The Wesfarmers Limited (ASX: WES) share price has edged higher this morning even as the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) weakened 0.6% on Wednesday. At the time of writing, the Wesfarmers share price is trading at $55.73, up 0.4%.
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Why is the Wesfarmers share price climbing?
Wesfarmers shares have climbed higher despite broad market pressure this morning as Wall Street pulled back from recent highs and the Aussie market follows. Today's share price move comes after a broker note on the Aussie conglomerate was released from Goldman Sachs overnight.
The relatively upbeat broker note came on the back of Wesfarmers' Kmart Group update yesterday morning which had a relatively quiet response from the market.
Wesfarmers yesterday provided an update on its Kmart Group plans. Kmart is one of the three key retail brands under the Wesfarmers banner alongside Target and Catch.com.au.
The Aussie conglomerate is pushing to make Kmart a focal point of its brands. Key highlights cited by Wesfarmers include a large and growing addressable market, competitive advantages driven by scale, and technology-enabled growth.
The Wesfarmers share price has edged higher while many ASX 200 shares remain under pressure as investors assess the Kmart plan and brokers' views on the proposal.
Kmart recorded $6.1 billion in annual sales through to 30 June 2020. That came from nearly 1 billion units sold in ~190 million transactions. The group's online retail recorded more than 250 million website sessions during the year.
Kmart is focused on a few things to drive lower costs and higher margins. Those include lower production costs, lower price, higher volume, and stronger sourcing and product development.
The group is also expecting strong brand recognition and engagement to help drive sales. 10 years ago, the Kmart network had 187 stores across Australia and New Zealand. Now, the company is hoping to have 271 Kmart stores with 57 "K Hubs" by December 2021.
Wesfarmers is hoping the restructure of its retail arm can kickstart a new phase of growth. That makes the Wesfarmers share price worth watching in today's trade.
Foolish takeaway
The Wesfarmers share price is climbing after the latest update on the Kmart transformation. Shares in the Aussie conglomerate are up 10 per cent in the last month in a positive start to the quarter.
