Mass Merchant

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores CEO Mike Duke on Friday called integrity the company’s “bedrock” value during a presentation at the chain’s annual shareholders meeting in Fayetteville, Ark. The meeting was held against the backdrop of allegations of illegal payments made to facilitate growth in Mexico, which Duke addressed directly in the following remarks: “We're working to continually strengthen our compliance efforts around the world,” he said.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart held its annual shareholders’ meeting Friday morning against the backdrop of the company’s 50th anniversary and allegations of corruption in Mexico.

The seemingly diametrically opposed situations presented senior executives with the opportunity to underscore how the company’s unique culture and such enduring values as integrity would power future growth.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores is expected to face scrutiny from shareholders at its annual meeting on Friday in the wake of allegations of bribery  in Mexico.

The allegations are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and government agencies in Mexico. Wal-Mart is also conducting an internal probe.
 

New York -- With only a few exceptions, retailers are posting solid gains in May, with such chains as Target, TJX, Ross and TJX Cos. beating Wall Street forecasts for the month. The Thomson Reuters Same-Store Index, which tracks the stores that release monthly sales reports, is expected to rise 3.6% in May.

"Analysts are taking a careful approach to May same-store sales given the cautious tone issued by most retailers on second-quarter earnings guidance," said Ken Perkins of Retail Metrics, in a research report.

Toys“R”Us chairman and CEO Jerry Storch and Nordstrom Direct president Jamie Nordstrom are among the featured speakers at the Shop.org annual summit.

The annual event organized by Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, will be held September 10 to 12 and the Colorado Convention Center and is billed as the premier gathering for retail e-commerce, digital and multichannel retailers.

The trend of improving delinquency rates within Target’s credit card portfolio just keeps getting better, and in May the percentage of customers past due on their accounts sank to another new low.

Target’s more selective granting of credit and shoppers more judicious use of their cards sent the number of accounts 60 and 90 day past due down to 2.6% and 1.8%, respectively. Those figures are represented continued improvement from comparable April numbers of 2.7% and 1.9% that also set a new low and were a marked improvement from earlier in the year.

New York -- When Macy’s reported a 4.2% May same-store sales gain on Wednesday, ahead of the rest of the pack, analysts wondered whether that would set the tone for the rest of the department store players. It did — and it didn’t.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target reported a 4.4% increase in May same-store sales that was toward the upper end of a guidance range that called for a low-to-mid single-digit increase.