NEW YORK: Shifting emphasis to e-commerce, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is planning capital spending of $10.6-$11.6 billion for 2016, down from its projection of $11.3-$11.8 billion for 2015.
The company cut its sales forecast for its next fiscal year and projected a drop in capital spending. Wal-Mart Stores said it now expected sales would grow between 2-3% in 2015 that begins February 1, down from the previous forecast of 3-5%. For fiscal 2016, the US retail giant projected sales growth of 2-4 percent.
“Our business and customers continue to evolve and so will the way we deploy capital,” said chief financial officer Charles Holley and added, “We will invest more heavily in e-commerce initiatives, while temporarily moderating our global physical growth, particularly larger stores.”
In August, Wal-Mart cut its profit outlook for this year amid weak sales in its key US division.
