Walmart

By Eric White, Doug Reynolds and Michael Rozin

Retail is an evolving business that must constantly adapt to changing consumer demands, technologies and economic and demographic trends. Retailers are extremely adept at this, and are perpetually reinventing the way they do business, both in terms of interactions with consumers and also how they streamline operations. This is a requirement for successful retailers because, like it or not, everything impacts retail: technology, weather, politics and even terrorism. 

A monthly pricing survey conducted by Credit Suisse in December shows that Walmart remains the lowest price on a basket of 60 products across two major markets, Target is closer than ever and is actually less expensive for those who take advantage of the 5% Rewards program.

A lack of disclosure among retailers regarding their online operations makes it challenging to understand what went on online this past holiday season. While comScore reported it was a record year from a sales perspective with November and December sales advancing 12% to $32.6 billion, data from the online measurement firm also showed that most major retailers saw fewer unique visitors to their websites in December 2010 than during the same month the prior year.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. --  It turns out the announcement earlier today by Walmart that Duncan Mac Naughton would serve as head merchant of the company’s U.S. division was but one component of a more extensive shakeup at the company.

A monthly pricing survey conducted by Credit Suisse in December shows that while Walmart remains the lowest price on a basket of 60 products across two major markets the gap continues to narrow and is now at the lowest level in three years.

This is seen as an encouraging sign by those in the financial community who interpret the data as evidence of a rational pricing environment, even though from a shoppers perspective there exists less of a clear distinction between Walmart every day low prices and those of its competitors.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Less than three months after joining Walmart’s merchandising organization as an executive VP, Duncan Mac Naughton on Friday was elevated to the role of chief merchandising officer for the U.S. stores division.

Interesting data points emerged this week that offer potential insight into Walmart’s holiday sales, as Kantar Retail and comScore released reports showing that when compared with the prior year Walmart was less of a destination for gifts and its Web traffic had declined.

ITASCA, Ill. -- Jewel-Osco, a Supervalu-owned company, announced that Keith Nielsen, Jewel-Osco president, has informed the company of his retirement effective at the end of the fiscal year (Feb. 28).

Nielsen’s successor will be Brian Huff, SVP specialty retail for Supervalu. Huff will transition into the position beginning Feb. 7. All operations and business strategies will continue as normal.