Convenience Stores

Despite weak overall sales growth and an expected decline in third quarter profits, Walmart’s third quarter results offered reasons for the company to be optimistic and for competitors to be concerned.

(The following is an excerpt from the new book, Extraordinary Experiences: What Great Retail and Restaurant Brands Do, by Denise Lee Yohn.)

Scott McClelland seems an unlikely candidate for his picture to appear under a "Why Is This Man Smiling?" headline. As spokesperson and president of the Houston food/drug division of Texas-based grocery store chain H-E-B, McClelland has plenty of reasons to be worried.

It’s been 10 years since Walmart launched its sustainability agenda, and on Tuesday, the discounter detailed the progress it has made to date.

In two important milestones, Walmart said it has achieved its goals of reducing 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its global supply chain, and doubling its fleet efficiency. It also expanded an existing commitment to preserve wildlife habitat.

The off-price wars are heating up in New York City.

Saks Fifth Avenue will open its first Saks Off 5th outlet in New York City, in a 32-story office tower at 125 East 57th Street, in March 2016. The store will feature a lobby entrance at street level, which will access two lower level floors.

“The addition of a new Saks Off 5th store at this strategic location will be a dramatic game changer for 57th Street retail east of Park Avenue,” said Charles S. Cohen, president and CEO of Cohen Brothers Realty Corp., which owns the property.

Cabela’s is looking to increase sales this holiday by opening seasonal stores in some military installations.

Popularity and resale value do not always correlate when it comes to gift cards.

Visa is tops in a ranking of the gift cards expected to be most popular this holiday season.

Rounding out the top 10: American Express; iTunes; Wal-Mart; Target; Starbucks; Netflix; eBay and Google Play. The ranking is from CardHub, a credit card comparison Web site owned by Evolution Finance.

Retail cloud technology deployments have been getting a lot of attention lately. However, the most publicized retail uses of cloud technology tend to be flashy, front-end implementations.

But the cloud is not just suited to running customer-facing systems. Cloud technology can also serve as an ideal platform for back-end systems and functions, such as workforce management, according to Liz Moughan, director, retail and hospitality practice group of workforce management software and services provider Kronos Inc.

Photo: left: Adam Zimel; right: Micah Kagan

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