Sam's Club

The Walmart shareholders meeting is next week and while the event is great for the retailer’s associates, suppliers looking for deeper insight into new priorities and key initiatives will be better served by attending a more content rich event the following week.

That’s when the Center for Retailing Excellence in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas plans to hold its annual Emerging Trends in Retail conference. The event, scheduled for Thursday, June 11, is especially noteworthy for several reasons this year.

Bentonville, Ark. – Declining gas prices helped U.S. same-store sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., but the negative impact of foreign currency exchange and efforts to improve store experience and employee wages dampened total sales and operating profits.

Sam’s Club is celebrating National Small Business Week in a very big way.

The retailer is launching the Small Business Economic Mobility initiative (SBEM), a five-year investment in small business growth through increased access to capital and borrower education, with grants totaling $13.6 million to eight national nonprofits.

Sam’s Club is toasting the grand opening of its newest club in Oklahoma with thousands of dollars in community grants and special appearances by politicians and celebrities.

The new Sam’s Club at 1705 S. Broadway Ave. in Moore, Okla., opens May 7 following an 8 a.m. grand opening ceremony. The company says the grand opening celebration will focus on the company’s commitment to the local community. “We’re so happy to be part of the community and look forward to giving back whenever we can,” said Club Manager Farrokh Moinian.

By Jessica Lee, senior manager of mobile, HelloWorld

Sam’s Club’s MasterCard 5-3-1 Cash Back program, which has created keen customer engagement and memorable customer experiences since it launched less than a year ago, has won more awards.

The program, featuring a co-branded MasterCard including chip-enabled technology issued by Synchrony Bank pursuant to a license by MasterCard International Incorporated, won a silver award in the Customer Experience & Engagement category; a bronze award in the Creative Campaign category and a silver in the 360 Degree Loyalty Award for Excellence in North America.

Analytics leader SAS has long promised customers “the power to know” and now a major enhancement to data visualization capabilities means retailers don’t have to be a Ph.D to do things faster and more effectively with their massive volumes of data.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division is launching new, high-value services for small-business owners as it looks to differentiate itself from Costco while fending off competition from well-capitalized online startup Jet.com.