Walmart

Santa Clara, Calif. –- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is reportedly developing a new centralized approach to how it prioritizes and executes IT projects.    According to the Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart will now consolidate all IT projects into a single portfolio overseen by CIO Karenann Terrell.  

Beachwood, Ohio --DDR Corp. and an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII announced that a joint venture formed by the pair has closed on the acquisition of 71 shopping centers previously owned by American Realty Capital Properties for $1.93 billion.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning to sharply cut back the growth of its U.S. supercenters in favor of smaller-format stores and acccelerated e-commerce and digital investments.    

St. Louis -- Nike, Apple, Samsung, Sony, and Walmart are the top five “most beloved” brands of millenials in a report by digital advertising agency Moosylvania. The 2015 Top 50 Millennial Brand Ranking Report is based on panel studies of 1,500 millennials (defined as aged 14 to 35).   

Bentonville, Ark. –- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is reportedly piloting a service called InstaWatch that lets customers obtain digital access to movies they buy in stores or on the Wal-Mart site.  

A much anticipated acceleration of small format Walmart stores failed to materialize on Wednesday when the retailer announced plans to curtail domestic new store growth in 2016.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. plans to hire more than 63,000 seasonal associates—more than Walmart—at its stores, call centers and distribution centers nationwide for the 2014 holiday season. (Walmart previously announced it was hiring 60,000 seasonal associates.)  

By Dov Cohn

Walmart’s newest omnichannel initiative is on display at a supercenter in Northwest Arkanas where the retailer has installed lockers for online order pickup.

Boston -- Dollar General maintains its overall opening price point leadership position in Kantar Retail’s fourth annual opening price point (OPP) study. For the third consecutive year, Dollar General‘s overall basket was the least expensive, edging out Walmart supercenter’s basket by 2.5%, representing a widening of the gap between the two in the 2013 study.