Supply Chain & Merchandising

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer is on the move in Wisconsin.  

Continuing an estimated $750 million investment in Wisconsin, Meijer on Tuesday opened two more superstores in the state. The retailer announced plans to open two to three new Wisconsin locations per year through 2019.

Meijer, which now operates 222 stores, entered Wisconsin just six weeks ago, with two stores. The retailer traditionally focused its growth on five states: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Health is showing no signs of slowing down.

The company reported that its second-quarter net income rose 2.1% to $1.27 billion. Adjusted earnings came to $1.22 per share, beating Zacks Investment Research analyst consensus of $1.20 per share.
 
Net revenues rose 7.4% to $37.2 billion.
 

Shopko Stores is looking more closely at how it uses store space and how customers fill their baskets.

The retailer has renewed its license of APT’s Test & Learn and Market Basket Analyzer software and APT’s Space Planning Optimizer software. 

Hangzhou, China – Alibaba Holding Group Inc. is tapping a former longtime partner at Goldman Sachs to oversee the online giant’s international growth.

Michael Evans, who is also a member of the Alibaba board, has been named president of Alibaba Group, effective immediately.

Petco is preparing for a potential initial public offering or sale that could value the pet supplies retailer at between $4 billion and $5 billion.

Reuters is reporting that the retailer has selected Goldman Sachs to help with an IPO of the San Diego-based company that could take place as soon as this year.

New York -- A big acquisition of a luxury shoe brand helped Coach top analysts’ fourth quarter earnings forecasts even as its sales and income fell.

Coach’s fourth-quarter net income plunged 84.4% to $11.7 million, down from $75.2 in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time charges, Coach said its net income came in at $85 million, or 31 cents per share, beating the analyst consensus by two cents.

Coach said Stuart Weitzman, which it acquired earlier this year, helped to boost its earnings.

Retail is becoming an increasingly hot market for hosted cloud computing providers. Some of those providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Aliyun cloud division of Alibaba, are operated by retailers.

Eliminating the multiple nameplates under which Target operates various store types is Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell’s latest move to simplify the retailer’s operations and identity.