BENTONVILLE, AR - With a new year rapidly approaching, Doug McMillon is nearing the close of his first year as President and CEO of Wal-Mart. With this in mind, the question begs asking: how well has he preformed? While still early, the answers to this question so far are quite positive, with McMillon leading Wal-Mart to impressive financial gains through the pursuit of exciting new retail strategies, like the company's Neighborhood Market store concept.

When it was first announced that Doug McMillon would be succeeding Mike Duke as President and CEO of Wal-Mart on February 1st, 2014,  Rob Walton, Chairman of Wal-Mart’s Board of Directors, said, “Doug is uniquely positioned to lead our growing global company and to serve the changing customer, while remaining true to our culture and values.”

“He has broad experience – with successful senior leadership roles in all of Wal-Mart’s business segments – and a deep understanding of the economic, social and technological trends shaping our world,” Walton continued. “A merchant at heart, Doug has both a long history with our company and a keen sense of where our customers globally are heading next. He has also shown strong leadership on environmental sustainability and a commitment to using Walmart’s size and scale to make a difference in the lives of people, wherever they might be.”

When McMillon took office, Wal-Mart's stock opened at $73.92/share. Since then it has surged to $85.00/share (as of 9:50am PST, December 3rd, 2014), a robust 14.989% increase. More recently, McMillon helped the retailer break its streak of 6 straight quarters without growth with a strong Q3 2014 financial report that saw membership and other income increase 13.9% from the previous year and total revenue climb to $199.0 billion.

"The highlights for the quarter include the positive comp in Wal-Mart U.S., including the strong performance from Neighborhood Markets, the 21 percent increase in e-commerce sales globally and the profit performances from Sam's Club and our International business," McMillon then shared.

McMillon's mention of Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market stores was appropriate given the role the smaller format stores have played in the retailer's success. According to the Q3 financial report, Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market stores enjoyed a 5.5% increase in comp sales and a 3.4% increase in net sales to $70.0 billion.

Realizing the importance these stores would play in Wal-Mart's future, McMillon focused on them early on during his tenure as CEO. When he took over, Wal-Mart only operated 346 of these stores, according to a press release. Today that number is 474. Additionally, Wal-Mart has plans to build 240 new smaller format stores, such as Neighborhood Market, in fiscal 2015 with another 200-220 will follow in 2016. 

Going forward, McMillon says he is focused on the power of e-commerce to give his company an edge in the retail game, according to a recent interview with CNBC.

“Mobile is a driving force in the countries that we operate in today,” McMillon said.

To view McMillon's comments in full, you can check them out in the video below:

It will be fascinating to see what direction McMillon and Wal-Mart move in going forward. No matter what happens, however, you can count on AndNowUKnow to bring you the news when it breaks.  

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