Wal-Mart has released a sales forecast for its fiscal year ending January 31 stating that the retailer expects to see a 1 to 2 percent gain in annual sales, a figure that marks a sharp slowdown from Wal-Mart’s previous forecasts. However, Wal-Mart expects its sales to rebound in the following year, seeing sales rise 4 to 6 percent.
In addition to expecting larger sales, Wal-Mart also anticipates to spend an additional $1 billion this year over last as it continues to upgrade its stores and to expand its business into new markets. Wal-Mart has stated that it does not expect any …read more

Amazon.com has posted a third-quarter profit increase of 68 percent, a signal that things could be getting a lot better for online retailers as the holiday season remains just around the corner. A 44 percent rise in sales of electronics and general merchandise was one of the main factors in Amazon’s strong performance, a category that now comprises 43 percent of Amazon’s total sales.
The company also posted a 17 percent increase in sales of media, a figure that was surprisingly low in the second quarter because of disappointing video game sales. This result was strengthened by the release of several popular …read more

Mega retailer Wal-Mart and online shopping giant Amazon.com are locked in a price war, sending the prices  of some new, highly-anticipated hardcover titles down to $9 from both retailers and causing book retailers across the country to have to reevaluate their prices. Wal-Mart initiated the war, cutting prices yesterday to $10, a move that was followed by Amazon and has resulted in what amounts to a retail brawl.
Analysts watching the situation have suggested that Wal-Mart’s latest round of price cuts are positioning the company to become as massive of a force in the world of online retail as they are in the brick-and-mortar …read more

If there is one company that has benefited from the economic downturn, it is the budget retail giant Wal-Mart, luring in more and more bargain hunting customers as Americans struggle to stretch their paychecks. Despite a noticeable slowdown in consumer spending across the board, Wal-Mart has managed to post an 88 cent-per-share profit, edging out their performance last year and topping analyst expectations.
Wal-Mart’s shares are up 2.5 percent in late-afternoon trading Thursday after having fallen 19 percent since September 2008. Analysts have credited the oft-maligned retail giant with improving its stores dramatically, cutting inventory and making its locations more desirable …read more

Whole Foods Market, a pricey food chain that stands quite opposite to Wal-Mart and the like, recently stated that conditions for the organic and natural supermarket are looking better. This revelation sent many investors to purchase Whole Foods stock, launching it up 16 percent to $28.70.
Identical-store sales fell 3.8 percent from last year, which is much better than the 5.8 percent that Whole Foods posted last quarter, while Whole Foods actually managed to post an increase in same-store sales from the last quarter. Whole Foods has also managed to beat analyst expectations, bringing in a profit of 28 cents per …read more

Wal-Mart has thrown its hat into the contentious debate between those who think that employers should be forced to provide health insurance for their employees and those who do not support the idea. In a move that comes as a big surprise to many retailers, Wal-Mart supports a federal mandate that would compel employers to provide health coverage.
According to Wal-Mart’s letter to President Obama, the rising cost of health care can be blamed on the large number of uninsured Americans, so a federal mandate that would drastically increase health insurance coverage would also drive down healthcare costs.
The National Retail Federation, …read more

In one of your future visits to Wal-Mart, you may notice that something has changed. Wal-Mart has announced that it will put into effect a program that will assign environmental labels to all of its products, labels that will allow customers to easily determine the environmental costs of producing their merchandise.
This move may come as a surprise to many of the environmental groups that have vehemently protested Wal-Mart for its alleged disregard of the environment. Wal-Mart has taken several steps toward reducing man’s effect on the environment, such as its massive sale of low-energy light bulbs to its creating much …read more

Credit cards don’t just strong-arm people; they strong-arm businesses, too. Or at least try to. Back in the day, MasterCard tried to force businesses to accept debit cards branded with MasterCard at businesses where those credit cards were accepted. Many businesses (including Wal-Mart) took umbrage, claiming that the move created, in effect, a trust situation and tied the acceptance of debit to the acceptance of credit cards. Businesses claimed MasterCard was threatening them with revocation of the ability to accept its credit cards if they did not also accept branded debit cards.
In 1996, an antitrust suit was filed. In 2003, …read more

After 101 years, General Motors is ending its journey of being the largest automaker in the world. When we look at a company like General Motors, we think about how big it is.  We forget that it once started out small. All businesses start with one location, one small group of employees (or even NO employees) and they grow.  Here are some examples of large companies and their humble origins
Some well-known examples of companies that started from humble origins.
Wal-Mart. A photo of the first Walton’s 5&10 in Bentonville, Arkansas. This store is actually a converted Ben Franklin that Sam Walton …read more

Can Wal-Mart ever make a mistake? Amidst an economic crisis that has left countless retailers reeling, Wal-Mart has enjoyed billion dollar profits and growing sales: just in April, Wal-Mart posted a 5 percent increase in sales. The only question mark in Wal-Mart’s plan surrounds Michael Duke, who just became the new CEO in February.
 
Wal-Mart has been experiencing a surge in new shoppers, with more than a quarter of sales coming from first-time Wal-Mart shoppers. Furthermore, Wal-Mart seems to be shedding its budget designation as the average income of the Wal-Mart shopper continues to rise. Because they tend to spend more …read more