Bentonville, AR, Nov. 11‹Wal-Mart Stores said it¹s on track to meet its November sales growth target of 2% to 4% after results for the first week came in on plan.
Apparel sales were strong in all categories, while electronics and home furnishings also helped boost sales. International sales were led by Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The company met its modest October same store sales forecast last week, but fallout from the struggling economy has affected discounters in the past months as well as higher priced retailers.
³November will be a struggle for all retailers but a little easier for discounters,² said Kurt Barnard, publisher of Barnard's Retail Trend Report. ³Discounters have learned to present themselves very attractively to the shopper and have become very potent rivals to the department stores and specialty retailers.²
Wal-Mart said last week it expected November sales at stores open at least a year to be up 2% to 4%, the same range it gave for October. It said a late Thanksgiving would skew results because it leaves fewer holiday shopping days in November. Thanksgiving falls on November 28 this year, six days later than last year.
