Data & Analytics

New York City -- In a break with longstanding company tradition, Walmart is moving its greeters from its lobbies into the stores near the cash registers, Bloomberg reported.

In their new location, the greeters will be able to direct shoppers to products they are looking for, and also to shorter checkout lines, the report said.

NEW YORK — The second day of JCPenney’s launch event in New York City revealed the retailer’s long-term financial plans to generate profit and shareholder value while reinventing itself.

COO Mike Kramer outlined the company's financial outlook, including an enhanced profit formula derived from the simplified business model unveiled the day before, based on a new three-tier pricing strategy, newly organized promotions and an overhaul of the merchandise assortment.

Walmart will report fourth-quarter and full-year results in a few weeks, and the numbers, while they are sure to be extraordinarily large, will pale in comparison to the superlative-defying figures that Apple posted earlier this week.

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. reported that its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 10% for the quarter ended Jan. 1, 2012. But the company issued a modest forecast for the year that was slightly below Wall Street expectation, citing ongoing struggles with higher costs for coffee beans, dairy products and other ingredients.

JCPenney got a lot of love this week from investors and the media after the company’s senior leadership unveiled a simplified pricing and promotional strategy that sounded an awful lot like another well-known retailer’s success formula.

Walmart makes a big deal out of its culture, and as a result it invites criticism whenever changes are made to long-standing company policies that are somehow seen as diminishing the culture. That was the case again this week when reports surfaced that people greeters working the overnight shift had been reassigned other duties.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday it has reorganized reporting relationships, putting its U.S. marketing team under the leadership of the chief merchandising officer. Marketing currently operates as a separate group and the move, said Wal-Mart, is designed to improve shopper communication.

The new plan will have U.S. chief marketing officer Stephen Quinn reporting to U.S. chief merchandising officer Duncan Mac Naughton. Before the change, Quinn reported to Bill Simon, Wal-Mart U.S. president and CEO.

Stockholm, Sweden -- Swedish fast-fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz reported Thursday that net profit for the fourth quarter dipped to $997.2 million from $1.1 billion in the year earlier period. Sales in December, the first month of H&M's fiscal first quarter, were up 13% year-on-year in local currencies, against a forecast 12%. Same-store sales were up 4%.

"Most indicators suggest that the macro-economic climate in many of our markets will continue to be tough during 2012," said CEO Karl-Johan Persson.