Walmart

Supermarket anchors offer wide range of products and services

Grocery retailers have always served as ideal shopping center anchors, as they guarantee extra foot traffic by providing consumers with their daily needs.

Facebook and Twitter don’t have the power to move mountains (not yet anyway), but one thing is certain: Retailers are not only listening to the conversations going on out there about their brands, but, increasingly and when it makes brand-sense, acting on them. At least the smart ones are.

Consider Topshop. The global fashion retailer came under fire for using ultra-thin mannequins in its stores.

As the 10th anniversary of Hurrican Katrina approaches, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are making a commitment to disaster relief efforts.

Bentonville, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is rearranging how responsibilities are handled by its merchandising executives. According to the Wall Street Journal, an internal company memo indicates that among the changes is a promotion to chief merchandising and marketing officer for Wal-Mart China for Marybeth Hays, currently serving as senior VP of home for Wal-Mart U.S.

Hays will replace John Furner in that role. Furner will return to the U.S. in an unspecified position.

Bentonville, Ark. — Sam’s Club is “socializing” with small business owners in a new social media marketing campaign. The warehouse club division of Wal-Mart is launching #SmallBizHelp, an interactive social campaign that offers expert advice on starting and running a business.

Thanks to some financial engineering, Sears Holdings overcame a double digit decline in same store sales to produce a second quarter profit or a less severe loss depending on the arithmetic used.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. exceeded Wall Street projections with net earnings of $753 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, a 221% increase from $234 million the same period the prior fiscal year. Declining selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses and loss from discontinued operations helped boost profits as sales climbed.

Target reported net sales of $17.4 billion, up 2.8% over the same period last year.

Target’s better than expected second quarter profits, same store sales, rate of e-commerce growth and an increased full year forecast stood in sharp contrast to the disappointing results Walmart reported a day earlier.

Veteran finance executive and former top Walmart executive Wan Ling Martello has joined the board of directors of Alibaba as the Chinese e-commerce giant eyes growth in the U.S.

Bentonville, Ark. -- In a shift to quality over quantity, Walmart has cut expansion plans for its Neighborhood Market stores despite the format’s consistently strong top line growth in recent years.