Research Topic

Minneapolis -- A just-released report from the Wall Street Journal said that Best Buy founder Richard Schulze, who resigned his chairman of the board seat earlier this month, may be looking into buying out the company.

Schulze is said to be working with bankers from Credit Suisse. At the time of his resignation as chairman, he owned approximately 20% of the company.
 

Walmart's Asda business earned the title of "Lowest Priced Supermarket" at The Grocer Gold Awards for the 15th straight year. The retailer was also named "Britain’s Favorite Supermarket" for the second year in a row.

New Orleans — Despite reporting an uptick in organized retail crime, the National Retail Federation revealed that retail theft rates decreased in 2011, according to preliminary results of the organization's latest National Retail Security survey.

Online measurement firm comScore is out with its top 50 web properties report and Walmart.com must be doing something right judging from a surge in traffic.

Walmart.com was ranked 24th on the top 50 list for May with 42.4 million unique visitors, a 9% increase from the prior month when comScore showed Walmart.com had 38.8 million unique visitors in April. The gain in web traffic over the same month the prior year is even more substantial as Walmart.com registered a 26.2% increase from a May 2011 unique visitor total of 33.6 million.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven announced that it has completed a transaction to acquire 18 Open Pantry convenience store locations in Wisconsin, primarily in the greater Milwaukee and Madison markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Houston -- On average, Hispanics visit convenience stores more frequently on a monthly basis compared to non-Hispanics, according to a recently released report by The NPD Group. The report, entitled The Hispanic Convenience Store Shopper, finds that Hispanics overall made almost two more visits a month than non-Hispanics to major oil chain c-stores, and nearly one more visit over a 30-day period to traditional c-stores than non-Hispanics.

New York -- Large emerging markets with an active online user base and solid infrastructure offer retailers the greatest e-commerce potential in the near-term, according to a new study by A.T. Kearney’s Global Consumer Institute. The study ranks the 10 countries with the greatest potential for e-commerce growth, and China tops the list, followed by Brazil (#2), Russia (#3), Chile (#4) and Mexico (#5).

Jacksonville, Fla. — A new report from Acosta Sales and Marketing reveals that consumers at all income levels consider price before making a purchase, showing that economic concerns affect everyone.