Please give a warm Georgia Tech.

Welcome to our guest.

Greg Feldman thank you.

If you can hear me OK.

Good afternoon good job.

Amber.
Thank you thank you very much.

I am excited to be here today.

How many of you are required to be here
is this is this a class of some kind or

OK Well I'd say what I'm going to I'm
going to try to try to make it as

enjoyed will as I can for you looking
forward to telling you a little bit about

about my career about Wal-Mart.

Certainly take some questions for

you at the end again try to give
you as much information as I can.

Our C.E.O. Mike Duke was here about
a year ago did any of you were any of you

able to sit in the audience and
a few a few of you.

OK So you'll see some similarities
in what we talk about but

I think probably the biggest difference
that that I might be able to provide is my

career path that Wal-Mart
is is very different and

I started with with Wal-Mart
one thousand years ago.

I was going to the University of
Washington in Seattle lived there for

most of my life and and
needed like many of you.

I think I have a lot of undergraduate
students here needed a job right.

About done with school.

I had a great time in college and

I needed to find a place to work didn't
know much about Wal-Mart at the time.

Wal-Mart really didn't exist
in the in the northwest.

In fact the closest Wal-Mart store to
Seattle was about nine hours away.

So in fact I had never been out at
Wal-Mart never been stepped foot in

a store had a couple friends that worked
at Wal-Mart said that it was a great place

to work that had a good time there in
the first year that they had been there so

I decided well I'm going to look into
this Wal-Mart thing I read Sam's book and

to be honest with you decided
that's where I wanted to work.

In fact it was the only the only place
that I interviewed some of my friends and

my family says that I was too lazy
to apply anywhere else and I think.

For me that Wal-Mart offered me a job but
it turned out it turned out very well for

me I loaded everything that
I had into my pickup truck.

My cat.

My couch a few things that I had and
drove nine hours to the store and

Klamath Falls Oregon and
started my started my Wal-Mart career.

You know I'll talk about
the culture of Wal-Mart.

I'll talk about my experiences with
Wal-Mart I'll talk about you know what

from my point of view as made Wal-Mart
successful what we're focused on and

where we're headed but
I'll tell you that for me.

What was real fortunate was was
my initial start with Wal-Mart.

I had an opportunity to experience
the culture in a way that I'm going

to tell the story about my first day and
my second day at Wal-Mart and it really

exemplified for me what the culture what
the Wal-Mart culture was all about and

I think it's a big part of why I
really decided to commit the last

nineteen years and move my family all over
the place to be a part of Wal-Mart and

it's really a story about people and

it's a big part of our culture
at Wal-Mart is a respect for

the individual and really working hard
with these people day in and day out.

So my first day at Wal-Mart.

I go home after a long day's work and
I'm watching Monday Night Football and

there's an earthquake in
Klamath Falls Oregon's a true story.

Six point two earthquake and.

I jump up and I go to the T.V.
because it's the only thing I have with

any kind of value in my
studio apartment and

I salvaged the T.V.
and everything is still working.

So I'm able to stop and
finish and watch the game.

And that's all I really
thought about right.

So the next morning I go to the store and
it just sometimes

seemed weird when I got to the store
there were all these cars parked.

Right.
By the front of the store and

it just something didn't quite seem right.

So I go into the store and that's where I
really got my first sense of what Wal-Mart

was all about and where I realized that
this is the place that I wanted to work

and what happened with everybody else that
worked at the store was similar to my

night except that as soon as they save
the T.V. and made sure the family was OK.

They all thought about each other and
they all thought about the store and

they all went to the store and they all
spent all night cleaning up the store and

trying to do everything they could so

that the store could open the next
morning because as you can imagine.

In any retail store.

Imagine a Wal-Mart store with a six
point two earthquake lot of stuff

going to fall down.

Right.
Ceiling tiles merchandise.

It was a mess.

It was a mess and more than one hundred
associates had come to the store after

their family they knew their family was
OK and made sure each other was OK and

literally spent the entire night trying
to get that store ready to open for

customers the next day and
I remember in retail establishment

there was a Kmart in
Klamath Falls at the time.

And these places were unable to open the
next day and we were open by nine thirty

the next day and it was it was then that I
realized this is a this is a really unique

place this is a place that really for
me and I tell people all the time.

Wal-Mart isn't for everybody but it really
seemed like a place that I wanted to work

a place where people were
committed like that to be able to

work together to pull together to
try to get that store back open.

So from Klamath Falls Oregon really I
could describe my career is bouncing

around all over the place.

I spent time in store operations and

different training roles
management roles mostly

in the Northwest started moving to
the east ended up in Arkansas for

a period of time in the in H.R.
and Bentonville is.

For what some of you may think
of in terms of Bentonville it's

not a bad place to live.

My wife I got married short.

After I started working for Wal-Mart and
she had never lived anywhere

except the big city in Seattle and she was
terrified to go to to go to Arkansas but

I'll tell you it wasn't it wasn't that
bad of a place to live when you take

the largest retailer in the world and
all the vendors and the suppliers and

all the people that work there.

You create this place in
northwest Arkansas that's not what

you would think of as Northwest Arkansas.

So nine Moose is what I've done in
my nineteen years with Wal-Mart and

you know I think many of you are probably
about to start you know your career and

have roots and have connections.

Maybe here maybe somewhere else and
that's fine for me the being willing and

able to move around and
have that flexibility meant a lot in in my

career and it it afforded me an awful lot
of opportunities to meet new people and

experience new things and you know that's
that's a I think the early part of

everybody's career is about I
guess what I would call practice.

You get an opportunity to learn new
things and to try things out and

sometimes you make mistakes and

I tell people all the time that
the greatest advantage I have had in my

career and I think what's helped me move
up is I've been able to make mistakes.

Wal-Mart moves me somewhere else and
I get to start over again.

And the mistakes that I made they don't
go with me because the people that I'm

with now they don't they
don't know much about me.

So it's been a good opportunity for me to
do that I have been in Atlanta now for

two and a half years and
I think as as as you stated.

I've got the I've got out.

Bam is part of my territory Georgia South
Carolina and the panhandle of Florida.

I'll talk to a little bit about you
know our stores and some of the new and

innovative things that I think that we're
doing in the area in a few minutes as we

go through this but
we started to decentralize as

a company a handful of years ago.

And if I was in my role five years.

Go there are twelve people that do
what I do in the company we would have

all lived in Arkansas.

You know but we decided that we
needed to get our leadership

a lot closer to the customer.

We really needed to live in
the communities where our stores were and

where our people were so that we could
better take care of the customers and

our associates and
that's been a real a big deal for

the company and I think it's really
proven to be very effective.

There's nothing like being able to you
know wake up and see the newspaper or

the news on the on the television for
your area

as opposed to everybody going back to
this vacuum in Bentonville Arkansas and

I think it's helped us make really
good decisions because you'll hear

me talk about it as I go through
this that it's about the customer.

You know for us and for so
many companies to be successful.

It's about understanding your customer and
what they want and what they need and

how you can best take care of them so

that leads me really to talk about
what is what is Wal-Mart and

what you see on the screen is is what
I would say best exemplify truly

what Wal-Mart is and that is the three
basic beliefs and the productivity loop.

Simple and straightforward respect for the
individual service to our customers and

striving for excellence and you'll hear
me as I tell stories about my experience

with Wal-Mart I think you'll hear many of
those relate right back to those three

basic beliefs is the first thing I was
told when I came to work at Wal-Mart and

I think it's part of the reason that
Wal-Mart has been as successful as it has

is that Sam Walton instilled these
values with all of us from day one

I started one year after Sam died.

So I never never met Sam never got to see
him never got to hear him in person but

you know my Duke said a year ago and

I would echo that sentiment
I feel like I knew him.

I've watched so many videos I've seen so
much testimonial from Sam and

his his footprint and his fingerprints
are all over you know what we did.

For he past and what we still do today.

Specifically the productivity loop and
this is really you know every

company has to know what they're good at
and why you have to change and evolve.

You have to know what you're good at
because at the end of the day you have

to do that.

Extremely well and for
us it's about the productivity loop and

I want to start with the operate for
less portion of that because that

is really from a store operations
standpoint that's the most important

thing that we do in field operations
to deliver for the company.

We have to operate for less and
some of you may have heard you know

stories about Wal-Mart in
the frugality of Wal-Mart and.

There's all kinds of funny stories
out there about about how tight.

You know Wal-Mart is with pennies and
it's true.

I'll tell you it's true.

And I'll give you I'll
give you one example.

And it's a little example but

I would tell you that when you have
a company that has two million associates.

I have one hundred seven thousand
associates that work in the southeast.

If you have everybody in
your organization doing

the little things in the area of what
you need to do best and what's the most

important you can make a big impact with
it so I'll give you give you one example.

And I see people writing notes and
you have pens.

I have never I've never bought a pen.

At Wal-Mart and I've never bought.

You know a little little notepad like
this because the hotels give them

away for free.

They do this one happens to be

from from Holiday Inn And and
it says they organized on it and

I would tell you that the first
thing that I do when I go and

check into a hotel is I get my
free pin and free notepad and

you know a big part of being at
Wal-Mart is that we have to teach and

tell stories to to our
new associates that come.

I'm bored and I don't know who taught
me that I don't I don't remember

all the things that I do to try to
save pennies and to save dollars but

there are so many things like that
that we do because we know that our

mission which is in the middle there of
saving people money so they live better.

It's critical.

It's absolutely critical for us to operate
for less so that we can sell for less

because we can say we're going to sell for
less and we can actually sell for less.

But if we don't operate for
less than we're going to go broke.

You have to be able to have the profit
margins necessary to be able to do that.

So whether it be a notepad or a pen.

Those little things.

There are big because.

What I certainly know about Wal-Mart
is we deal with big numbers but

little numbers multiplied by big
numbers are usually big numbers and

we get everybody focused on those little
things it makes a big difference with

Wal-Mart what I want to talk
a little bit about now is

to get into you know where
we are as a company and

just if you would for a minute think about
about retail and what you see on the slide

is the top retailers in terms of
volume in one nine hundred seventy.

OK And then of course you can see you
that list in one nine hundred ninety and

two thousand and eleven and here's what
I ask you to think about if you look at

that list in one nine hundred seventy.

Raise your hand if you know
what Grant is a company.

How about McCrory you got a couple.

Jeanette's go OK.

So it's entirely possible
that thirty years from now

when maybe you have kids and they're
sitting in here there will be three or

four companies on this two thousand and
eleven list and

they will know who they are I'm
not going to say any names.

Because I'm here to
talk about Wal-Mart and

what we're going to try to do to continue
our growth and to continue our success but

that's that's a you know that's something
that I have what I would call a healthy

paranoia about that Wal-Mart and
what I think Wal-Mart talks about and

thinks about a lot.

You know because that's that's a pretty
that's a pretty sobering thing to

see you certainly see some companies
that have continued to do well and

continue to move up and
continue to thrive.

But you know forty one years
ago is not that long ago.

And I was born in one thousand
nine hundred seventy one.

I don't know some of the companies
on that that list on the left.

I know the companies from
one nine hundred ninety and

certainly the ones from two thousand and
eleven.

So some of what I'm going to talk about
is really why I think Wal-Mart has

has been able to stay at the top
of that list in the last

twenty one years and
the way that we're looking at and

trying to embrace what we think the future
of retail is which you know you don't

have to be able to predict the future of
retail to be to be able to focus on and

try to ensure that you can thrive and
you can be successful.

The top of that list so.

Let's make sure we can
stay on top of that list.

One of the things that we at Wal-Mart
did without a doubt one of the probably

the best decisions that we made as we
knew we had to look internationally.

And this map right here shows.

In a snapshot and

you know how big our presence is not just
in the U.S. but throughout the world.

I don't know how many of you knew that we
had more units internationally than we

have in the U.S. you know many of
these are through acquisition.

But many of these are through organic
growth inside these countries

in which we do business there is huge
opportunity throughout the world both

with e-commerce and with brick and
mortar and so we started taking steps.

Twenty twenty.

Five years ago to help give us
a foothold to be able to grow

as the international market grew as the
middle class started to rise in some of

these communities as general
merchandise became important.

And as the need for supply chain to
help countries like India and China.

You know provide food and fresh fruits and

vegetables to customers throughout
those countries so you know.

Wow there's still a lot of the of
the world that we're not a part of

it's important and
we believe wholeheartedly at Wal-Mart that

we have to be big players
internationally because you know Sam.

Commented on constantly before he died was
that we needed to lower the cost of living

for everyone and
his mission to save people money so

they could live better applies to
people throughout the world and

you know one of the things
that we figured out is.

We can't do it the same that we do in
the United States we've had some failures.

Right.
But

one of the things I think that's made
a successful at Wal-Mart is we haven't

been afraid to take some chances.

You won't see on their
presence in Germany.

Because we weren't successful in Germany.

So what we did do is we learn from our
mistakes in Germany as an example and

we applied some of those
learnings throughout the world.

I had an opportunity to spend some time in
South America and some of our stores and

she lay about two years ago and
we acquired a company called D.N.A.'s.

In South America and we have probably

Well there's three hundred twenty two
units now I think there was less than two

hundred at the at the time of the
acquisition and what what I noticed when

when I went into the stores was how much
they felt like Wal-Mart and we hadn't.

We hadn't had these stores for more than
a year under the the dual banner with D.S.

and with Wal-Mart and I remember
talking to some of the leadership and

some of the people involved in
the integration and said Why.

How's this been so.

Successful why why why do these
stores feel so much like Wal-Mart and

they say the comment was I think resonated
really well which was it's been one of

the most successful integrations because
their basic beliefs were almost lined up

exactly to Wal-Mart's And so I think what
we learned was how important it is that

you know you can't just go international
and put up a Wal-Mart sign and

take your business over there
that it's about the people and

it's about the people and the culture and
we learned a lot from acquisitions like

D.N.A.'s that helped us for example
with Massmart in subsaharan Africa.

It's been another great transition for
us in less than a year.

You know we feel like we've really been
able to integrate a lot of those units and

start to build plans for growth so
international was certainly something that

helped us continue on that list and
continue our growth in our strength.

What I want to talk about now
is is about our formats and

you can see a good quote from Sam.

About not just doing the same
thing that got you here but

it's about it's about change.

Right.
Everything around you is changing to

succeed you have to stay
out in front of the change.

So how many of you have
been in a Wal-Mart store.

OK so most of you right and
all of you how many of you have been

in what's called the Neighborhood Market
got a few people neighborhood market so

I would imagine there are some of you
that don't even know what a neighborhood

market is so a big Wal-Mart Supercenter is
about two hundred thousand square feet.

Those are the ones that you're most
familiar with if you're here probably

where you're from a neighborhood market is
really just a neighborhood grocery store.

We opened three in Atlanta this year
they're about forty thousand square feet

so less than a quarter of the size
of a big Wal-Mart Supercenter and

its primary focus is health and
wellness groceries.

Food and consumables.

OK how about an express how
many of you have been in

a Wal-Mart Express I'll be
impressed if anybody raises.

OK we go.

We've got one person that's been in
a Wal-Mart Express how many of you even

know the.

What that there is such thing as
a Wal-Mart Express anybody heard of

Wal-Mart Express.

So it's a pilot.

It's a pilot that we've got going
now primarily in North Carolina and

it's again smaller than
a neighborhood market.

It's really about a quarter of the size
of a typical grocery store and

its focus is food and consumables and
convenience items and it's a it's

a it's a format that we think could really
help us in a variety of areas maybe more

rule areas and also maybe more or urban
areas to be able to give people access to

everyday low price food and consumable
items in a variety of different places

where we don't have access to people
don't have access to our brand now and

then there's one other one that
I wanted to tell you about and

that is campus stores and there was
a couple of us talking about it before

today's session and so we have
a format in in Fayetteville Arkansas

at the University of Arkansas and
it's called the campus store and

it's really a pharmacy on the University
of Arkansas campus with the few

convenience items that help provide
easy access for customers for

prescriptions and really some of
the quick items that you might need.

In a Wal-Mart store and then there's
another format even more local here and

I would imagine very few of
you know about it here and

that's a format that we have
at the Delta home office so

Delta any of you ever been to the delta
the Delta home office campus.

Probably not some of you.

So we have a Wal-Mart pharmacy
in their home office.

There was another pharmacy that
wasn't successful and they left and

we partnered with Delta and

we have a Wal-Mart pharmacy inside of
Delta So the point of me telling you all

that is you know one of the things that we
have to do is we've had to be flexible.

We've had great success
with the big store.

That most of you familiar with but you
know what that's not what everybody wants.

That's not what every community wants and
so we've had to change.

We've had to adapt to say OK this might
not be something that we've been good at

in the past but how can we make this work.

How can we fit into the community.

So we can provide.

The merchandise that at the prices that
the customers want where we otherwise

couldn't get into and so it's been a big
part of the been a big part of our

growth and I think certainly something
that is giving us an advantage

to show that we can be nimble and
we can be flexible.

In the communities that we operate or

Right now I want to talk
a little bit about the customers.

Right.

So I talked about how important service to
the customers really is that Wal-Mart and

so innovation and technology and the next
couple slides will probably resonate maybe

a little bit more with this group here but
the retail environment is changing

pretty dramatically and so we've had
to really leverage technology and

understand how we can use this technology
to better communicate partner with our

customers and to be able to be able to
provide them the goods in the services

that they want with Wal-Mart so me give
you an example with with pay with cash.

So what was obvious was there was
a lot of customers that wanted

the customers were telling us that wanted
to be able to purchase things on a website

right because when you can go on.

Walmart dot com or any other.

Web site the X. X.
organ is expanding dramatically.

Right.
You might be able to have access

to one hundred twenty five thousand items
in a Wal-Mart store and two million items.

On a website right.

But you know what.

Not every customer had a credit card.

Not every customer felt comfortable.

To use a website to put their
credit card information out there.

This group is saying what are you
talking about believe me it was amazing

how many cust how many
people felt that way.

Probably a little bit older generation
than most of the people that are here.

But what we did is we created a way that
a customer could go online at walmart dot

com and they could place their order and
then they could go into the store.

Pay for that item with cash and
get sent to their home.

Seems pretty straightforward and simple
but something that we were able to do to

say OK how can we continue to expand
online and take advantage of the brick and

mortar write something that not all of
our not all of our competitors can do

difficult for Amazon to be
able to do that as an example.

So it's just one example but it's it's the
way that we're looking at the technology

and trying to say how how can we use
this technology to help our customers.

Mobile technology is another
really good example.

Right.
I mean that is becoming without a doubt

a very important vehicle for

customers use mobile technology that want
to be able to use it in their store.

So we're working on ways how can we
make it easier for a customer to shop in

a Wal-Mart store with the use of their
mobile technology right because the stores

are big right now to navigate the whole
store got to go through the checkout line.

So what we're doing and some of
the things are are in pilot right now and

I can't talk too much about them but
to be able to use your phone to quickly

navigate to where the merchandise
is that you need and

to help you self checkout as you're
going through the store to expedite

when you're ready to pay your
money into and to leave the store.

So a lot of work being
done in mobile a lot

of work being done in innovative ways
to try to help connect the customer

to Wal-Mart's brand in a way that's
meaningful to them because I would tell

you one thing that we really believe
that at Wal-Mart is that right now.

There's still a I think a pretty big
distinction in most people's mind between

a Wal-Mart store and a website and
I think most people.

Yeah there's a pretty clear distinction
I'm either going to go somewhere and

buy it in their store I'm going to go
on a website and buy something but

we know that the lines
are starting to get blurred and

people may want to be in a store and
if they like this shirt and

it fits well they want to be
able to get it in of right.

Have different colors and they may be
able to use their mobile application and

with a Q.R. code and be able to place
that order and say yeah I like it.

I'm going to buy the yellow one here but
I want to green one.

And I want to blue one.

And I want to be able to do that while
I'm in the brick and mortar store.

I don't want to have to leave and
go on a website or

I don't want to have to go
access that somewhere else.

These lines are going to get blurred and

the better job that we do at serving
that customer's needs in any channel.

We know the better off we're
going to be in the long run.

Let's talk a little bit about Facebook and
this

is something that that I'll tell you that
I've I've been been very excited about and

something that that we're working
hard on at Wal-Mart to to bring

the opportunities that Facebook
provides to to Wal-Mart so.

How many of you are friends
of Wal-Mart on Facebook.

Now.

My brought a couple people with me
from from from Wal-Mart here in

the raising their hands.

We got a few more over here.

We have twenty over twenty
three million fans on Walmart

dot com OK Wal-Mart as company
which is really no big deal right.

I mean look a lot of maybe
the numbers a big number but

a lot of a lot of companies seems like
most companies now have the ability for

you to to like them on Facebook so
I want to talk to you about though

is is what we've done that we we know and
we believe is very different and

how we're using this this
opportunity with Facebook to really

connect better to us to our customers and
I would tell you in the last couple years.

In fact my Duke is really built up
a relationship with Sheryl Sandberg and

Mark Zuckerberg they've been out at
our corporate offices on a couple

of occasions and
really trying to figure out together.

You know how can all the access to
the customers that we have be harnessed to

help us better take care of our customers
and let me let me give you an example.

So.

I have three hundred forty stores
in the in the southeast and

each one of those stores has
an individual Facebook page.

OK that's unique to that individual
store so you know the local

store that I shop at I'm a friend to
that store I've liked that store.

And that store has maybe
five thousand individual

customers that have that
have like that store.

So with this individual Facebook page.

Now we can build a relationship
with that individual

store with the customers that shop
that store right so it's no longer.

It's no longer me and a generic
Wal-Mart Bentonville Arkansas it's me and

my local store with my
local store manager and

the local associates talking to me about
things that are local and important to me.

So imagine that you are a friend

to your local Wal-Mart store and
you get a message that says Hey.

You know the Rainier cherries just came in
the crop came in they came off the truck

were put them out right now they're X.
amount of pound Come on in and

get some right or let me give you
a real example that we had recently so.

Hurricane Isaac you're familiar
with Hurricane Isaac that.

That was a pretty big threat to parts of
our business in the Gulf I've got stories

on in the panhandle of Florida and
we were able to communicate

with our customers when we opened back up
whether or not we had water whether or

not we had batteries so
your customer your power is out.

Assessing the situation and
you're able to know that.

OK my Wal-Mart a mile down the road
they're back open because I

just got a message from the store manager
and he told me that it's back open and

they have water they just got it off
the truck so we can go down there now and

not waste our time and

go ahead and get what we need so this this
sort of connection that we're building is.

I think it's very unique in it and
it's very exciting.

To what we're trying to build so

it's something that we've been really
leaning into I know in my area.

We have over five hundred
thousand individual likes

in our three hundred forty stores.

I think our top story has over seven
thousand likes just for that store so

it's a way to to not only to not only
give information to our customers but

it's a way for
us to get information from them as well.

Real time quick information so we can make
adjustments that we know what we're doing

well and so
we know what we need to do better.

Sustainability I'm sure.

And I'll tell you I was when I got my
M.B.A. actually got my M.B.A. just a few

years ago from the University of Denver
it seemed like the the cohorts that I

went through the program with they always
wanted to talk about sustainability.

And it's been a really
big topic lately and

quite frankly I think it's a it's a big
reason why a lot of people have come to

work for Wal-Mart because exciting
to see again I talked earlier about

a big number multiplied by
a small number is a big number.

And when you have the amount of stores
that we have and you have the amount of

trucks that we have on the road and the
amount of merchandise that we move around

when we make adjustments and we make
changes that help us be more efficient.

You know with our supply chain that help
our distribution centers operate more

efficiently where our trucks
operate more efficiently.

It's unbelievable the kind of
impact that we can make so.

The other the other point that I wanted to
make with with this particular slide is

I think something else that that
set Wal-Mart has has helped make

us successful is we've not been afraid
to try things that are hard and

to make big bold statements like let's be

supplied one hundred percent by renewable
energy by two thousand and twenty five.

Let's create zero waste.

Right.
I mean I guess anybody could say that but

what's interesting is is how much
focus and attention that was.

What we put behind the metrics that help
us get there so I can tell you that.

I know in my division.

How close I am to whether or
not I'm creating zero waste right.

I've only got a few years left because
my Ducasse told me I need to get to

zero waste in the next few years and
I'm at seventy nine and a half percent.

And I think the point there is that if you
if you want to do something if you want to

make a bold statement like
that you've got to measure it.

You've got to track things that's how
you can line up your resources and

manage your people in order to to do
something like create create zero

waste and I need to get that that last
twenty percent or Mike might shift.

Ship me off to China or India or
something to go work over there

being one hundred percent supplied by
renewable energy and I'll tell you what.

What's a common question
that you hear brought up and

I've had people ask me
at Wal-Mart is you know.

Does that really is that really good for
the company is it good for the bottom

line is it good for the shareholders and I
actually had an article that I was reading

yesterday and in this past fiscal year we
added one hundred fifty million dollars

to our bottom line because of
the work that we've done on solar and

wind technology in our stores and
from a waste reduction standpoint

we've added two hundred thirty
one million dollars last year.

Work to create zero
waste because when you.

You know use the example of.

You know whether it be donating food or.

Composting organic material.

You know or recycling cardboard or plastic
you know you get an income stream for that

but you also don't have to pay to have a
hauled away and thrown in a in a landfill.

And so to be able to take what was
away stream in an expense line and

turn it into a profit line.

It's unbelievable.

Again what you can do when you
have you know big numbers and

small numbers together so that's something
that we get asked constantly and I.

No a lot of people internally
to the company are very proud of

the work that we've done there.

You know the last thing I want to talk
about and I guess related a little bit

more to me and I know that
the people here don't don't know

a whole lot about Wal-Mart I get a lot
of questions and I'm looking forward

to hearing what kind of questions you have
here we had talking to some of the people

before I started today they wanted to know
do you really do a cheer and you know.

Do you really have to have a you have
a meeting every Saturday morning and and

that we do that year we don't have
a meeting every Saturday morning.

We have a meeting once
a month on Saturday morning.

But the one thing that I that I will
tell you about Wal-Mart and I think.

That think it's been important for
Wal-Mart's culture where we do have

to work so hard and we have such high
expectations is is we have fun and

you know it's something that Sam.

Really made a point of and you can see him
on the in the top of that that slide in

a graph doing a google on Wall Street you
know he made a You made a prediction or

a bet with David Glass on whether or not
we would be able to achieve this certain

number by a certain time frame and he said
that if we if we did he'd do the who on

Wall Street and and there's a picture of
him doing that and you can probably see

me in the bottom pictures here
on the bald one in the middle.

I'm not too hard to find there.

But let me tell you what that is so

you don't wonder what in
the world you're doing there.

We had a fifty year celebration with our
company this year we've been a company for

fifty years and so we have gone
throughout the fifty states and

we've done celebrations with our
associates and it's a couple of

things that we did was on the far right
and if any of you have read Sam's book.

There was a legendary story about a moon
pie eating contest who knows what

a Moon Pie is over how well
these are college students

you know you definitely know
what a Moon Pie is and so.

I don't even know how to
describe what a Moon Pie is but

it has a lot of icing on it and
a lot of sugar and it.

Resembles a Twinkie in some ways.

And so there's a legendary story about
somebody buying way too many moon pies and

had to figure out how to sell them.

I think that it tried to order a pallet
and probably ordered a truckload.

And so got the community out
had a big had a big contest and

so you could eat the most moon.

So we replicated that.

And boy that was that was definitely
not a contest that I was hoping to win

and I would tell you I finished
in second place there.

But you know.

So having fun.

Not taking ourselves too
seriously is definitely something

with Wal-Mart on the left.

You're probably wondering
what we're doing there.

We're seeing how far we
can spit sunflower seeds.

And I'm happy to say I did win
that contest twenty three feet.

So this next weekend.

If you have any watermelons you want to
try to be twenty three feet challenge you

to do that but.

I think it's a.

No it's a big part of the big part
of the culture in something that

that's just off of the been a fun part
to something fun to be a part of and

a way that associates can really connect
you know with you in the stores so.

Here's what I would tell you I want
to relate it back to what I said

at the beginning then and
be happy to take some of your questions.

I told you what the three basic
beliefs were at Wal-Mart and

under respect for the individual.

You know the takeaways that I have for

you is in the end it's
always about the people.

It's always about the if you're in
especially in a service industry or

if you're in retail any kind of service
industry it's about the people.

It's not about you.

It's about the connection that
you have with your people.

It's about the culture that's what's going
to help you connect with your customers.

Service to our customers.

Here's a quote from Jack Welch that if the
change inside the organization is slower

than the change outside of your
company then the end is in sight and

that goes back to trying new
things not being afraid to get out

of the box not being afraid to fail.

You've got to you've got
to constantly evolve.

And to change your or you could become you
know one of those companies that no longer

on the list and then you can't be afraid
of hard you know you can't be afraid to

try hard things to get out of
your to comfort zone because you

can't have great successes without trying
and doing things that are extremely hard.

So I thought I'd give you kind of what
Wal-Mart three basic beliefs has meant to

me and how I've been able to try to apply
those to things that make sense for me.

So I'd love to take some time now.

I think we have about twenty minutes.

I'm not mistaken.

I do also want to want to take
a minute to introduce some of

the people that are that
are here from my team.

So we have a few here so

Sean Anthony is right over here
he's my director of innovations and

he's actually a student at Tech in
the M.B.A. program and he has class and I.

Been with Wal-Mart seven years
started in supply chain and

it's now director of innovation so a lot
of the work that we're doing with mobile

a lot of the work that we're doing from
a an efficiency standpoint in the stores

he's a part of Katie right next to Sean
and she's in our marketing department.

So thank you for being here.

Katie so the commercials that you see if
you have opinions on those you know Katie

is and you can go.

De'Anthony Hall is right up here and
De'Anthony works in our merchandise

execution team so helping to make sure
that what we are trying to do and

what we say we need to do in the stores
is getting done and getting executed and

then Kevin Hester Kevin
started in the stores and

now we're really works on our real estate
team we've been working hard to build our

real estate pipeline to open some of
the new stores that I was showing

you the different sizes in the different
locations so if you have great ideas about

where you think a store out to be then
come see Kevin come see Kevin after so

good why I'd love to take
some to take some questions.

Thank

a group.

I was wondering when you
came to the southeast.

What were some of the.

Changes the big changes that you made that
had the most profound beneficial effect.

So specific.

I think you're probably talking about
about the business and about the stores.

So I would tell you first of all that

you know on the surface it's very similar
no matter no matter where you work

in that you know you have to listen to
the customers and you have to deliver

to the customers what they want and when
they want and I think for the most part.

You know when you look inside a Wal-Mart
store you see a lot of things that

are very similar whether it be in
Seattle Miami Florida or in Atlanta.

But what we what we learned and
are still continuing to learn and

actually De'Anthony does does an awful lot
of work on this is how do we make sure

that we are truly connecting store
by store to provide the right.

Merchandise for
that customer in that community and

what we find is that you may have
stores that are ten miles apart.

And have very unique needs for
that for that customer base.

It might be a store that needs

to sell a lot of you know college apparel
merchandise or it might be a store where.

Music tastes are dramatically

different from from one store
to ten miles down the road.

It might be in my territory I'll give
you an example we've got stores in

the in the panhandle of Florida.

We have stores where people go
to go on vacation right and

those stores are ten miles away from
stores where people shop day in and

day out where they live and so what we
have to do is we have to make sure and

I think we with the with some of the new
structure that we have with people like

the Anthony and the team that they have
is figuring out ways to get the right

merchandise in those right stores so
that you know.

It might be eighty five percent
of the store might be the same.

Right because a lot of the basics that
people need are going to be the same no

matter where they are but
that fifteen percent.

You've got to get that right.

And when you get that right.

That's where that customer gets
out emotional connection to it and

that's where you get that customer that
repeat business so it's a good question.

It's a constant challenge.

My name is blends or
I'm a third year student.

I'm tiling International here how
do you connect with the people

individually like a store in
India's me completely different.

Store in Brazil.

You can touch on this earlier but

I mean how do you keep the business ethics
of Wal-Mart in those individual stores.

It's a good question and I think
there's there's two things that really

come to mind and that is you need to
be very careful and very smart and

very patient before you
enter a country right.

I mean you have to do a lot of research
and really understand to your point.

What's different with the ethics
what's different with the customs and

the way things are done in that country
to make sure as I said earlier that

the Wal-Mart model can work
in IT in a country like that

oftentimes what works and
what has worked for

us is find a company that really matches
with what Wal-Mart's trying to do and

that really helps give you gives you
some minimizes the risk right to

be able to find a company that does a lot
of the things from a from a respect for

the individuals striving for excellence
and customer service that matches

with Wal-Mart the second thing I think
it's really important is you have to go in

knowing that you've got to find
the leaders in that country and

in those communities to help you can't
just think that you can bring a bunch of

people from from Arkansas or from the U.S.
and replicate what you have here.

You certainly need that right to
help bridge that gap and you've got

to find the great leaders in those
countries and help understand you know

what those what those customs are and the
things that work in the in that country.

I'll give you an example of that you know.

So when we when we went into Japan.

So say you is the company that
we partnered with in Japan and

what was very different.

And pronounced in Japan is that where in
the U.S. it might be sixty to seventy

percent of the purchasing decisions
are made by women in Japan it's more

like ninety to ninety five percent of the
purchasing decisions are made by women.

And it's very different in terms of in
Japan women in leadership roles far fewer

women in leadership roles so we saw it as
a huge opportunity if ninety to ninety

five percent of the purchasing decisions
are made by by women in Japan and there

are very few companies that have women
leaders we need to we need to grow and

develop women leaders in Japan to help
make sure that our stores are relevant and

it become a competitive advantage for us
to take advantage of something that that's

so different and unique in Japan and
tap into that resource in that country and

not just assume that things are going
to be the same so the question.

I have two quick questions of the first
what is is a true that we know.

Well more stores with York City.

The more you look at these different
formats to other communities very

urban more kits and the sucker question
relates to Europe but the noticed the.

You mentioned Germany you pulled out
of Germany but the did not appear to be

evolving or more presence in Europe and
I guess the question is are you just right

in Europe often just focusing primarily
on the far east it's more of plants.

So two questions I'll take
the New York City question first.

Certainly part of the reason that
we're we've experimented with so

many different formats is to see
if we can in an effective way.

Capitalize on very dense markets like
New York City right because there's

a lot of customers in New York City and

in unless they access Wal-Mart brand
through a different channel right.

It's very difficult for
those people to have access to why.

Smart.

So so yes so that only looking at that
you know it's you can't just go in at all

cost of got to make sure that it fits with
our strategy we've got to make sure that

we can do it profitably and that it makes
sense because again we have to be able to

leverage everyday low cost in order to be
able to deliver everyday low prices so

we continue to experiment with
different formats like the Express

like the neighborhood market to try to
find ways and dense areas like that.

The second question was around Europe.

And we did we went to Germany and

we've gone out of Germany we have very
successful operations in the U.K..

Is our format there it's been
very successful for us but

as of right now we've seen a lot better
growth opportunities in countries like

Brazil than we have in other countries in
Europe and I think that you know while

we're always going to continue to look at
how those markets evolve and change and

grow Wolf we'll look for opportunities
to have more of a presence in Europe.

You know the other thing is you've got
some pretty good competitors in Europe and

you look at car four and you look at Tesco
and you look at what they're doing there.

And so there's some very good competitors
there that that you have to be really

smart because you don't want to
you know want to get yourself into

a situation where you know where you
really put too much risk out there.

So the question.

A question in this really
was about Germany and

what would you think caused
us to pull out with which you

touched on that my question now
has to do with growth from.

Walmart.

How how I guess often or

how rare is it is first one
the same can't year to move

to you know management in OK yeah really.

Good question.

Thank you and

I think I did touch on Germany but
I'll tell you in a nutshell it real.

Leah's I think it was
the biggest lesson for

us and in the way we needed to go into new
countries and that we needed to we needed

to listen we needed to understand
that it was going to be different and

we needed to to know those on
the front side so that we could adapt.

You know what we do.

Into a country like Germany because
they had you know different customs and

culture and in order for
it to be successful.

It goes back to the people right in
the people have to be on board and if and

if they're not then you're going
to have some struggles there.

And then your question was on.

Upward mobility.

Absolutely.

That's And you know one of the exciting
things about working out Wal-Mart for

me and it's part of the reason
that I've enjoyed and

have had many opportunities is because
we continue to be a growth company.

We continue to open so many stores
which creates a tremendous amount

of upward mobility for
associates in a Wal-Mart store.

So I'll give you a couple statistics
seventy percent of our store managers.

Seventy percent started out as
hourly as hourly associates.

So it's a big part of the company culture
is that is that upward mobility that

truly you can start out as
a cashier you can start out

as a part time associate you can start
out as an unloader unloading trucks and

work your way up in the store manager
ranks in fact one of my peers.

I started out as a management trainee
one of my peers Henry Jordan.

He lives He lives in Charlotte and
he has the division north of me.

He started out as an as an hourly
associate There are a handful of people

senior vice president level or
higher that started out.

Hourly associates.

Pat Curran one of the legendary
leaders at Wal-Mart.

First female president of
the of the Wal-Mart U.S.

business and she's retired from
the company now she started out as a part

time sales associate
in the pet department.

Dippin fish and
helping customers find what they needed so

it's something that we're
very proud of at Wal-Mart.

It's something that we.

We talk a lot about it and

it's I think it's one of
the things that really connects.

Associates to their store managers in
many cases because they know they've

they've done what they're asking them
to do so makes a big difference.

I'm undergrad business student and
Georgia Tech and my question.

I'm kind of goes around.

He talked about the three big
basic beliefs of Wal-Mart and

the first one was respect for
the individual and

you also talked about Wal-Mart
kind of having a notion of.

Quote unquote frugality.

And so my question was How do you
find the line between the two so

that there's not a tradeoff
between low prices and

quality of work environment for
your employees or

people who do you like production from
Yep that's a it's a really good question.

And so I would tell you and.

We.

One of the things that I that
really I am so proud of in

my time with Wal-Mart is the relationship
that we have with our associates.

And while you know my position and
responsibility has grown.

I don't know all of one hundred
seventy thousand associates.

You know that work in my division but you
know when I was a store manager when I was

a market manager when I was an assistant
manager that that relationship is.

Is an important one and that bond that
that the store manager of the management

have to this to the associates
is a really important one.

There's a tremendous amount of
opportunity with Wal-Mart to move.

We work hard to make sure that

we pay competitive wages in
the industry that we're in.

And you may hear.

Discussions around wages from time to time
you may hear discussions around sourcing

from time to time and
I'll tell you that we are very

proud of Wal-Mart of the relationship
we have with our associates.

About the benefits that we provide our
associates about the upward mobility that

we provide to our associates.

And you know.

We're always trying to make that
better as it relates to merchandise.

You know we source merchandise
from all over the world.

And we sourced merchandise from
every corner of this country and

we work extremely hard and

have a lot of resources devoted to making
sure that the facilities that that

merchandise is produced in are shipped
from has the highest of high standards and

you know the integrity of doing
what we say we're going to do and

how we say we're going to do it is
really important at Wal-Mart and

we keep that in the forefront of
our mind when we're dealing with

associates when we're
dealing with suppliers.

So that we don't cross that line so
that we do maintain that respect for

the individual while we still maintain
the importance of everyday low cost.

Right.
Everyday low price so

we can continue to grow and to continue
to provide those opportunities to our SO

see it's and
suppliers as we grow as we grow together.

So you know of a big thing at at Wal-Mart
as relates to suppliers is is growing and

profitability together right.

Is that we want to be able
to to grow we want to

be able to certainly have the best price
but we know that it takes that growth for

the suppliers to grow in
their profitability with us.

So.
Thank you.

And what is

a company like Wal-Mart strategy
around innovation moments or frugal.

Innovation on the front end.

Oftentimes costs.

Quite a bit of money and you don't always
know what the payouts going to be.

But you should.

Yeah absolutely and it's a big part of
what Shawn spends is spends his time

doing it is it is expensive but there's a
tremendous reward for getting that right.

I'll tell you that that what
is our strategy our strategy.

Is to continue to deliver everyday
low cost how do you do that

you do that by being more efficient.

So I'll give you a couple of
examples of of what we're doing.

Actually in Atlanta we have sixty sixty
two stores in Atlanta and we just.

Introduce new self checkout or right in
the middle of it I guess we've done about

fifteen of the twenty new self checkout
lanes in our in our stores and.

I think the best way I could describe our
strategy is is we want to go quickly but

we also want to think ahead.

Right because you know it's not just a
matter of going from full service checkout

to self checkout you know there's a
component that I don't know ten years from

now people might be checking themselves
out on their mobile phones right and so

you have to think if I'm going to spend
money on self checkouts Now how is that

going to interface with mobile technology
checkouts five years from now right.

And so we believe fully that
it's critical that we get ahead

of the curve from a technology standpoint
with an eye on sort of what's next.

So that we can ensure
that it's integrated.

We bring a lot of vendors to
show us you know the different

technologies they have we leverage
our presence around the world.

There's some really innovative technology
that's being used in the U.K..

In different parts of Europe.

Because you know when people have
different challenges with space with time

they come up with innovative
solutions to it and so

we've really been able to leverage our
presence around the world to help us get

ahead on the technology curve so
there's a few examples of it.

I hope that it answered your question.

A great many of us and

I'm a business student
here at Georgia Tech and

my question has to do with your Facebook.

Policy if you're trying to
get behind when I think of.

Facebook I think of it will get
exit because the actual ask and

keeping that in mind I had a question for
you.

What lessons strategies and

difficulties have you learned in
dealing with the social networks.

Yeah.

So I'm sure most of you know
the pit bull story right.

Maybe maybe not.

The There was a contest started
that Wal-Mart in conjunction

with the artist pitbull that that
the store that had the most likes

the most customers liked that there their
Facebook page pit bull would go and

perform a little mini concert and
so there was a radio D.J.

somewhere that said let's send him to
the most remote place in the US and

rally everybody to try to send him
to Kodiak Alaska and it worked.

And I don't know Katie what
was the total number of.

If.

Seventy five thousand likes on
the Kodiak Facebook page and

it will went to Kodiak Alaska and
had a mini concert.

So yeah.

So I guess I guess it's.

It's kind of funny but it's good because
it got people talking about it got

people talking about Wal-Mart and
about about Facebook so yeah.

Many people know know a bit of it that way
you know some of the things that we've

learned in we're continuing to learn and
Katie could probably speak to this better

than I could but
that as you create store level pages.

Right.
So

when you have people getting
communication on an individual store

couple things you have
to keep in mind right.

If you have to be smart
about what you post.

Right.

And so if you want to have an open
up to have store managers or market

managers to be able to post Pacific things
about their store that sounds great and

that sounds good but
you better have a good system to vet out

what people are going to put on there so
that you.

Don't put things on there that you
wouldn't want just communicated out there

to everybody and on the flip
side you want to make sure that

that you have the resources in place to
be able to respond because guess what.

People are going to tell you
things they're going to ask for

things are going to talk
to you about service and

you've got to have the resources
in place to be able to respond and

I we have people twenty four seven
devoted to to monitoring that and

to responding to that so
that we can can efficiently and

quickly communicate to our customers and
adjust our business.

So we take care of them as well as
making sure that we have a system

in place to vet out that the posts are
appropriate and that they're that they're

communicating accurate information and
timely information to our customers so

well more Facebook's not just about
that will go into Kodiak but.

That's fine if you heard that story.

Well OK on blog and on the board your

business student with Germany and
being successful in Germany and all

the was one of your biggest competitors in
Germany and now they're in United States.

Do you see them as a through it and
if you experience the answer for it.

It's a good question.

We absolutely would consider
all the viable competitor.

I know how many all these are in Atlanta.

I know how many all these
were built this year.

And I have a pretty good idea of how
many are planned to be built next year.

So that would tell you right there.

That certainly think of them as
a competitor haven't actually spends

a lot of time analyzing all the and trying
to understand what their strategy is and

what they're trying to do we you know
we believe at the end of the day that

we know that what we do best
is price an assortment.

Right.

The best assortment at the at the best
possible price every day low price.

All the like other
stores like other dollar

stores are trying to find their niche.

But we can't ignore.

Somebody that's trying to find.

That piece of the pie that's there is that
we absolutely think of them as a threat.

You have to you know when you have
a company that's been that successful

in another country and it's having the
kind of success that they're having here.

Absolutely have to stay on top of it.

So my let me still.

So you come in and join attack and
as we all know that in the years.

We are that becomes a major competitor.

I think it's become a major
computer fall all to Wal-Mart.

And for me if I put your scenes
in Yemen and seen you do.

Cvs time and
also you provided free shipping.

So he has his way commend and
also as you have stand

next to your focus on people are so

focused on was do you can see the
providers in the Soviet to customers buy

them for a lot of three D.
Don't worry for labor who committees and

free shipping for the customers for

your fees to compete over is a million US.

Great great questions and I was surprised
it took so long for somebody to ask about

Amazon we debated whether or not I should
just talk about it from the beginning.

Amazon is a Amazon is a good competitor
I told you at the beginning that I'm

from Seattle.

I have a lot of family and
friends in Seattle and

some associated associated
directly with Amazon.

So the way the way that
we look at that space and

I told you earlier that we see those
lines are blurring and we know that for

us to be successful there that we leverage
we have to leverage the brick and

mortar that we have to help us do the
things that you're talking about because

without a doubt you know the winner
of the winners in that space.

It'll be about speed right.

It'll be about
the functionality of the site.

It'll be.

About free shipping.

It'll be about mobile right.

Those are the key things that are going
to determine the success we've actually

reworked our website and
if you haven't been on it.

Lately I would encourage
you to go on there.

It's much more user friendly.

It's much more efficient in terms
of navigating through there and

making purchases quickly.

The assortment is absolutely critical and
we've we've devoted a lot of resources to

continuing to expand our assortment
the speed in the delivery without a doubt

free shipping is is is where
everybody is trying to get to and

to be able to get to that
profitably is the key.

So one of the things that we see
with regard to Amazon with regard to

the website is that ways that we can take
advantage of our four thousand stores

throughout the U.S. to be able to more
efficiently deliver products quickly so

we have a product called you know site to
store where you can go on the website and

you can purchase something in the next
time you're in your Wal-Mart store you

can go and you can pick up that item so
it's an item that maybe wasn't carried in

the store and
then when you go in with free shipping.

You can go pick it up at the store.

We know that we have to get
two free shipping to home.

And so an example of how we're
leveraging our existing brick and

mortar is you know we have
a store that converts the back of

the store to like a mini shipping
center right so that if you are in.

You know North Atlanta and
you buy something off of a website

that happens to be in a store
at Atlanta Why would we have to

ship it from a dot com distribution center
why couldn't we ship it from the store

that's you know twenty minutes away so
that you can have it the same day.

Right.

So those are the those are some of
the examples of the ways that we can

leverage our existing brick and
mortar our existing real

estate to be able to help us because we
treat those stores like mini warehouses.

Then we automatically
will have quicker and

easier access to customers
to get that right.

And ICE to their home because
you know at some point it

is going to be it's going to be.

You order it and you want it that day.

You know not the next day not two days
from now and again if we blur those lines

between brick and mortar and the website
then why should you have to pay more.

To have it sent to your home versus
going into the store and buying it.

So great question.

Amazon's a you know Amazon is
a is a is a very good company and

one of the things that we have to do
at Wal-Mart is we have to look at

those companies whether it be Amazon or
Cosco or

target and we have to learn learn from
them and compete as hard as we can to get

our piece of the business so
thank you for the question.

And thank you for coming to Georgia Tech.

Today.
Thank.