Costco Wholesale Corporation and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., bucked the trend with August same-store sales gains of 9 percent and 3 percent, respectively. The New York Times (Sept. 4, 2008)
July 22, 2008 — Wal-Mart called for rigorous, “bottom up” distribution practices as a key means of achieving its 50-percent efficiency goal for the magazine category in a memorandum sent to single copy supply chain partners last Friday. The memo appears in its entirety below.
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To: All National Distributors and Publishers
From Christy Jenkins
Subject: Magazine Bottom Up [...]
Wal-Mart Store Inc has plans to open four Marketside stores in the Phoenix area, as part of its small, community grocery store concept. The stores will feature a wide selection of meal solutions and fresh ingredients, to compete with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets, opened by Tesco in the U.S. market late last year. [...]
Wal-Mart.com has recently launched a new section to their website called Wal-Mart Classifieds and it could be exactly what local newspapers need to compete with Craigslist.com. Unlike Craiglist, searches on Wal-Mart Classified will reveal ads and listings from a wide array of sources, including local newspapers that make themselves available to Wal-Mart’s network. Local newspapers [...]
Profits rose 7 percent at Wal-Mart Stores during the month, and were up 20 percent at TJX Companies, operators of discount clothing chains Marshalls and T.J. Maxx. Department stores, by contrast, are expected to report first-quarter earnings declines this week, and some luxury stores are increasing the use of discounts. The New York Times (May [...]
As shoppers looked for bargains, both Wal-Mart and Costco turned in April sales that beat analysts’ expectations. Sales at Wal-Mart locations open at least a year were up 3.2% in April, while Costco’s sales advanced by 8%. Sales at mall stores like the Gap were generally down. As one observer put it, “If you didn’t [...]
The International Council of Shopping Centers predicts 5,770 store closings this year, which would mark a year-over-year of 25 percent. Included in the group will be: Starbucks, Foot Locker, Pacific Sunwear, Ann Taylor and Zales, which plan to close more than 1,200 store locations, combined. Other retailers, not planning closures, are scaling back on expansion and delaying new [...]
 Bedding, bath accessories, dinnerware and furniture will be available — all at prices up to 40% below competitors.’ The Wall Street Journal (Mar. 5, 2008) Paid subscription may be required.
After several attempts at corporate blogs bogged down when the posts read like boilerplate from Wal-Mart’s PR department, the retail giant may have found success. Bentonville has unleashed its buying staff to write about their pets, passions, reading lists and products, of course – and all without regular, formal review. Computers and consumer electronics get the bulk of attention, [...]
Re-emphasis on its core, low-price marketing message — put in place early in 2007 – paid off for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., during the holiday shopping season. Profit increased 4 percent in the quarter. Associated Press via The New York Times (Feb. 19, 2008)