A man talks on his mobile phone in front of a Wal-Mart store in Sao Paulo, Brazil, February 16, 2016. To match Insight WALMART-BRAZIL/ REUTERS/Nacho Doce

(Reuters) - The Brazilian unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT.N has decided to integrate its physical retail and e-commerce activities, as well as expand its so-called online marketplace operations, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Together with an ongoing campaign to revamp its stores and introduce more regional and in-house brands, the new initiatives should cost about 1.5 billion reais ($464 million) over the next four years, Walmart Brasil said.

Online marketplaces are an increasingly popular e-commerce format, in which websites offers products from third-party retailers, rather than just the company hosting the site.