Wal-Mart Says Building New Distribution Centers For Growing Online Retail Business

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to open four giant distribution centers in the second quarter of 2015 to support the expansion of its online shopping business. By 2018, the retailer aims to triple its online sales to $35 billion from $12 billion in 2014. Unlike traditional warehouses, which are built for storage of pallets of products that are handled by forklifts, fulfillment centers for e-commerce operations are designed for processing of individual items. Wal-Mart said each of the new facilities will have more than 1 million square feet of floor area and can store at least 500,000 items.