Wal-Mart eyes e-commerce in fast-growing Brazil

By Todd Benson and Nicole Maestri

SAO PAULO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Thursday it will branch out into electronic commerce this year in Brazil, where it plans to invest 1.2 billion reais ($722.8 million) to keep up with fast-growing consumer demand.

Hector Nunez, chief executive of Wal-Mart Brazil, said the plunge into e-commerce will be a crucial part of the U.S. retailer's growth strategy in Latin America's largest country, where an economic boom is lifting millions out of poverty.

"We're ... entering into new channels, the most important being e-commerce that we will launch in the second half of this year," he said at the company's international analyst field trip in Salvador, in northeastern Brazil.

Nunez, who declined to provide further details on the e-commerce project, also reiterated Wal-Mart's investment plans to open 36 new outlets this year in Brazil, almost twice as many as in 2007.

"We will continue aggressively expanding all of our formats," he said in a speech broadcast over the Internet.

The discount behemoth has been focusing on expanding its international operations to supplement its U.S. business, where growth is slowing as it saturates many markets and now operates more than 4,100 stores.

The Wal-Mart Stores segment had net sales of $239.5 billion in its latest fiscal year ended January 31, up 6 percent from $226.3 billion a year earlier, while its Sam's Club warehouse store division had sales of $44.36 billion, up almost 7 percent from $41.58 billion a year earlier.

In contrast, international sales for its latest fiscal year were $90.6 billion, up more than 17 percent from $77.1 billion a year earlier.