Supply Chain & Merchandising

Walmart has fired another shot at Amazon.   In a move that leverages the retail giant’s vast store and delivery networks and expanding online capabilities, Walmart, starting April 19, will begin offering a discount on merchandise that customers buy online and have shipped to a Walmart store for pick-up. Walmart’s new Pickup Discount program will initially be available only on about 10,000 items, but will be expanded to more than one million of the chain’s most popular items by the end of June.   

Five Below is making its West Coast debut.   The retailer will open stores on Friday, April 21, in Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Compton, Hawthorne, Montebello, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, South Gate and Redlands. The stores mark the company’s first West Coast locations, bringing its reach to approximately 550 stores in 32 states.  

A social media player is getting in on the robot delivery game.    Through a partnership between Yelp and robot delivery startup Marble, customers in San Francisco’s Mission and Potrero Hill neighborhoods will soon receive their Yelp Eat 24 deliveries via rovers, according to ReCode.   When a customer places an order, they may receive a notification with the chance to opt-in for a robot delivery.   

Meijer is putting its home delivery expansion plan into motion.   Meijer is preparing to launch its home delivery service throughout Ohio. The service will launch in Cincinnati and Dayton on April 27; Columbus on May 4; and Toledo later this summer.   

Toys “R” Us is combining its business in Japan with its ones in Greater China and Southeast Asia.   In a joint venture between the toy retailer and Fung Retailing Limited, Toys “R” Us, Japan, which operates 160 stores in the country, will become part of Toys “R” Us, Asia Ltd., which operates 223 stores in Greater China and the Southeast Asia markets and licenses an additional 34 stores in the Philippines and Macau.     

Toys “R” Us reported declines in same-store sales for its fourth quarter and full year amid a highly competitive environment.   

PetSmart is growing its brick-and-mortar footprint along with its digital one.   The retailer opened 30 stores across the U.S. and Canada in the quarter ending January 29, 2017, for a total of 70 new stores opened in fiscal 2016 to 73.  

J.McLaughlin is in a growth phase. Armed with a new cloud-based retail platform, the chain can more efficiently execute its plan.    The Brooklyn, New York-based retailer is a specialty apparel chain that operates 115 stores and an e-commerce site. In November 2015, private equity investment firm Brentwood Associates acquired a majority stake in J.McLaughlin, and in July 2016, former Ralph Lauren executive Mary Ellen Coyne came aboard as CEO.