Family Dollar 2011 Annual Report Download - page 9

In fiscal 2011, we launched a comprehensive store renovation program intended to increase our
competitiveness and sales productivity by transforming the customer’s shopping experience in a Family Dollar
store. As a part of this program, we:
• Expanded key consumable categories and created more intuitive merchandise adjacencies;
• Improved navigational signage and leveraged new fixtures that enhance customer sightlines, increase
capacity and simplify restocking and recovery processes;
• Created a warmer, more inviting shopping environment that includes a refresh of the building façade
and exterior signage and raised store standards;
• Improved store operating processes and leveraged technology to increase workforce productivity; and
• Raised our customer service standards by strengthening our Team Member engagement with enhanced
training, improved recognition programs, and more consistent Team Member branding.
As of the end of fiscal 2011, more than 1,300 stores utilized this new format, and we plan to continue to
aggressively renovate more stores in our chain. By the end of fiscal 2012, we expect to renovate, relocate or
expand more than 1,000 stores. While we are maintaining an ambitious pace, it will take us several years to fully
transform the chain.
Additionally, to provide our customers with more value and convenience and to help increase productivity
in all stores, we significantly expanded our merchandise assortment in both food and health and beauty aids. Our
objective is to drive traffic with an expanded selection of consumables while also driving a larger basket with
more impulse purchases and greater in-store excitement. In fiscal 2011, we completed this expansion in more
than 5,700 stores.
In fiscal 2011, between the comprehensive store renovation program and the significant expansion of
consumables, almost every store in our chain has been improved to serve customers better. As a result, we
improved our customer satisfaction scores, increased our overall value perception, and strengthened the Family
Dollar brand (based on the results of internal customer service surveys).
Develop diverse, high-performing teams
We believe customer satisfaction is strongly linked with employee engagement, which is why we continue
to invest to develop diverse, high-performing teams. Over the past three years, we have focused on stabilizing
our workforce. We have reduced Team Member turnover and have improved our rate of internal promotions to
almost 80%. Through the comprehensive store renovation program and other initiatives, we increased our Team
Member engagement. Also, in fiscal 2011, we strengthened our leadership development programs and enhanced
our succession planning processes throughout the organization. These initiatives, combined with process
improvements, benefited our workforce productivity and allowed us to manage our core cost structure to support
our investment agenda.
Building on these improvements, we intend to expand our focus in fiscal 2012. We are introducing new
on-boarding processes, expanding our leadership development programs, and enhancing our succession planning
processes even further.
Deliver profitable sales growth
Several years ago, we slowed new store growth to focus more on improving returns in existing stores and the
chain overall. We completed an end-to-end re-engineering of our merchandising and supply chain processes,
enhanced the performance of our store teams, refreshed our store technology platform, and created a store layout for
new stores that is more convenient and easier to shop. As a result of these investments, we upgraded
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