Walmart's mission statement is: We save people money so they can live better. The way we do this requires efficient and sustainable growth to make a positive impact on our customers, partners, shareholders and society as a whole. We aim to lead by example in the management and training of talented, high-performance employees, and their consequent contributions to sustainable development. We pursue these aims on a daily basis in the fulfillment of our tasks, striving to exceed our customers' expectations – in the search for excellence, respect for the individual and integrity. To this end, we have a number of projects underway that are capable of adding value and mobilizing the various links of the retail chain. On our own we can achieve relatively little, but we have the capacity to leverage the result of our initiatives in working with our partners. Here, the partnership with our suppliers merits special mention. It goes well beyond commercial dealings and includes initiatives such as the monitoring of beef production in the Amazon biome, developed using geo-referencing technology that is unique in the market. The slaughterhouses that supply our stores are contributing in a decisive manner to providing our customers with complete confidence that when they acquire products from Walmart Brasil’s chain of stores, they are taking home food that originates from properties that are not areas illegally devastated by exploitive farming, and do not use forced labor.
The End-to-End Sustainability program, which in 2013 saw its third edition, was another example of a successful partnership with our suppliers. Industries are once again assuming a commitment to evaluate their production cycles in order to identify areas for improvement and reduce the environmental impacts from the manufacture of 18 different leading items in their respective categories.
The project reflect Walmart Brasil's belief that a company which maintains more than 60,000 items on its shelves, that deals regularly with thousands of partners and which has a relationship with around one million Brazilians every day, cannot ignore its responsibility for encouraging more sustainable initiatives. In this way, based on joint action, we contribute so that, from extraction of the initial raw material to post-consumption disposal, the footprints left on the planet by the production, distribution and consumption of retail products sold, continue to shrink in size.We also see in our business Every Day Low Prices strategy an opportunity to add value for stakeholders. This is key to Walmart success right across the planet, but represents a break from Brazilian national retail culture, where limited period promotions are the norm. To this end, its consolidation in Brazil for us is a priority. The founder of Walmart, Sam Walton, believed that swimming against the tide and ignoring convention offers a good chance or a company to find its particular niche. In this way we continue the process of strengthening our Every Day Low Prices strategy in Brazil, in order to ensure a long-term commitment. Our intention is to provide consumers with the lowest prices on an every day basis. In this way our customers can visit our stores on the days and at the times they find convenient, with the certainty that they will always be paying the lowest price for their selection of products.
In order to make this advantage even more palpable, we have expanded our partnership with Nielsen, a research institute which monitors prices practised in the market, with the aim of ensuring that we provide a selection of items that are the cheapest in the Country. To this aim, the poll research has become more comprehensive in terms of product variety and respect for regional differences. We have also invested in expanding our store portfolios, and particularly in training and raising the awareness of our employees so that they provide an increasingly good service, so providing another motive for Brazilians to prefer to make their purchases at Walmart.
Our new marketing campaign, Quem economiza, realiza (those who save money achieve more) (who saves, wins!) is an expression of the aim behind the Preço Baixo Todo Dia (every day low prices) strategy and also the theme which we have assumed as our institutional mission: to sell for less, for people to live better. The campaign highlights real cases of Brazilians who wish to transform their life projects into reality, while associating their desires and achievements with the money they save on a day-to-day basis.
For the Every Day Low Prices strategy to be successful in Brazil, there are a number of other fundamental factors involved: one of these which we practice within the company is our Every Day Low Costs strategy, in order to pass on these gains to the consumer. This demands rigorous and intelligent control of our expenses and adjustments within the store chain when necessary. To provide a basis of our actions, we stay in close contact with the best practices of Walmart across the globe, continuing the process of integrating our IT systems in Brazil and investing in innovation. The launch of the first store entirely illuminated by LED lighting is a good example of what we are aiming for: new ideas that reduce costs while also providing environmental benefits.
Another fundamental aspect for the achievement of our strategy is making the most of the existing talent within Walmart Brasil. We have carried out intense training and reorganization of our professional staff so that the best people are in the most appropriate positions. We aim to prepare each employee who is with us to assume new roles and challenges when the opportunity or need arises.
We also have placed more emphasis on the feminine leadership aspect, a theme which receives special attention and which makes it possible for women to advance their professional careers within our company. The balance between the sexes is one of Walmart’s global objectives, having positive repercussions which are evident in polls taken in different parts of the world. In Brazil, engagement on this front is directly related to the work carried out by most of our suppliers who have become part of the Movimento Empresarial pelo Desenvolvimento Econômico da Mulher (Corporate Move for the Economic Development of Women), the Movimento Mulher 360 (Movement for Women 360o), launched two years ago.
We also make every effort to open the doors of the supermarket sector to new talent and simultaneously contribute to improving the living conditions and employability of young people. Our Escola Social do Varejo (Social Retail School) has trained more than 4900 young people since 2010, when it was launched. Approximately 80% of those completing the course have managed to achieve a place in the job market. This is an impressive result which fills us with pride and has peaked interest in other countries: in 2013 development of this program started in Argentina and Chile, thus endorsing our methodology.
We are close to completing 20 years of operating in Brazil. What we have achieved over two decades has been truly gigantic. We have developed a portfolio of stores that serve the population at any time they wish to make a purchase, achieving a nationwide coverage and building solid partnerships with local companies, NGOs, and governments in order to stimulate the development of the Country, make the most of Brazilian talent and contribute to the preservation of natural resources. There is still much to do. We are only just coming of age in Brazil. We need to act in a more intense and synchronized manner with society to continue to grow for decades to come, together with the Country and all Brazilians.
We are counting on our employees, customers, suppliers and partners to continue to celebrate such successes as those achieved in 2013, recorded here in our Annual Report.
My thanks to all of you and may I wish you good reading.
Guilherme Loureiro
President of Walmart Brasil