Mexico City, Feb. 12 - Wal-Mart de Mexico, the country's top retailer, will open 55 percent more outlets in 2008 than a year ago as the company invests in a new convenience store format aimed at low-income clients.
Chief Executive Eduardo Solorzano said Tuesday the retailer, known as Walmex, plans to open 205 new stores this year, compared with 132 stores in 2007.
Of the new openings, 60 come from a new store called "Mi Bodega Express," a smaller version of its highly successful "Bodega Aurrera" format that will mostly offer staple products at discounted prices in big cities.
Walmex said it will invest $12.5 billion pesos ($1.2 billion) this year, or around 11 percent more than in 2007.
"We have a long-term vision. We will increase our investment plan, we have confidence in the country," Solorzano said at a press conference.
Walmex and other retailers were hurt last year by a slowdown in the Mexican and U.S. economies, which meant waning remittances from relatives abroad and more cautious purchases from customers.
The impact of fewer remittances sent by Mexicans living abroad to their relatives in the country "will have a short-term effect, it won't last forever," Solorzano said.
Walmex last week disappointed analysts by posting a lower-than-expected 3.9 percent rise in fourth-quarter profits as aggressive promotions increased costs and expenses.
Sales this year started on a grim note.
January same-store sales, or those recorded at stores that have been open for at least 12 months, rose 4 percent in nominal terms, a far cry from the 9.6 percent increase in the same month of 2007.
According to Solorzano, Walmex average ticket and disposable income per customer will rise considerably over the next 15 years but he declined to elaborate on his expectations. ($1=10.7585)