WALMART’S president has revealed the moves that the retail giant is taking to stay on top of the market.
Longtime CEO Doug McMillon said adapting to technology and making bold investments have been key for the company to survive.
The head exec opened up after Walmart won the title of Yahoo Finance’s Company of the Year following a year of impressive sales.
McMillon has been Walmart’s CEO for over a decade, but he revealed taking chances on investments is still new to him.
“I’m a pretty conservative, kind of play-it-safe kind of person,” McMillon told Yahoo Finance in their sit-down interview near the store’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.
“But to get the change that we needed, we had to take risks in the form of acquisitions, in the form of big investments.
“Those can be breathtaking at times, but that’s one way that I know I’ve changed – I’m faster to accept risks than I was before.”
McMillon said the company took care of their employees by prioritizing their wages and education.
He also said just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Walmart invested in low prices, e-commerce, and technology – and it paid off.
“That obviously created some pressure on the bottom line and some overhang for how people think about Walmart,” McMillon explained.
“I think it caused a lot of people, customers and our associates, to recognize that we were on the right track.
“And we just kind of haven’t looked back since then.”
McMillon said he aims to keep prices low throughout 2025 despite growing inflation.
“We’re positioned to manage it, but what I worry about is customers experiencing higher prices, and we’re going do everything we can to try and keep them low,” the CEO said.
“We encourage [leaders] to be strategic and really thoughtful with them and help them understand how the math works.”
McMillon’s victory lap comes just weeks after the Walmart CEO issued a grim warning for shoppers in the new year while admitting he was “disappointed” in inflation rates.
I’m faster to accept risks than I was before.”
Doug McMillon
“I don’t know what the whole year is going to look like,” he said at the 2024 Morgan Stanley Global Consumer and Retail Conference, according to Grocery Dive.
“I hope, and I think it could be better as these commodities adjust, some of them.”
He went on to say he has hope that the prices of eggs and dairy will even out in the future.
WALMART+ DREAMS
The brand plans to get through inflationary prices by boosting e-commerce business through its Walmart+ membership program.
Through the membership, shoppers can get free online and in-store delivery for $12.95 per month or $98 per year.
CPI and Inflation explained
The Consumer Price Index is how the federal government measures inflation.
Every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shares its CPI numbers with detailed breakdowns of which items have changing prices.
The CPI shows the amount prices rose or fell over the previous 12 months.
The calculation process is complex, but measures the changes in price for urban consumers, those living or working in an American metropolitan area.
While that does not cover everyone, it measures prices for about 90% of the population.
“We should have more memberships, and we’re working towards that,” McMillon said at the conference.
“We’ve been maintaining those price gaps through pandemic periods of time and through inflationary periods of time, and that continues up until this day,” he said.
“We’ve got an assortment that’s really growing and the experience is getting better.
“We’re just saving people more time.”
