wal-Mart Upgrades 1,800 Stores

Wal-Mart Stores will remodel 1,800 stores over the next 18 months and expand its Metro 7 private-label clothing line to 1,500 stores as part of its ongoing effort to appeal to higher-end shoppers.

Wal-Mart is courting those “selective shoppers” who shop Wal-Mart for staples but not clothing, home furnishings or electronics. Image ads that broke last week tell shoppers to “look beyond the basics” (Xtra Feb. 16).

Store remodels will roll out by region, with special emphasis on home furnishings, apparel, electronics and food departments— restrooms.

“We’re upgrading our stores to an environment that looks and feels like our most recent prototype,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, President-CEO of Wal-Mart Stores USA, in a conference call earlier this week.

In addition, 300 stores will get pharmacy revamps that make pharmacists more accessible to customers, Castro-Wright said.

Wal-Mart also will open 335 new stores in the U.S. and 200 new stores outside the U.S., after opening a record 69 stores in January alone.

Metro 7, now in 500 stores, will roll out to 1,500 stores by September, with other fashion-forward apparel to come.

“We want our merchandise to appeal to the broad range of customers already shopping in our stores,” said CEO Lee Scott in the conference call.

Wal-Mart also will boost the frequency of its circular ads, running 23 in 2006 (up from 12 in 2005). Each will have fewer pages, but will be “more customer-focused and relevant to the season by putting ads in customers’ hands closer to key events and holidays,” Castro-Wright said.

Wal-Mart also expanded its marketing staff, reportedly adding up to 60 staffers this year mostly in brand management, category marketing and customer research and strategy.

The retailer has already begun shifting regional management into the field, hiring locally to oversee regional operations. Wal-Mart hired a grocery veteran in the Northeast to handle that division; it’s looking for a similar manager in the Midwest, Castro-Wright said.