World’s largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported a 1.8 percent fall in U.S. comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter even as it posted a 27 percent rise in quarterly profit.
The company attributed the majority of the Walmart U.S. comparable store decline to traffic. Total U.S. comparable-store sales, without fuel, fell 1.1 percent, compared with a 1.6 percent fall last year.
Wal-Mart said some of the pricing and merchandising issues in Walmart ran deeper than it initially expected.
The company is considered a key barometer of consumer spending that accounts for roughly 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.
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