Marketing

Walmart SVP talent development Celia Swanson has been added to the roster of speakers for the NWA Business Women’s Conference on Sept. 11 hosted by the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. Swanson joined Sam’s Club with the Pace membership club acquisition in 1994 as the senior director of the people group. She served as VP of the people group at Sam’s until 1997 when she was promoted to run membership, marketing and administration. She was named EVP in 2000, assumed leadership of change management in 2005 and moved to her current role in 2009.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp. announced the opening of its 10,000 store, giving the retailer a coast-to-coast presence for the first time in its history. The location is in Merced, Calif., and is due to officially open on Saturday. It will be Dollar General’s fifth store to open in California.

“Opening the doors of our 10,000th store is a meaningful day for all of us at Dollar General, and we are excited to celebrate the occasion in California,” said Rick Dreiling, Dollar General’s chairman and CEO.

It seems like forever that that Walmart has been describing the performance of its apparel department as “a work in progress,” but this could be the year things turn around thanks to a number of factors working in the company’s favor.

For starters, the return to basics emphasis is giving Walmart customers what they want and expect from Walmart, just as the market for apparel is enjoying strength and disruption at a competitor is creating the potential for share gains.

Brentwood, Tenn. -- Hobby Lobby International has named its first female president, hobby industry veteran, Debra Love.

Love has been at Hobby Lobby since 2009 when she joined as VP IT and communications, and most recently served as executive VP.
 

Walmart chief merchandising officer Duncan Mac Naughton was back in Canada earlier this week at the CIBC World Markets Retail and Consumer Conference in Toronto sharing a message of improved traction and accelerating momentum.

Roanoke, Va. -- Advance Auto Parts has announced the promotion of Markus Hockenson to senior VP store operations, effective April 1.

Hockenson will be responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership to the company’s Midwestern operations, which includes more than 1,200 stores. Hockenson will report to Carl Hauch, senior VP national operations and will be based in Denver.

Wal-Mart Stores is making strides across the Atlantic, as its Asda division is taking more of the grocery market share in the United Kingdom from rival Tesco.

According to a report from research firm Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12-week period ended March 18, Asda's share of the market grew to 17.9% on top of a year-over-year growth rate of 7.8%. By comparison, Tesco's growth rate of 2.7% lags behind the overall grocery market, which is growing at 4%.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday it will reduce prices on groceries by $1 billion in 2012, in hopes to draw customers in and encourage them to cross-shop in other areas of the store.

Wal-Mart had $145 billion in grocery sales last year in the United States, making it the largest player in terms of domestic grocery sales. It says the price reductions in food and consumables are an investment and won’t impact margins especially if shoppers respond as planned with additional traffic and loyalty.