Wal-Mart has closed nearly 60 of its stores in Brazil, representing more than 10 per cent of its locations in the country, reports Reuters
People familiar with Wal-Mart's operations in Brazil told Reuters that it had closed roughly 60 stores in the past few weeks, and that many of the closures were of smaller-format stores.
It was announced in December 2015 that the store-closure percentage would be about five per cent. However, a challenging Brazilian economy, along with Wal-Mart's difficulty in keeping up with Carrefour and Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição in key urban locations, has made the degree to which the American grocer is shrinking its Brazilian presence more pronounced.
Wal-Mart Brazil’s sales went down on a like-for-like basis by 1.6 per cent between January 2015 and November 2015. This average was weighed down by the weaker-performing hypermarkets, many of which are to shut as part of Walmart’s Brazilian restructuring programme.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
