AutoZone 2013 Annual Report Download - page 6

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 6 of the 2013 AutoZone annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 152

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148
  • 149
  • 150
  • 151
  • 152

Our Future
Our operating theme for 2014 is “Creating Customers for Life.” Simply put, we want to make each shopping experience as memorable as possible
for our customers to ensure they return again and again. We understand our customers have choices. Every customer interaction is an opportunity
to exceed their expectations and we must capitalize on those opportunities. In today’s environment, our customers want to interact with us in a
variety of ways; in store, over the phone, via the internet or on their mobile device. We are committed to meeting our customers where they want
to meet us which means we have to flawlessly integrate our in-store and online shopping experiences. We made very good progress in this area
in 2013 but we still have substantial opportunities for improvement. Our success on building this foundation will create, we believe, a competitive
advantage for the future.
For฀scal฀2014,฀our฀key฀priorities฀are:฀(1)฀Great฀People฀Providing฀Great฀Service;฀(2)฀Commercial฀Growth;฀(3)฀Leveraging฀the฀Internet;฀(4)฀Leveraging฀
Information Technology; and (5) Improving Inventory Availability. Our key priorities don’t change significantly from year to year. They are more about
evolution than revolution but they must lead to meaningful improvements. Focusing the organization on a few select significant opportunities allows
us to quickly capitalize on them.
We have a terrific business model that has stood the test of time but it has evolved significantly over the years. We must continue to evolve to
embrace the changes in our customers’ shopping habits, to adapt to the ever-changing competitive environment and to embrace changes in vehicle
technology. We have consistently met those challenges and we remain committed to meeting the wants, needs and desires of our customers.
As we think about the future, we intend to continue to grow new store square footage at an annual rate of approximately four percent and we
expect to grow our Commercial business at an accelerated rate. Therefore, we look to routinely grow EBIT dollars in the low to mid-single
digit range, or better in times of strength. And, we will continue to leverage our historically strong cash flows to repurchase shares, enhancing
our earnings per share into double digits. This approach has been quite successful for an extended period of time. Our Return on Investment
Capital, at 32.7%, is one of the best, if not “the best” in hardlines retailing. We have been and will continue to be good stewards of capital as we
understand the capital we deploy is your capital.
This year, we added three new members to our Board of Directors: Doug Brooks, Chairman of the Board of Brinker International; Linda
Goodspeed,฀Senior฀Vice฀President฀and฀Chief฀Information฀Ofcer฀of฀ServiceMaster;฀and฀Bryan฀Jordan,฀Chairman฀of฀the฀Board,฀President฀and฀
Chief฀Executive฀Ofcer฀of฀First฀Horizon฀National฀Corporation.฀฀These฀terric฀new฀directors฀bring฀a฀wealth฀and฀diverse฀set฀of฀experiences฀to฀our฀
Board and their talents, combined with the talents of our existing members, further strengthens our Board. We welcome Doug, Linda and Bryan
to the AutoZone team.
Lastly, I again want to thank our AutoZoners for their exceptional efforts in 2013. But, I would remind everyone that in order to succeed in the
future, we will have to work even harder than we have in the past. Last year is behind us. We are excited about our opportunities in 2014 and
believe฀we฀can฀again฀deliver฀solid฀results.฀฀However,฀it฀is฀never฀easy.฀฀We฀must฀remain฀committed฀to฀meeting฀and฀exceeding฀our฀customers’฀
expectations. I would also like to thank our vendors for their ongoing commitment to our collective success. Finally, I would like to thank our
stockholders for the confidence you have in us by your decision to invest in our company. We remain committed to managing your capital wisely,
achieving an appropriate return on all incremental capital projects and returning excess cash flow through an orderly share repurchase program.
We have an incredible heritage of customer service. While we have performed very well throughout our company’s history, I continue to believe our
best days are ahead. Thank you for staying in the Zone with us for all these years.
We look forward to updating you on our continued success well into the future.
Sincerely,
Bill Rhodes
Chairman, President and CEO
Customer Satisfaction