Wal-Mart U.S. said its sales for the four weeks ended Oct. 31 rose 5.3% to $18.4 million on 2.2% comps growth. The comp growth was the same when including and excluding fuel sales. Companywide, including Sam's Club and International, sales rose 2.3% to $28.56 billion thanks to a 5.9% decline in international sales.

 
On a constant currency basis — without the effect of foreign exchange rate fluctuations — total International sales increased 8.9 percent for the four-week period. The sharp strengthening of the U.S. dollar against most currencies during the October period reduced Wal-Mart International's reported U.S. dollar sales by 14.8 percentage points for that period. Constant currency is the current period's local currency sales translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate in effect for the comparable prior year period.

In the United States, Wal-Mart said competitie pricing of basics and Halloween merchandise drove traffic higher.
 
“We see more customers shopping more often at Walmart,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, Walmart U.S. president and CEO. “Customers see that we are broadening the price gap against our competitors. They saw it during the Halloween season and they will continue to see it during the Christmas shopping season.”
 
In a separate news release issued this morning, Walmart U.S. announced price rollbacks across all categories in the store that could save customers an additional $200 million during the next seven weeks.
 
Wal-Mart projected comp store sales for the four-week November period will be between 1% and 3%., despite one week less of week of post-Thanksgiving shopping this year.
 
“While there remain some uncertainties with the global economy, we believe falling gas prices could help customers as we enter this holiday season,” said Tom Schoewe, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
 

                                               Net Sales


                            4 Weeks Ended             39 Weeks Ended


                             10/31/ 11/2/    Percent  10/31/    11/2/  Percent


                              2008  2007     Change    2008     2007    Change



    Walmart U.S.           $18.362  $17.438   5.3%  $183.485  $172.182   6.6%


    Sam's Club               3.443    3.296   4.5%    34.882    32.540   7.2%


    International (Note 1)   6.760    7.186  -5.9%    73.570    64.916  13.3%


      Total Company        $28.565  $27.920   2.3%  $291.937  $269.638   8.3%




 




                      Four Weeks Comparable Store Sales
                      Without Fuel       With Fuel          Fuel Impact
                    10/31/   11/2/      10/31/  11/2/      10/31/  11/2/
                     2008     2007       2008    2007      2008    2007


    Walmart U.S.     2.2%     0.0%       2.2%    0.0%      0.0%    0.0%
    Sam's Club       3.6%     2.7%       4.0%    4.2%      0.4%    1.5%
      Total U.S.     2.4%     0.4%       2.5%    0.7%      0.1%    0.3%