Hudson’s Bay Company said it plans to close up to 10 Lord & Taylor stores over the next year, including its New York City flagship on Fifth Avenue, to focus on its digital presence. Overall Hudson’s Bay reported a double-digit gain in online sales but a larger overall net loss in the first quarter.
Walmart reported 33% growth in U.S. ecommerce in Q1 with online grocery being a contributing factor to the growth. Total revenue was $122.7 billion, an increase of $5.1 billion or 4.4%. See what led to the improvement from the fourth quarter to the first quarter.
Walmart is launching a new ecommerce site in May that promises to add a new look and feel to the overall online shopping experience. See what features the new site will have.
Marc Lore, Walmart’s CEO of U.S. Ecommerce, pushed back on critics at ShopTalk by saying the company’s Q4 ecommerce sales falloff was planned, that Walmart doesn’t give quarterly online sales guidance and that the company was taking the opportunity to “create a healthier business.”
A former director of business development for Walmart claims in a lawsuit the company skirted rules and published misleading results that helped to inflate its ecommerce numbers, according to Bloomberg. Walmart denies the claims and said it will vigorously defend itself.
Walmart’s incubator Store No. 8 has launched three startups thus far, with plans for two more in the next year or so, said the company’s head of corporate strategy who also oversees ventures at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York.
For appliance parts supplier McCombs Supply Co., finding new ways to ship smarter in the face of swelling ecommerce demand was critical to its success. Learn how the company decreases shipping costs and increased productivity with a shipping technology platform.
Fulfilling a recent promise from its U.S. ecommerce head Marc Lore, Walmart has acquired courier service Parcel to provide same-day delivery of fresh and frozen groceries and online merchandise orders to Walmart and Jet.com customers in New York.
Toys ‘R’ Us announced it is launching an online marketplace in 2018, less than two weeks after declaring bankruptcy and saying it will keep its stores open through the process. The move makes Toys ‘R’ Us more competitive with eBay, where it has maintained an online store for more than a decade.
With Alexa now serving grocers as breakfast for Bezos, have we forgotten that Walmart has had their lunch as the #1 grocer since the turn of the century? What will it take for today’s grocers to keep a seat at the adult dinner table? And is this seat dependent on beating the titans or staying ahead of remaining, traditional competitors?