That was the weakest year for sales growth since the end of the recession in 2009.
"We remain fairly optimistic on the U.S. economy", Barclays U.S. economist Jesse Hurwitz said Friday.
In the USA, 154 locations will be closed, a lot of them small format stores called Walmart Express, which were launched as a test program in 2011.
Chief executive Doug McMillon said: "Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business". It's important to remember that we'll open more than 300 stores around the world next year. At the same time, net sales for Walmart International also enjoyed a slight increase of 3.2 percent. Online sales rose 9% to $105 billion in the period. "Closing stores is never an easy decision". The company is expected to release fourth quarter and full year results on February 18.
Walmart has announced plans to shut down 269 of its stores across the world, as part of its reworked strategy.
According to Hoover's Grocery owner, The Walmart Express hurt his business when it first arrived, but he expects business to bounce back.
Dollar General, for example, has more than 12,000 stores, with a small-store footprint that would be very hard for Wal-Mart to replicate, points out Morningstar, in a report analyzing Wal-Mart's latest move.
A pizza bar, in-store bakery and drive-through pharmacy are among the amenities not typically offered in the Neighborhood Market configuration, she said. But those stores face similar challenges. But the company said today it was planning instead to focus on the mid-sized Neighborhood Markets, which are about the size of a grocery store, and its supercentres, which sell everything from avocados to windshield wipers.
After Feb. 10, the people are still Wal-Mart employees and the company will be working with them to transfer within 60 days to another store.
"The decision to close stores is hard and we care about the associates who will be impacted", McMillon said.
"It is a sign that Wal-Mart has begun the process of dealing with unproductive locations in a much more tangible and coherent way", he wrote. In October Wal-Mart cut 450 jobs at its headquarters in Bentonville.
Of the 115 stores closed outside the US, all are located in Latin American markets.
Still, the retailer - which has almost 11,600 stores around the globe - plans to open hundreds of stores in the coming fiscal year, which starts on February 1.
There is aso a Walmart Neighborhood Market store on Gate City Boulevard and one in Quaker Village off West Friendly Avenue.
Some investors were hoping for more.
Wal-Mart is hardly the only retailer that is struggling.
