Wal-Mart de México, S.A.B. de C.V. ($WALMEX)
Earnings Call Transcript · April 29, 2026
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Salvador Villasenor Barragan
ExecutivesGood morning, everyone. I'm Salvador Villasenor, Head of Investor Relations at Walmex. And I want to thank you for joining once again to our live Q&A session following our first quarter 2026 earnings release, which was published yesterday. We'll make every effort to answer as many questions as we can in the 45 minutes we have scheduled for the call. As always, we kindly ask you to limit yourselves to one question only as a courtesy to others. Joining me today is Cristian Barrientos Pozo, our President and CEO; Prathibha Rajashekhar, our Senior Vice President of Sam's Club; and Paulo Garcia, our Chief Financial Officer. We'll now go right away to the first question, please.
Operator
Operator[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Mr. Alejandro Fuchs from Itau BBA.
Alejandro Fuchs
AnalystsI only have very one quick one regarding Bodega. This quarter, we saw semester sales being a little bit below the market. And I know you're making a lot of changes at Bodega that you have mentioned in the past, right, to SKUs and so on. Wanted to see maybe if you could elaborate a little bit more when do you think that we should start seeing this going through the P&L with better top line dynamics. And maybe there was any effect that is worth mentioning this semester sales at Bodega this quarter that you would highlight.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesThank you, Alejandro, for the question. And for sure, we are not happy with the result of Bodega in the first quarter. We began the year with not a good position in terms of inventory and also in availability in the format, particularly in Bodega, and was very painful at the beginning of the year because, as you know, it's part of our priority. But we didn't do a good job at the beginning of the year, let me say, January and half of February. We saw a huge recovery at the end of the quarter. So that's one of the big reasons that we had in Bodega because of the size or how many stores do we have today. And the second one that impacted Bodega last year in the first quarter and one of our priority today, is to be really an EDLP company. And to do that, it requires a lot of effort and it's taking some time to do or create some exit strategy because we were competing with our Q1 with a big high low, particularly in Bodega. So that is why there are the two big explanations that we are seeing or that we saw in the format. In the other hand, we are very confident that we are on track in the evolution of the one best way price gap, as you saw in the release, We are continue increasing our position in price gap. We're continuing increasing more than 300 basis points in price perception. We are doing, as Paul mentioned last quarter, a lot of effort in terms of mapping the store. We are seeing a lot of benefits in terms of the customer and also with the picker and shopper because there are more clear where the merchandising are. And we are seeing in these stores that we began with this test, very good results. So we're improving also the catchment areas in Bodega. We're increasing the test, let me say, in terms of productivity in Bodega also, trying to reduce processes. So good question. It wasn't a good quarter for Bodega, but we're confident that we are in the right track in terms of the customer value proposition that Bodega need to offer to Mexican customer.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Froy Mendez from JPMorgan.
Fernando Froylan Mendez Solther
AnalystsDo you hear me? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?
Salvador Villasenor Barragan
ExecutivesPerfect, perfect.
Fernando Froylan Mendez Solther
AnalystsSorry. But just wondering on how do you define and measure the price gap perception versus competitors? If you could elaborate on what specific metrics or methodologies you use to track this, and how does this improving price gap perception has translated into customer behavior and market share gains by format?
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesGap perception is actually with the studies that we do with a good base of the customers. And then we ask lots of questions around the customers to that. And then they talk about different areas. They talk about value. We talked about pricing. We talk about other indicators that they are doing. And within that, of course, we can extract what is that they are seeing at price perception of the value of our equation versus the rest of the competitors. It's a relative indicator, Froy. If you think about what are the criterias that drive price perception because that's probably the most important question people always want to understand. I think there what's important to understand it's not just about the price gap, per se. Price gap is a very important one. If you think about Bodega, if you think about the three main criteria for price perception, pricing gap is one, and then penetration of private brands is a second one. And then the third one actually is the communication. So the stable communication, clear communication to the customers. If you think, for instance, about a brand like a format or a banner like Walmart Supercenter, in terms of price perception, quality and freshness is one of the top criteria. When you think about pricing, pricing of the key value items, so to speak, it's another criteria. So it's different things for different banners. At the end of the day, all encompasses the fact whatever we are doing on pricing, how we communicate with the customers around that. And when we talk, and Christian always talks about the EDLP, it's more than just pricing. It's also private brands. Of course, it's also the assortment and the quality of our assortment.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesIf I may build on your point, Paulo. Good question, Froy. Price gap, it's about item-by-item and price perception is about customer survey, if we can separate both, okay? And why do we see very closely price perception? Because it connects very well with EDLP because, at the end, the perception connect with the total basket that we're looking for, be the cheapest in the market, not necessarily item by item. But EDLP means the total basket in a long period of time that create trust to you, you will be the lowest in a total basket, not necessarily following high loads for the weekend. So what drive price perception, as Paolo said? I will add, the look and feel of the stores, the assortment that is part of the EDLP, private brands, as Paolo mentioned, and also marketing campaigns that need to be well correlated with your strategy about EDLP. So those are the metrics that we are following very close because, at the end, perception is everything. You can see or you can define some price competitors against some products, competitors against some private brands. But at the end, the most important part is broadly, let me say, the perception.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Ms. Renata Cabral from Citi.
Renata Fonseca Cabral Sturani
AnalystsMy question is also a follow-up on the Bodegas related to a statement made on the Walmex Day on the rationalization of the SKUs. I would like to know if you can give some color on what has been the rollout of this rationalization, the rationale for that, the potential improvement in terms of free cash flow once probably we have a release of working capital related to that, not only that, but related to what Christian has just mentioned in terms of competitiveness of the Bodega.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesAnother good question again. We began, as we mentioned in Walmex Day, with maybe there was a test of Bodega Express to reduce 30%. But after a lot of conversation in the team, we define that maybe it's not a test in particular because we did that in the past. I landed here in Mexico in 2012. And at the time, Bodega Express had some issues about the assortment, and we did that and we moved Bodega Express from 2,500 SKUs to 1,800 to 1,900. And maybe you can see the historical number of Bodega Express that was the one that has been the highest comp sales in the company. And it's because of simplicity. It's because of allowing the customer and also our associates to be more productive. And at the end, the key, for my opinion, in a small format is to provide availability. So that's the way that we are looking for improve this format because we did that in the past. So we are in the middle of the rollout of this test, allowing the customer to find the products that they are looking for at the best price. So we're in the middle of the expansion of the test. We are very confident because we did in the past with very good results, you can see the numbers on 2013, 2014 and going on. So that's where we are in terms of the assortment reduction. And it's part of the Bodega DNA, okay? So you know that we need to operate for less to sell more because with that, we can translate to the customer best prices. So this is key for us in this format to respect our customer value proposition.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Ben Theurer from Barclays.
Salvador Villasenor Barragan
ExecutivesBen, we see you already.
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesCan you hear us Ben? We cannot hear you. [Technical Difficulty]
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Hector Maya from Scotiabank.
Héctor Maya López
AnalystsWe have been seeing for quite a while now that the contribution of new businesses to gross margin has been consistently positive, but then growth investments offset this effect with an increasing contribution to SG&A. So I was wondering if you could share your thoughts of that dynamic, and if there is a strategy in place to reduce the impact in expenses from growth investments and also to gain a sense of how you are looking at increasing the price perception of consumers and how long could this last for the remainder of the year?
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesYes. Thanks, Hector, for your questions. So let me say a few things. There were a few questions in your question, one around the contribution of the new business, one around the SG&A, and I think you ended up with the price perception. We've discussed previously but I can touch base on that one. So look, on the new contributions, we talked about our strategy, which is, by the way, a growth strategy. And these are new profit streams that we bring into the equation that we actually bring in order to decide -- in order to invest back in the customer in pricing to drive more growth. If and when, at times, we decide to drive that to the bottom line, we can do it. But as you know, from our three priorities, one of them is to drive more price growth and price expansion. So what we actually drive in terms of new profit streams, and it's good that they continue to accelerate, we invest back in pricing. In terms of the expenses, we've been talking a lot about that. It's a growth strategy. We've been talking that we would expect that our gross investments to be in the north of -- that leads to an SG&A growth in the high single digit. That's what we'll be planning. Of course, we do know that we need more sales in order to leverage those costs, and that's what we are completely focused based on our priorities that we've been talking about all the time. And I think on price perception, Christian talked in the second question from Froylan. Actually, this is the second quarter in a row that we had an increase in price perception quarter-on-quarter of more than 300 basis points, which reflects that what we are doing in terms of the pricing investments and expansion, what we are doing in terms of the private brand penetration, what we are doing in terms of the way we actually communicating our stores, our pricing plus assortment is starting -- is paying off. So that's why because this is what we'll actually gain the trust of the customer and help us going forward to grow more.
Prathibha Rajashekhar
ExecutivesPaolo, if I can add one thing, right? So the question was also about productivity. What we are doing in investing in automation and AI is to improve customer experience and simplify operations for our associates, which translates to productivity. For instance, we talked about digital shelf labels and expanding digital software labels to 100% of our stores in Walmart expressed by Q3. That drives productivity. That's just one example. But we are doing things like smart receiving using technology. We are improving our availability process by mapping stores, making it simple for our associates to execute, which improves customer experience but also drives productivity. So we are using technology, especially automation and AI in our DCs and in our stores to drive productivity and simplify operations.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Andrew Ruben from Morgan Stanley.
Andrew Ruben
AnalystsI'd like to better understand some of the dynamics in eCommerce Marketplace. We saw the decline and the message was around some large electronic sellers. So like to get a better sense of the concentration of sellers within your Marketplace, and as you open up for some of the Walmart cross-border sellers from the U.S., how impactful that could be both in terms of concentration and overall marketplace GMV mix.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesYes. Thank you, Andrew. As we mentioned clearly, we have a dependence in few sellers today that we are changing that with the help of the U.S. We're not moving our structure, let me say, to report direct to the U.S. because we are taking a new approach in the Marketplace business. We are trying to -- or not trying, we will become more a global company, and Marketplace will be one of them. So we're seeing a lot of cross-leveraging ideas between both markets that we are seeing in place in this month of April. So we will change the dependency. We are right now improving our cross-border business. And we define, let me say, some clear actions that we can take on the market and some action that we can leverage in all the company. Let me share with you some ideas that we are improving very fast in the April month. We are reducing our onboarding seller dramatically with some issues that we saw in the platform today. And we are reducing last 15 days -- we reduced 7 days the onboarding selling process. And we're looking to reduce 12 more days in the coming month. So that is super important because connect with the assortment piece. And the assortment, as always in brick and also in marketplace, it's key. We are looking for having a huge assortment in marketplace but curated also that allow and connect with my previous point about few seller dependency. You need to have a correct assortment, big assortment but correct. The second one that we are exploring and seeing a lot of good news, let me say, it's about the speed. We are not using very well our Walmart Fulfillment Services. And again, with some tweaks that we have in April, we are looking for incredible improvement in the Walmart Fulfillment Services that, at the end, impact in the speed of delivery, reducing, let me say, this month or it was this month, almost 2 days on speed because in eCommerce, everything is about speed. So this is some examples for you to know where we are. We are seeing a shift in terms of sales that allow us to see that we are finding good news within the team, local team and also with the support of the Walmart U.S.. Last week, there is a group of 10 people who came from the U.S. with a leader worldwide of marketplace and allowing us or helping us to really see where we are in terms of our platform, in terms of our sell experience and see all the journey for our seller and also for our customer. So not a good result in the quarter, very clear. But we're confident that we are in the right direction to recover the speed that we need in terms of sales.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Ulises Argote from Santander.
Ulises Argote Bolio
AnalystsThe one that I had was more on the per regional details. You provided there yesterday, obviously, those updated charts. The Center and the South seem to be the ones that are decelerating the most, at least versus the trends we saw in the last quarter. So I wanted to get your thoughts on what was going on there in the specific markets? Is it competition? Is it a higher concentration of Bodega? Is it [indiscernible]? Any extra color of what you're seeing there on the ground would be really good.
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesYes. In the South, Ulises, I think you know that when you compare this versus the past, the South has been an area that has been growing that was pushed a lot by the government, as you know, Ulises. And then it starts slowing down, and I think you see that slowing down across not just our sales but across the rest of the competitors. I think that's probably what you're seeing this world, call it. In the center, so to speak, we're not seeing a huge variation, so to speak. You can say there's a little bit more competitive pressure, so to speak, there. Other than that, I don't think I will call out anything different than what we're seeing in the rest of the region. The East, South is clearly one that the economy is not growing at the same pace that it used to be.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Ms. Irma Sgarz from Goldman Sachs.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesIrma, we see you. You're on mute.
Irma Sgarz
AnalystsNot sure if you can actually hear me.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesYes. Now yes, perfect.
Irma Sgarz
AnalystsI hope you can hear me. I can't hear the other side. But I'll just ask my question hopefully go through. Just a quick follow-up on the eCommerce strategy. Just conceptually, how should we think about sort of when you think about growth and margin trajectory? In the U.S., the eCommerce operation is already above breakeven or has reached breakeven and maybe a little bit above the even. But I would assume or am I correct to think that the growth has to come first? And then over time, you'll leverage the expenses drive more efficiency in your logistics network and overall cost structures and drive the improved profitability, and perhaps that can sort of fuel then further growth or help the overall margin. Just conceptually, like sort of I wanted to think through that a little bit. And perhaps linked to that is whether you think that there should be upfront investments as you're improving all those capabilities on your eCommerce platforms. Is it a question of build it and they will come? Or do you think you have to put more money initially to back up the perception of your online property and drive more traffic to it in order to really capture that growth opportunity?
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesI think conceptually, Irma, you're right, what you have said. It makes all sense. I think the only thing that I will add up to that is that we've always been talking about there are two tales, so to speak, in eCommerce. There's your business on demand or growth on demand, how we call it, in growth [indiscernible], which is a profitable business. And we leverage in full assets and, of course, the scale we already have on that space. And we want to increase the reach. We discussed that at length in Walmex Day. And then, of course, you do have the business of assortment, in particular, the marketplace, which is in a different stage, and therefore, needs to grow. The scale is important. All the things that you have said it, are important. So there's that investment. As you grow, of course, the profitability keeps improving, which keeps, of course, creating this vicious circle of growth in the flywheel that allows you to continue to invest in, so to speak. In terms of what regards the major investments on eCommerce, One is capacity, but the capacity is omnichannel, as you know, mostly Irma. And a second one, of course, with the high investments around the technology, which are the global platforms these days are fully global platforms. that we actually pay as a take rate, and we actually reflected that in our expensive, so to speak. It's not so much the CapEx. So I think these are the 3 important things to say of what you ask Irma. But conceptually, you are right.
Irma Sgarz
AnalystsOkay. And maybe if I can add on one more question. On Beneficios, I saw the number of users or sort of loyal members sort of flatten out or stabilized here? Are you looking to still grow that? Or is there a specific reason behind that stabilizing? Is that sort of the natural ceiling?
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesI think you answered again the question. It's a natural ceiling, so to speak, Irma. You're talking about pretty much at 50%, right? We are at 47% now. I think the most important now and where we are putting all the efforts and all the focus is in terms of driving the engagement with these customers, taking more actually of the data that we were getting, trying to find a way to connect more with the core to drive then increase the customer lifetime value of that customer with us in terms of how it drives the traffic, how it drives the increased ticket. That's what we are focused. We are not focused now in taking from 50 or 47 to 50 or 50 to 52.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesAnd if I may build on your answer, and thank you for the question, Irma. as Cristian mentioned, we are tracking almost 70% of our transaction. That is a very good number. I came from Chile. In Chile, we deployed this program 25 years ago and we're running 70% of total transaction. So this is a good number. The secret here is what do you do with the data. And we are forcing and we are working very hard with the team. More than connect more people we need to deploy or develop something around the data. The same is in [ BAL. BAL ] was created to provide cheaper Internet, cheaper mobile access. So with that, we will allow the customer to go to the eCommerce and invite them to the digital economy. So that's the focus that we have had, that we are working today and also leveraging the markets because we can bring some products or some programs or projects that we have in other countries. For example, we have in Chile this program that you maybe you have heard about, Caretolisto, that predict what's going on with your out-of-stock items at your home. So this is a huge program that we have there, but it came from Beneficios program, for example. So we are exploring to bring because we are almost in the same platform, and we are looking for do some test maybe in Sam's because we have all the membership in Sam's or using that or using Beneficios. But the key or the secret here is what would you do with data more than how many customers, okay?
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Alvaro Garcia from BTG.
Alvaro Garcia
AnalystsCan you hear me?
Salvador Villasenor Barragan
ExecutivesYes.
Alvaro Garcia
AnalystsNice. Awesome. My question is on delivery and on your goal to reach 50% delivery on-demand in under 2 hours. How do you expect to push that? How do you expect to reach -- how are you thinking about reaching that goal? It seems pretty bold. I think this quarter, you're at 14%. But I'd be interested in how you expect to get marketing or your spend to get to that goal?
Prathibha Rajashekhar
ExecutivesAlvaro, thank you for the question. Speed is really essential for our customers and members, and they have made it known. How we expect to reach there is to build density of shoppers city by city, right? So how we think about it is we have pickers in our stores and clubs and also shoppers that help us. So as we build density of shoppers within the city, we are able to offer too our delivery service. Within that, we can also build density of orders. So it's not if multiple members place the order and we can -- we are building algorithms that allow us to like say, hey, customer A and member B place the order and it's in the same direction. And we can actually help the shoppers pick multiple orders and deliver that order within 2 hours. So it is with a combination of shopper density, city density as well as how we think of order density that will go in the same direction so we can improve our cost to serve and improve our speed to our members and customers.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesI may build in the point of Prathibha, Alvaro. The biggest advantage, of course, you know for Walmex is our footprint. Today, as I mentioned in Walmex Day, we wanted to serve 99.3% of total population with all our fleet. And with that, today, with the 14% that we actually have, we are not using all our fleet because we are not using the Bodega Express. We're not using very well the Walmart Express. That is a complement of Walmart Supercenter. And today in the world, we have the platforms that allow us to use all the stores because all the stores are closer to the customer, not only the big ones. So we are right now using more or less the big one. But the near future, let me say, the near months, it's going to use small formats. We are testing, for example, in the U.S., the concept of depots, that is 1,000 square meter stores that are closer to the customer. So that allow us to reduce, let me say, 15 or 30 minutes in delivery. So we actually have in Mexico the opportunity to create more speed using all our fleet. I'm not saying that we will deliver specifically something in self-service. But in self-service, there is a huge amount of smaller stores we have the capacity today to accelerate and be closer to the customer. So that is going to be the way to create more speed and think that we will reach 50%, plus the concept that Prathibha mentioned, that we will move a little bit from pickers to take advantage of the [ crowd surge ] that we can deploy internally or use the third party that we have today as a strategic partner with us.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Antonio Hernandez from Actinver.
Antonio Hernandez
AnalystsHad some technical issues. Just on general merchandise. [Technical Difficulty]
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesWe cannot hear what you say this.
Antonio Hernandez
AnalystsOkay. I'll dial back in.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Joe Thomas from HSBC.
Salvador Villasenor Barragan
ExecutivesYou're on mute, Joe.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesWe cannot hear you.
Joseph Thomas
AnalystsIs that any better?
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesYes.
Joseph Thomas
AnalystsSorry about that. Technical problems, new systems. A quick question, please. A quick one on the two parts of the business that still look a little bit flat, Walmart Express and Central America, I realize that the issues in Central America have been around Costa Rica. But I'm just wondering what specifically you're seeing in those areas and what the plans are for a turnaround.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesThank you, Joe. And as you saw the numbers, we are having for a long time, a very success business in Costa Rica. And today, the quick answer for you could be that we implemented at the end of last year a new perishable distribution center that is completely new in terms of system for Costa Rica. And we saw impact in availability in all the fresh areas. And fresh is super important, as you can imagine, in Costa Rica because the footprint that we have and also because of the quality that we offer every day in all our formats. So we saw an impact there that, you can imagine, the perishable is so important for the traffic, that create a halo effect that is impacting today in our performance in the country. Let me say, it's a very clear diagnostic. It's a very clear assessment because it's the only one country that we have had some province in the last quarter. If we can compare with the 5 countries, we have 4 very well performing. And Costa Rica, that is big for us, it's not in the right place. But we are taking deep actions to recovering. We are seeing some recovery in availability in the month in April. So we are working very hard to turn around. It's, let me say, one effect because of the PDC that we opened last year.
Joseph Thomas
AnalystsAnd Walmart Express?
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesWalmart Express, we are in the middle of a, let me say, transition because we changed the brand years ago. We did some changes in the last 3 years. But today, we are setting back the customer value proposition in Walmart Express. We are working in the correct assortment to be part of Walmart Supercenter. Our view in Walmart Express to be a complement to Walmart Supercenter. We are working on parity prices between Walmart and Walmart Express. So that allow us to use Walmart Express as a huge benefits for us because Walmart Express will need to play and will play a better job in the omni strategy because Walmart Express is closer to the customers. So that is why we need to create this complement from Walmart Supercenter, and that is why we're working on and see some results in the coming months.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Bob Ford from Bank of America.
Robert Ford
AnalystsChristian, I think you opened up 17 Baits in the quarter. And I was wondering if you could discuss the cadence for new openings over the course of this year the availability of suitable locations, particularly for Bait where you're competing with [ OXO, Trespe, Para ] and others. And do you feel you have relative advantages in real estate? Or are you disadvantaged in some way and why?
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesWell, the question at the beginning, I didn't hear you very well.
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesThe phasing -- was it both the phasing how we opened stores across the year, right?
Robert Ford
AnalystsThe locations Yes, how should we think about the cadence of openings, right? And then the suitability and the difficulty in finding those, particularly given how competitive the market is for those smaller box locations. And then do you feel you're advantaged? Is there a scale or competitive advantage that you think you have in real estate? Or do you feel disadvantaged for some reason? And I was curious as to why.
Cristian Barrientos
ExecutivesOkay. Let me try to answer your question. My view is we have, let me say, a multi-format portfolio strategy to growth. We are not only growing with Bodega Express. We are working more about the square meter that will increase every year because we need to have a clear -- or we have a strategy for Sam's, for Walmart Supercenter, for Bodega, all the business and, of course, for Walmart Express. So I think we have an opportunity because of the team that we have today looking for different sizes all over the country. And particularly in Bait, I think we have a strong business there. Bait was performing very well in the last, let me say, 15 years, and we are now looking for continue evolving the business with more efficiency. You saw in the Walmex Day, our idea to reduce or improve the assortment that we are offering to the customer. So I think it's not a disadvantage. For sure, we are competing with very good 2 or 3 big players, let me say, 3B, FEMSA with OXO, also NEO, they're very good competitors. They are open stores. We do also open great stores because, at the end, this is super important to have a sustainable growth, not only open stores. So that is why we have a lot of discipline in the way that we approve different stores. We are evolving the speed that we used to have to open a Bodega Express. We are adopting more of the business to the location that we are looking for. So we are evolving, let me say, the speed that we need to accelerate the business. I don't know, Paolo, if you...
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesYes. Maybe just add one thing, Bob, because your question is right and absolutely spot on. And I think one thing to say when we look at the quarter 1, it tends to be impacted by the fact that at the end of the year -- and it's a market thing, and we are not different that you tend always to open a lot of stores. We actually want to change that. We make an internal decision that we wanted not only just concentrate a lot of the open at year-end. This is the year that we want to start that because so that we don't have this huge volatility across the periods. We feel that we have the muscle to open. Other people out there also open stores as well in real estate. But of course, we comply everything by the book and we'll continue to do so. But we feel that we have the muscle to assert right store openings as we promise and we committed at Walmex Day. Thanks for the question. Good one.
Operator
OperatorOur next question is from Mr. Ben Theurer from Barclays. Our next question is from Federico Galassi from Rohaytn Group.
Federico Galassi
AnalystsA small -- maybe a follow-up on the previous question is related to we saw Sam's Club continue to grow same store sales well above ANTAD this quarter, in particular, Bodega you mentioned was lower. Do you see any change in the consumer behavior? Do you believe that is more related with the competition? Thinking what will happen and we have this these issues in the months of February. It's something more related, again, with the change in the consumption in Mexico? If you see any view of that. thinking in the next of the year. the rest of the year.
Paulo Garcia
ExecutivesI will start with consumption and hand over to Prathibha to talk about Sam's and the performance in the quarter. Fere. I don't -- by the way, thanks for your question. I don't think there is anything in particular that drives the different behavior or performance of our formats, Fere. Of course, there's a little bit of down trading, that's we're seeing split of the shopping, but that is not what's driving necessarily the performance on our formats. Prathibha in a second will talk about what drives the growth in Sam's. Christian already alluded to some of the issues that we've had with Bodega. If you ask us around what we see from the market going forward, we do expect, and I think everyone is expecting that, a ramp-up of the consumption throughout the year. There's lots of hubs, as you will know, Fere around the period now May, June, July because we have the hot sale, we have the World Cup. And there is an expectation that things will go improving throughout the year. Of course, we also will have to see what happens after the World Cup in terms of the consumption, whether there is any hangover or not from that. But that's the expectation that we see at the moment further. And I'll hand over now to Prathibha to talk about Sam's.
Prathibha Rajashekhar
ExecutivesFere, thank you for your question. What we are seeing with Sam's Club is we are growing our membership double digit. Our renewals are increasing year-over-year quarter-over-quarter. And one of the things that we are seeing is our traffic is also improving because of the membership growth. As members are coming to Sam's Club, they are discovering the quality of our Member Smart brand, which is our private label, and our penetration in private label is improving. We are also investing in prices. And I shared this at the Walmex Day, that we are going to invest in 500 items in 60 stores. We have continued to roll that out, and we are seeing good traction, double-digit growth in units and member penetration because of the price investment. All of these are adding to like the growth of the Sam's revenue that you're seeing.
Operator
OperatorThat was the last question. I will now hand over to Mr. Salvador Villasenor for final comments.
Salvador Villasenor Barragan
ExecutivesThank you for joining, and thank you for your questions. Looking forward to talking to you in the next quarter.
Operator
OperatorWalmex would like to thank you for participating in today's video conference. You may now disconnect.
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