Supply Chain & Merchandising

Bentonville, Ark. – It’s no secret that a big part of Wal-Mart’s strategy is to maintain its market share in the face of competition from Amazon.com, and maybe even steal some away.

But Wal-Mart is now taking the fight for customers directly to Amazon in a big way with a new pricing and shipping promotion that directly challenges the upcoming July 15 Amazon “Prime Day” event.

Quebec -- The Quebec City-based Simons department store chains is planning to extend its brand across Canada, according to Canada’s Global News.

The 175-year-old Canadian retailer - plans to spend up to $200 million over the next four years on its expansion plan, which will result in eight additional stores openings across the country, the report said.

Redwood Shores, Calif. – Oracle is enabling retailers to fulfill orders in the cloud with two new product releases on the Oracle Supply Chain Management Cloud platform. The two solutions, Oracle Order Management Cloud and Oracle Global Order Promising Cloud, provide modern order promising, management, visibility and fulfillment capabilities.

Ankeny, Iowa - Casey’s General Stores Inc. is set to have its first new CEO in more than a quarter-century. After more than 26 years with the company, Robert J. Myers, chairman and CEO, will retire as CEO at the end of the 2016 fiscal year on April 30, 2016.

Amazon.com and Walmart aren’t the only retailers lowering prices this month. Food Lion has jumped on bandwagon at its 1,100 stores with a three-pronged price reduction effort.

Food Lion has announced significant investments in prices throughout its stores by lowering prices on thousands of items that are most important to customers, according to the company, tapping into its longstanding heritage of low prices and convenient locations.

Mahwah, N.J. - Ascena Retail Group Inc. has downgraded several aspects of its outlook for fiscal 2015, which ends July 25. Ascena now expects full-year adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations in the range of $365 million to $375 million, and full-year adjusted earnings per diluted share from continuing operations in the range of $0.57 to $0.60, as compared to its prior expectation of $0.70 to $0.75 per share

Meet Ruchika Kumar, CEO of SKU IQ, a tech-start-up participating in business accelerator Plug and Play's retail accelerator that matches retailers with complementary technology solutions.

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Chesapeake, Va. – Dollar Tree Inc. is not slowing down after finalizing its $8.5 billion acquisition of Family Dollar Stores Inc. last week. The retailer plans to open a 1.5 million-sq.-ft. distribution center in the vicinity of Spartanburg, South Carolina.