Strategy

LG Electronics has started construction on its new $300 million environmentally friendly North American headquarters project in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

More than 300 supporters, including elected officials from New Jersey as well as neighbors, local businesses, union leaders and LG employees, gathered at 111 Sylvan Ave. for the official start of demolition.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores on Thursday posted a 2.8% increase in its third-quarter profit. But the chain cut its annual outlook for the second time in three months as its core shoppers continue to feel economic pressures.

"The retail environment, both in stores and online, remains competitive," In a pre-recorded conference call, Mike Duke, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, said the retail environment, both online and in stores, remains competitive.

Gordon Brothers Group, a global advisory, restructuring and investment firm specializing in the retail, consumer products, industrial and real estate sectors, has named Robert E. Grosskopf and Richard P. Edwards as co-presidents of the retail division.

They will jointly assume responsibility for the division's growth strategy while overseeing all client engagements and daily operations.

Little Rock, Ark. – Dillard’s reported moderate growth in net income and sales during the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Compared to the same period a year earlier, net income increased 5% to $50.9 million from $48.5 million, while net sales climbed about 1% to $1.51 billion from $1.49 billion.

Walmart managed to achieve its third quarter profit target despite reporting weaker than expected U.S. sales which prompted the company to issue a tepid outlook for fourth quarter sales at Walmart U.S. stores and Sam’s Club units.

Toronto -- To help increase profitability, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) launched a promotion optimization initiative in Canada to improve the ROI of its flyers, or newspaper ads. HBC worked with Saferock to develop the solution, which uses sophisticated analytics to analyze millions of records each week.

By Stephen Springham, senior retail analyst at Planet Retail

Three quarters of results and a hat-trick of disappointments — Walmart U.S. again failed to achieve its guidance of flat comps in Q3, reporting a decline of 0.3%. This was not entirely unexpected as an already fragile consumer environment has not been helped by the government shutdown.

Burlington, Ontario -- Ikea Canada announced it has purchased a 46 megawatt wind farm in Pincher Creek, Alberta. The 20-turbine wind farm will be the largest owned by a Canadian retailer and is expected to generate 161 gigawatt hours (GWh) each year, which is more than double the total energy consumption of Ikea Canada. The project is currently being constructed by global wind and solar company Mainstream Renewable Power and is expected to be fully operational in fall 2014.