Sam's Club Tests Cash-Back Offer

NEW YORK — An ongoing test in which Sam's Clubs in Texas are giving cash back to Plus members has had good results after only a couple of weeks, but it's still in a test mode, Charles M. Holley, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Wal-Mart, said here Tuesday at a Bank of America conference.

"It's our first time to try something like that, and so far, early returns are very good," he explained. "But it's still in test mode, and we don't have enough analysis yet to be comfortable making any assumptions and conclusions about what we ought to do on a national basis. But I would stay tuned."

In other remarks, Holley said consumers continue to be concerned about the economy — "about jobs, the cost of living, inflation, gas prices, and for the first time they're concerned about taxes. We haven't seen any kind of dramatic change in our sales patterns related to increased payroll taxes, but I know that's been a question on people's minds. We think any slowdown we've seen has been primarily related to delayed tax refunds."

Read more: Some Shoppers Shun Online Credit Card Use Says Wal-Mart

He also reiterated Wal-Mart's previously reported plans for the addition about 500 additional Neighborhood Markets by 2016.

"We fill our pipeline with projects we would like to do, though that doesn't mean you're going to do every one because you may not get the approvals to do them. But we have a line of sight for at least 500 projects.

"At this point, we don't know what the limit is on Neighborhood Markets, but we feel very good about the prospects of having more over the next few years."

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