NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, saw shares edge down nearly 2 percent during the year as the company worked on improving same-store sales and struggled to bolster its image with consumers.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based company is attempting to attract different types of consumers. On one hand, it seeks to attract more upscale customers, as rival Target Corp. has. To do that, it opened a superstore in Plano, Texas, featuring a sushi bar, wine section and a fall clothing line with trendy items such as skinny jeans.

Still, Wal-Mart continues to appeal to discount hunters, and the company instituted an aggressive discount campaign on prices for toys, consumer electronics and small appliances during the holiday season.

But same-store sales figures continued to sag.

In October, Wal-Mart said it would sharply reduce its rate of domestic expansion, in an effort to restore sales and profit growth in the U.S., its biggest market.

But in November, just before the crucial holiday sales season began, the company warned of a sales decline for the first time in 10 years and said same-store sales growth would be no better than 1 percent. In fact, it fell 0.1 percent. Wal-Mart expects December same-store sales to be flat to no more than 1 percent higher than last year.

The company suffered an internal marketing crisis late in the year, as Julie Roehm, senior vice president of marketing communications, left in December after less than a year on the job, and the company dropped its new ad agency -- Interpublic Group of Cos.' DraftFCB.

Wal-Mart expects to name a new ad agency by the beginning of January.

Its share price fell about 1.5 percent during the year, hitting a 52-week low of $42.31 on July 18, reaching a 52-week high of $52.15 on Oct. 23, and falling since then to close on Dec. 26 at $46.11.