Convenience Stores

Bentonville, Ark. – Consolidated net income at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew 0.6% to $4.1 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 from $4.07 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, with factors including incremental e-commerce investments and healthcare costs dampening profit growth. Wal-Mart cut its profit forecast for the full year as a result.

Overall second quarter performance at Wal-Mart was sluggish. Net sales rose 3% to $119.3 billion from $116.1 billion. Currency exchange rate fluctuations negatively impacted net sales performance.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. - Paula A. Price, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and former CFO of Ahold USA, has been named to the Dollar General board of directors effective Aug. 26. The election of Price to Dollar General’s board will bring the total number of directors to eight.

Advance Auto Parts demonstrated strength in its second quarter performance in one of the retail industry’s hottest sectors.

Brampton, Canada – Loblaw Companies Ltd. has named Pavi Binning as a director to its board. Binning currently serves as the president of food processing company George Weston Ltd. and has been a director of George Weston Ltd. since 2012.

Raley's Supermarkets worked with NRG eVgo to unveil an electric vehicle (EV) fast charging station at a retail location in Northern California that features both industry standard fast chargers: CHAdeMO and SAE Combo.

Located at Nob Hill supermarket in Mountain View, this Freedom Station is the first to incorporate the new SAE Combo fast charge standard, according to the company.

Singapore -- Two retail chains in Singapore, Cold Storage and Guardian, have selected the Pricer ESL (electronic shelf label) solution in their stores and the rollout is planned to be completed by the end of 2015. The two chains are under the umbrella of The Dairy Farm Group.

Cold Storage operates about 50 large supermarkets in Singapore while Guardian operates 150 pharmacy stores.

Research Triangle Park, N.C. – Nine-in-10 retailers report selling on online marketplaces, and 64% use digital marketing. Results of a survey of more than 200 U.S. and U.K. online retailers from e-commerce provider Channel Advisor also indicated the following:

West Sacramento, Calif. -- NRG eVgo and Raley's Supermarkets are introducing the first electric vehicle fast-charging station at a retail location in Northern California that features both industry standard fast chargers: CHAdeMO and SAE Combo.

Located at Nob Hill supermarket in Mountain View, this Freedom Station is the first to incorporate the new SAE Combo fast charge standard being introduced on many new EVs at a Northern California retail location.