AutoZone 2013 Annual Report Download - page 4

Regarding 2013, we had many successes. We exceeded $9.1 billion in sales, up 6.3% over fiscal year 2012, and we delivered $27.79 in earnings per
share, up 18.3% over 2012. Excluding the 53rd week, sales were up 4.3% and earnings per share of $27.15 increased 15.6%. We also:
•฀Expanded฀our฀domestic฀store฀base฀by฀a฀net฀151฀stores,฀ending฀with฀4,836฀stores
•฀Opened฀368฀new฀commercial฀programs฀ending฀the฀year฀with฀the฀program฀in฀71%฀of฀our฀domestic฀store฀base
•฀Increased฀our฀presence฀in฀Mexico฀by฀41฀stores฀ending฀with฀362฀stores
•฀Opened฀our฀rst฀three฀stores฀in฀Brazil
•฀Began฀selling฀the฀ALLDATA฀Repair฀product฀in฀Europe฀
•฀Acquired฀AutoAnything฀–฀our฀rst฀signicant฀acquisition฀this฀century
•฀Enhanced฀and฀signicantly฀grew฀our฀on-line฀offerings฀at฀autozone.com฀and฀autozonepro.com
•฀Relocated฀or฀expanded฀32฀Hub฀stores฀and฀improved฀the฀product฀offerings
•฀Grew฀Operating฀Prot฀dollars฀8.9%฀(6.4%฀on฀a฀52฀week฀basis)
•฀Continued฀our฀industry฀leading฀Return฀On฀Invested฀Capital฀(ROIC)฀reporting฀฀32.7%฀for฀scal฀2013
•฀Generated฀over฀$1฀billion฀of฀Operating฀Cash฀Flow฀for฀the฀fourth฀consecutive฀year
•฀Repurchased฀more฀than฀$1.3฀billion฀in฀AutoZone฀stock฀for฀the฀third฀straight฀year
These industry leading results were again driven by our AutoZoners’ continued dedication to delivering trustworthy advice and exceptional customer
service. Their dedication and passion for our culture of putting our customers first is the reason for these milestones.
U.S. Retail
We are the country’s largest retailer of automotive aftermarket products with more than 4,800 stores across the United States. As the economy
and฀this฀sector฀of฀our฀industry฀continued฀to฀be฀challenged฀in฀2013,฀we฀focused฀on฀the฀following฀initiatives:฀(1)฀Great฀People฀Providing฀Great฀
Service;฀(2)฀Leveraging฀the฀Internet;฀(3)฀Hub฀Store฀Improvements;฀and฀(4)฀Leveraging฀Technology.฀฀
We have dedicated significant resources to training our AutoZoners on customer service and our culture, and our AutoZoners continue to do a
great job of delivering Trustworthy Advice to our customers. We also intensified our efforts to ensure our AutoZoners’ safety. They are our most
important asset and we must do everything in our power to keep them safe.
Every day, more and more customers are choosing to interact with us through the Internet. They are coming to our websites for typical
information on store locations, parts availability and pricing. They are also coming for the vast amount of content we have available to them to
help them solve their problems and maintain their vehicles. Our objective is to meet them wherever and however they desire to interact with
us. We want our customers to have a seamless and consistent on-line and off-line experience with us. This year, in order to accelerate our
expansion in this area, we acquired AutoAnything. AutoAnything is an on-line retailer of performance parts, products, and accessories. This
acquisition has allowed us to further penetrate this sector of the industry and it adds a team with tremendous knowledge of e-commerce. We
believe the combination of our two talented teams’ experiences and product offerings gives us the opportunity to accelerate our pace of growth
with these important and growing customer segments.
Our฀Hub฀stores,฀which฀carry฀approximately฀double฀the฀hard฀parts฀assortments฀found฀in฀our฀typical฀stores,฀function฀as฀additional฀distribution฀
nodes฀in฀the฀local฀markets฀to฀provide฀same฀day฀access฀to฀harder฀to฀nd฀parts.฀฀During฀scal฀2013,฀we฀expanded฀or฀relocated฀32฀Hub฀stores,฀
opened an additional six and finished the year with 155. In one of our inventory availability tests, we are testing significantly increasing the
assortments available in these locations.
Why we are looking forward to 2014
Summary of 2013 Results