Acquisitions (Narrative) (Details)			1 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2011 Netto Food Stores Limited [Member] USD ($) stores	Apr. 30, 2011 Netto Food Stores Limited [Member] GBP (£)	Jun. 30, 2011 Massmart Holdings Limited [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 Massmart Holdings Limited [Member] ZAR	Feb. 28, 2007 Bounteous Company Limited [Member]	Feb. 28, 2007 Initial Interest [Member] Bounteous Company Limited [Member] USD ($)	Feb. 28, 2007 Additional Consideration [Member] Bounteous Company Limited [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 Sub-Saharan African [Member] Massmart Holdings Limited [Member] countries stores
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Ownership percentage			51.00%		35.00%
Cost of acquisition						$ 264,000,000	$ 376,000,000
Additional percentage of voting interests acquired through share-repurchase program					30.00%
Purchase price	1,200,000,000	750,000,000	2,500,000,000	16,900,000,000
Assets acquired	1,300,000,000		6,400,000,000
Goodwill	748,000,000		3,500,000,000
Liabilities assumed	103,000,000		1,900,000,000
Non-controlling interest			$ 2,000,000,000
Number of stores	147	147						290
Number of countries with operations								13