News

Dollar stores get a lot of the credit for negatively impacting Walmart’s U.S. sales the past few years and it’s no wonder. The big three – Dollar General, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree – have grown rapidly and collectively operate more than 20,000 conveniently located units that offer sharp prices on an expanding assortment of food and consumables.

It looks like there are going to be some unhappy folks in Walmart’s supplier community later today. That’s because there are only a few seats remaining for the Emerging Trends in Retail conference that is organized each fall by the Center for Retail Excellence in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

Crossmark and FLW Outdoors announced a new joint venture called Out Front Marketing and have already signed on Walmart as a client to use the firm’s “Mobile Brand Boxes” to promote Walmart’s USDA Premium Beef program.

Sam’s Club home office last week hosted 50 competitive barbecue teams who traveled to Northwest Arkansas for the final round of competition in the inaugural Sam’s Club National BBQ Tour. The event kicked off back in April when teams battled for a spot in the championship, which was sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society.

The winner of the event, TippyCanoe BBQ Crew of St. Ansgar, Iowa, received a cash prize of $35,000, while a total of $400,000 in prize money was awarded to teams throughout the course of the tour.

Former Walmart president and CEO Lee Scott was a keynote speaker earlier this week at the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s 74th annual convention and trade show at Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

Promotional materials billed his appearance as an exciting opportunity to hear about the leadership, innovation and business strategies that led Walmart to be such a successful retailer and noted that Scott would also participate in a candid question and answer forum where distributors would have the opportunity to ask some tough questions.

Walmart’s deeper affiliation with NASCAR continued this week as the good old boys headed to Alabama’s Talladega super speedway for the Good Sam Club 500 where race fans were provided the opportunity to participate in Race Time at Walmart activities.

No one said being an international retailer was easy, a lesson Walmart continues to learn the hard way on distant shores. This time the country in question is China, a market where despite having a long history and extensive operations, the company managed to run afoul of local officials who temporarily closed 13 stores because, according to media, reports, some pork products were incorrectly labeled as organic. Walmart has been in China for about 15 years and currently operates 349 stores, consisting of 245 Walmart stores and 104 units that are still branded as Trust-Mart.

San Jose, Calif. -- eBay, which reported income and revenue growth for its third quarter, is seeing increased strength in its mobile business as more customers are turning to their smartphones to shop.

eBay reported that revenue for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 increased 32% to $3 billion, compared with the same period of 2010. The company reported third-quarter net income on a GAAP basis of $490.5 million, up from $432 million in the year-ago period.

By Laura Saati, [email protected]

Brentwood, Tenn. -- Tractor Supply Co. reported Wednesday that profit for the third-quarter surged 43% to $42.7 million, compared with $29.9 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 18% to $977.8 million, credited partly to a boost in emergency supplies as Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast in August, and surpassing Wall Street’s expected $931.6 million in revenue.

Same-store sales rose 11.5%.