Strategy

Walmart has unveiled upcoming changes to its website, stores and employee badges ahead of today's shareholders' meeting in Bentonville, Ark.

According to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Walmart execs told a meeting of employees on Wednesday that it plans to spend at least $1.5 billion in upgrades to its e-commerce sites, store design and employee name badges.

Gap Inc. is eyeing the 110,000-sq.-ft.

The CEO of Best Buy says brick-and-mortar stores are absolutely vital to beating Amazon.com and other retail rivals.

According to MPR News, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly told students at the University of Minnesota that "the chain's roughly 1,400 U.S. stores allow the retailer to demonstrate new products for customers and deliver the goods faster than Internet-only merchants."

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According to Fortune, CEO Doug McMillon may be the best prepared executive to lead the company since Sam Walton.

The magazine details how McMillon is guiding the retail giant in the Age of Disruption.

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New York -- Xcel Brands Inc., a brand management and development company, has appointed a veteran marketing executive of Target to the Xcel board of directors.

Francis is currently the chief global brand officer for DreamWorks Animation SKG. Prior to joining DreamWorks he was the founder and CEO of Farview Associates, a brand development agency focused on the creation of new brands and the support of established global brands.

Atlanta -- Von Maur Department Stores has completed the installation of a new shipping and receiving material handling system in Von Maur's distribution center in Davenport, Iowa.

Sterling, Va. – Sixty-four percent of millennial graduates shopped at Target in the last three months, according to new data by Neustar, Inc. The real-time information services and analytics provider uncovered the buying behavior insights of recent millennial graduates and their preferences.

Some insights include:

New York -- CVS/pharmacy is aiming to attract more Hispanic customers with its new "Y Mas" stores in South Florida, and the company hopes to expand its new brand nationally.

Twelve CVS/pharmacy y mas stores in South Florida, including 11 remodeled CVS stores and one brand new store, feature a fully bilingual staff, the addition of more than 1,500 trusted Hispanic products, more competitive pricing on hundreds of products, and new services unique to a national retail pharmacy.

Fayetteville, Ark. -- Walmart U.S. on Wednesday announced that it is making a small but “significant” change to its employee name badges as part of its renewed commitment to associates.

“I'm proud to say that we're bringing back ‘Our People Make the Difference’ on our badges. These words are just as important today, and to our future, as they ever were,” said Walmart U.S. COO Judith McKenna.

New York – Guess Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with net earnings of $3.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, compared to a net loss of $2.1 million the same period a year earlier. Reductions in pretax expenses pushed Guess out of the red into the black.

Total net revenue decreased 8% to $478.8 million, from $522.5 million. Foreign currency fluctuations drove the decline. Same-store sales, including e-commerce, dropped 5.9%.