BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart cited strong grocery sales and gains in e-commerce in posting fiscal third quarter earnings that beat consensus estimates. “We had strong revenue growth across segments for the quarter, and we’re excited to get an early start to the holiday season,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart’s president and chief executive officer. Walmart said
WASHINGTON — October retail sales, excluding autos and gas, declined 0.08%, according to the inaugural CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, a monthly report that’s a joint product of CNBC and the National Retail Federation and is powered by consumer purchase data from Affinity Solutions. Analysis of debit card and credit card data for October showed weakness in
PHILADELPHIA — Rite Aid Corp. has sued the Department of Justice to suspend the agency’s lawsuit against over the company’s alleged involvement in the nation’s opioid crisis. The DOJ, which sued Rite Aid in March, agreed only to a “brief pause” of its suit after Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.
GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General Corp. has responded to a persistently challenging operating environment with a number of initiatives, including a change in leadership, intended to restore top-line and bottom-line growth. However, some Wall Street analysts expect that the process may take several quarters in view of the economic pressures on the retailer’s core lower-income
DEERFIELD, Ill. — New Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) chief executive officer Tim Wentworth has wasted little time in streamlining operations. The company this month laid off 267 corporate-level workers, including chief merchandising officer Luke Rauch. Those laid off represent 5% of WBA’s total corporate workforce and also included Robert Tompkins, group vice president and general
MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. posted better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal third quarter despite another decline in comparable-store sales. Shoppers remain cautious, the company said, but did spend for necessities like food, school supplies and beauty aids. Comparable sales were down 4.9% in the three months to October 28. In-store comps declined 4.6% while digital comps
CHICAGO — A “special edition” of the dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index (RPI) places Amazon, H-E-B and Kroger atop the latest rankings of grocery retailers in terms of their abilities to personalize shopping experience to best serve shoppers. The inaugural RPI for Leadership in Personalization finds that Amazon stands apart from all other retailers, dunnhumby says
NEW YORK — Walmart held the highest rung in Kantar’s ranking of retailers for 2023. It was the 27th consecutive year that Walmart was named top retailer in the PoweRanking of retailers and supplier/manufacturers that set the standard for performance, as judged by their trading partners. Kroger occupies the No. 2 position among retailers this
GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — In mid-October, Nashville’s downtown skyline shined a bit brighter thanks to the Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF). The Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, which arches over the Cumberland River as it winds through Tennessee’s state capital, was illuminated in “DG yellow” to shine a light on the DGLF’s 30th anniversary and its
MARLBOROUGH, Mass. —BJ’s Wholesale Club reported strong third quarter results driven by membership growth and traffic and margin improvement. Comparable-club sales, excluding gasoline sales, remained approximately flat year over year. But the company said its digitally enabled comparable sales growth was up 16% year over year. And membership fee income increased by 6.6% year over
NEW YORK — Ahold Delhaize USA is selling its FreshDirect online grocery business to Getir, the world’s first ultrafast grocery delivery service. “With this decision, we will increase our focus on omnichannel — our biggest growth opportunity,” said JJ Fleeman, Ahold Delhaize USA’s chief executive officer. “This was a difficult decision, especially given FreshDirect’s rich
“AI has the potential to revolutionize the retail industry by introducing innovative solutions that enhance efficiency, customer experiences and overall business operations.” That’s what a well-known AI model, ChatGPT, told me when I asked about positive use cases for AI in the retail sector. It went on to list several areas where AI could help