Walmart

Recent enhancements to Walmart’s website ensure that Andy Murray, the company’s SVP of creative, will have plenty to talk about later this year when he addresses the topic of “Evolving with the omnichannel shopper,” at the Shopper Marketing Conference & Expo.
 

Retailers and suppliers who already operate in China or are looking to expand there may want to contact Kurt Salmon following several key hires by the consulting company.

The management consulting firm’s Retail and Consumer Products Group in China said it hired Hao Li and Ke Chen as partners.

Retail and consumer products veteran Brian Cornell was named chairman and CEO at Target to fill two of the three roles previously held by the company’s former top executive Gregg Steinhafel.

Walmart kicked off its back-to-school promotional effort the way it does every seasonal selling initiative – with a big emphasis on low prices – but added a stronger digital component this year.

The retailer sought to bring a bit of Black Friday and Cyber Monday magic to its back-to-school efforts with a series of price cuts and limited duration offerings designed to generate sales and drive traffic to its stores and Web site.

Seattle – Amazon.com is making a serious bid to control the Indian e-commerce market with a planned $2 billion investment in its Indian operation. In a statement emailed to major U.S. media outlets, Amazon said it sees “huge potential” in India’s economy and e-commerce market.

Bangalore, India – Indian e-commerce platform Flipkart has received about $1 billion in funding from investors including existing backer Tiger Global Management, as well as new stakeholders Morgan Stanley and Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund GIC. Flipkart operates as an online marketplace for 3,000 individual merchants, similar to China’s Alibaba.com.

New York - Households with school-aged children (pre-school through 12th grade) plan to spend more this year on back-to-school necessities with a predicted increase of 9 % for an average spend of $655, according to the 15th annual survey conducted by Brand Keys.

Average anticipated spending in all major back-to-school categories reflect higher levels from 2013:

Clothing: $348 (+16%)
Shoes (athletic & dress) $127 (+15%)
Supplies $ 89 (+13%)
Computers/Electronics/
Tablets/Smartphones: $213 (+12%)

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has made a follow-on order for GenKey fuel cell units from Plug Power Inc. Wal-Mart will add an additional, seventh, GenKey site to the original six-site contract it announced in February 2014.