Wal-Mart sees sales boost
Customer numbers up in US
Wal-Mart put a shaky sales start to December firmly behind it in the week before Christmas, seeing customer numbers increase.
The world’s biggest retailer said that for the week to December 24. comparative sales for the US were in the middle of its 1 to 3 per cent forecast for December growth.
Wal-Mart said that both food and general merchandise sales were strong across the week, and sales of gift cards, which will boost post-Christmas sales, are up significantly over last year. Higher customer traffic drove same-store sales across the week.
On the Sunday after Christmas, Wal-Mart’s sales were ahead of its forecasts, tallying with reports from other US retailers that the post-Christmas sales are off to a good start.
