Wal-Mart

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#1
Asia still the location for business growth...

Wal-Mart said to weigh bid for Li’s Hong Kong supermarket chain

HONG KONG - Wal-Mart Stores is considering making a bid for the Hong Kong supermarket business being sold by a company controlled by Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Mr Li’s Hutchison Whampoa conglomerate has set an August 16 deadline for initial bids for ParknShop, which it values at as much as US$4 billion (S$5.1 billion), sparking interest from corporate and private equity buyers.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is working with a bank as it weighs its options for ParknShop ahead of next week’s preliminary bid deadline, the people said.

Wal-Mart declined to comment. The sources declined to be identified because the discussions are confidential.

http://www.todayonline.com/business/wal-...rket-chain
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#2
How Wal-Mart Made Its Crumbling China Business Look So Good for So Long

After years of heralding China as one of its best markets, Wal-Mart in August said its performance there was among the worst in its major countries. A management shake-up and job cuts have followed.

Although the reversals seem abrupt, cracks in the foundation of Wal-Mart’s retail business in China have been developing for years, hidden by questionable accounting and unauthorized sales practices, according to employees and internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg.

The practices -- including bulk sales to other retailers and some sales allegedly booked when no merchandise left the shelves -- made business appear strong even as retail transactions slowed and unsold inventory piled up, these people and documents say. Wal-Mart said in August that it was unhappy with inventory growth internationally.

Stores in China continue to make bulk sales, sometimes unprofitably and without required management authorizations, according to employees who’ve left the company this past month. Concerns about bulk sales, raised as far back as 2011 in an internal report, have been the subject of inquiries in China by Wal-Mart’s legal team as recently as May, according to an internal company e-mail and an employee interviewed by lawyers.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

A Wal-Mart advert in Beijing, China.

The report and interviews with current and former employees say Chinese Wal-Mart stores, under pressure to meet earnings targets, resorted to

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Virtual currencies are worth virtually nothing.
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#3
China market is very unique. Let's hope Wal-mart get it right this round...

Wal-Mart creates new post in China to improve reputation

BOSTON (Feb 6): Wal-Mart Stores is assigning a veteran employee to a newly created post in China, with the goal of improving the retailer’s reputation after accounting, inventory and food-safety missteps.

The executive, Maggie Sans, has been named senior vice president and chief corporate affairs officer in China, according to a memo sent on Thursday by Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart to employees.

“She will be responsible for elevating our corporate reputation in China and helping shape the political environment for our continued growth,” Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs, said in the memo.

Sans will oversee company initiatives that include food safety, sustainability and energy saving, he said.

The move is an attempt to burnish Wal-Mart’s image after struggling in the world’s most populous nation.
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http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...reputation
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#4
Can Sheng Siong also offering warehousing to suppliers and charge a fee? I reckon the Sheng Siong warehouse, still under-utilizing now...

(not vested)

Wal-Mart to impose charges on suppliers as its costs mount

Wal-Mart Stores will begin charging fees to almost all vendors for stocking their items in new stores and for warehousing inventory, raising pressure on suppliers as the world’s largest retailer battles higher costs from wage hikes.

The company said it started informing suppliers about the fees and other changes to supplier agreements last week. The changes, which also include amended payment terms, will affect 10,000 suppliers to its U.S. stores.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/wal-...osts-mount
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#5
E-commerce is the "trend", for major retailer...

Wal-Mart buys out China e-commerce firm Yihaodian in online push

SHANGHAI] Wal-Mart Stores Inc has taken full ownership of Chinese e-commerce firm Yihaodian.com, buying out the 49 per cent stake that it did not already own to accelerate its push online, the US retail giant said on Thursday.

The investment will help Wal-Mart target China's fast-growing online market at a time when largely brick and mortar retailers are feeling the pinch of competition from online rivals and a slowing of the world's second-largest economy.
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Source: Business Times Breaking News
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#6
Too risky to ignore?

Wal-Mart joins Amazon, Google in race for delivery-by-drone
27 Oct 2015 06:40
[NEW YORK] Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, wants to test drones for delivering products, entering a race with online competitors Amazon.com and Alphabet's Google.

Wal-Mart on Monday asked the US Federal Aviation Administration for a waiver to test drones outdoors, with a goal of eventually using them to deliver goods to consumers.
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BLOOMBERG

Source: Business Times Breaking News
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#7
http://www.financialsense.com/contributo...on-walmart

Writing May Be on the Walmart

Patrick O'Hare10/26/2015 Originally posted at Briefing.com
Walmart held its annual meeting for the investment community on October 14. The mood going into the event was light. The mood coming out of the event was dark—very dark. Why? Because Walmart issued a nasty earnings warning for the next fiscal year that was basically rooted in the two things everyone has been clamoring for to get the US economy growing above potential again: higher wages and increased business investment.
This column rarely, if ever, ventures into individual stock analysis. We aren't going to start here. However, we are going to fixate on Walmart's update considering it contained an important big picture implication.
Intentions Known
Walmart is the world's largest retailer. In fiscal 2015 its revenues totaled $485.7 billion. Its market capitalization is just shy of $190 billion.
Notably, Walmart's market capitalization pales in comparison to the market capitalization of Amazon.com (AMZN), which is about $280 billion even though Amazon.com generates roughly 21% of the revenue Walmart (WMT) generates on an annual basis.
Amazon.com of course is growing its revenue at a much faster rate than Walmart is and is generally viewed as having much stronger growth prospects over the long term than Walmart does.
The law of large numbers comes into play there, but it's more than that. Amazon.com clearly isn't intent on just being a retailer. The fast growth of its web services business indicates as much.
Walmart is a retailer and always will be a retailer. What it is intent on doing is transforming itself into a modern retailer to take on the likes of Amazon.com and other e-commerce competitors while remaining true to its roots.
To that end, its aim is to improve the in-store experience while enhancing the consumer's ability to shop its stores through digital channels (eg. mobile devices, tablets, apps, and PCs).
Walmart declared at its investment community meeting that it will be the first retailer to deliver a "seamless shopping experience at scale." As part of that effort, it is going to be investing heavily in its employees and its technology. Consequently, it expects a hit to short-term earnings—and by short term it doesn't mean the next two quarters. Walmart means the next two years.
An Earnings Hit
Walmart's fiscal year 2016 ends in January. While the company has seen improvement in its US business, it nonetheless expects net sales growth to be relatively flat. In February it thought FY16 net sales growth would be between 1 and 2 percent, yet the impact of currency exchange rate fluctuations was stronger than anticipated. Excluding currency, net sales are expected to increase about 3 percent for fiscal 2016.
Looking further ahead, Walmart expects sales growth over the next three years to range between 3 to 4 percent annually, which will add approximately $45 to $60 billion in sales.
Notwithstanding the expected growth in sales, Walmart expects FY17 earnings per share (EPS) to decline between 6 and 12 percent, adding that FY17 will be its "heaviest investment period." Operating income will be impacted by approximately $1.5 billion as the company carries through with additional wage increases and technology/store investments to develop its seamless customer experience.
[You may also like: Economy and Earnings Keep Producing Bear Necessities]
Walmart quantified that approximately 75% of the EPS reduction is due to wage investment. In fiscal 2016, the "wage investment" will come at a cost of $0.24 per share.
In February 2015 Walmart announced it would be raising its entry wage to at least $9 an hour starting in April, and, that by February of 2016, all current associates would earn at least $10 an hour. The starting wage for some department manager roles would be at least $13 an hour in summer 2015 and at least $15 an hour starting in the early part of 2016.
Employees who feel better about what they earn should presumably feel better about where they work, giving rise to better levels of customer service. Mindful of that, Walmart knew it was important to embrace its transformation by investing first in its people despite knowing it would put a real dent in its short-term earnings.
The company expects this strategy to pay off in more ways than one, yet one important way is through a resumption in EPS growth. It is Walmart's expectation that FY19 EPS will increase by approximately 5 to 10 percent compared to FY18.
From Bad to Worse
Okay, that's enough of the financial nitty-gritty of Walmart's transformation. Let's now look at how the market reacted to what sounds like a perfectly prudent, strategic approach to managing its business for the long term.
In short, Walmart's stock got clobbered.
The day it provided its financial update, WMT shares plunged 12% from their intraday high and closed at $60.03. That made a bad year even worse for shareholders who had seen WMT drop 26% since early January and trade at levels last seen in 2012 prior to the update.
Shares of WMT haven continued to drift lower. Many reports have suggested the harsh reaction the day of the update was due to investors being caught completely off guard by the FY17 warning. That is, they were dismayed that Walmart didn't find a way to communicate its warning before the investment community meeting took place.
It's doubtful in our mind that the reaction would have been any less severe had it been communicated beforehand. After all, an earnings warning is a surprise any time it is provided.
What It All Means
So, what we know about Walmart now is that it is investing more in its people and its technological processes to improve its competitive position. In doing so, it is demonstrating that the status quo won't work, and, if it won't work for the world's largest retailer, it won't work for a host of other companies inside, and outside, the retail industry.
Companies need to be investing in their future and they are not doing so with a great deal of conviction these days. Despite all of the policy largesse provided since late 2008, nonresidential investment as a percentage of GDP is basically the same as it was in the first quarter of 2008.
Regular readers will recognize the chart below from a prior missive where we bemoaned the lack of business investment as a drag on the US economy.
Companies arguably need to be investing more in their employees. They haven't been on the wage side of the equation, which is another reason why the US economy hasn't hit escape velocity.
Companies instead have been holding the line on costs and have been spending heavily on share buybacks, which has done more for their profit margins and EPS growth than it has for the economy.
Herein lies perhaps the most important implication of Walmart's update. Its profit margins will come under pressure because it is going to pay its employees more and because it plans to invest more to ensure its future success.
[Read: US Retail Sales Confirm Sluggishness]
Walmart's earnings results will suffer in the short term because of the increased expenses, and its stock price has certainly suffered on account of that reality.
What might this suggest then for future earnings growth for the S&P 500 when more companies start joining those ranks? It probably means profit margins will contract and that earnings growth won't be as strong as it is now envisioned.
According to S&P Capital IQ, calendar year 2016 EPS growth is projected to be 8.9%. That is down from 11.4% at the start of this year, but would potentially be at risk of further downward adjustment if business investment and wage growth picks up.
That could be problematic for the 2016 market outlook if either, or both, go up at a pace faster than sales and increased efforts to raise wages lead to increased policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
In that regard, the writing may be on the wall in Walmart's update, and the subsequent sell-off in its stock, that higher levels of business investment and wage growth could be a blessing for the economy and a curse for the stock market.
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#8
Fresh food offering from retailers, is one way to improve margin, and meeting customers' need. The key is to do it right i.e. the right mix, and handle it right, IMO

Wal-Mart to create hundreds of fresh food manager roles

Wal-Mart Stores Inc will create hundreds of management positions as part of a new program aimed at improving the fresh food sections at its U.S. stores, according to people familiar with the matter and a spokesman for the retailer.

Wal-Mart, the largest grocer in the United States, has already hired 30 field managers and plans to hire hundreds more over the next three years, people familiar with matter said in recent days. Their job is to train workers and take other steps to improve the fresh food offering in stores, the people said.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/wal-...ager-roles
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#9
Build a new plant, instead of partnering with suppliers? Hmm...

Wal-Mart jumps into milk processing, hits Dean Foods' stock

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it will build a dairy processing plant in Indiana to supply private-label milk to about 600 stores, curtailing business with some suppliers in the retailer's sole foray into food processing in the United States.

The move - announced by Wal-Mart on Friday but not widely reported by media until Tuesday - helped spark a 12 percent slide in shares of Dean Foods Co , one of the suppliers of milk to the affected stores.

In a securities filing on Tuesday, Dean Foods said the change by Wal-Mart could lead to the loss of 100 million gallons of "very low-margin private-label fluid milk volume" from late 2017. It said it did not expect any impact on the supply of its own national brands and would not be material on its results.

Wal-Mart confirmed that Dean Foods would continue to supply milk for its Great Value and Member's Mark private label white and chocolate milk to other Walmart supermarkets and Sam's Club membership-based wholesale stores. The retailing giant is the largest grocer in the U.S. with more than 5,000 locations.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/wal-...oods-stock
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#10
This is the online market trend, to include 3rd party sellers into their branded sites, which make the number of products on the websites much more than the physical stores.

The Redmart equivalent, is Marketplace in Singapore

Wal-Mart ties with ChannelAdvisor to boost online assortment
13 Apr 2016 08:05
[SAN BRUNO] Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Tuesday that it was partnering with ChannelAdvisor Corp, a software company that aggregates retailers and brands for online marketplaces, in an effort to expand the number of products on its website.

The deal should make it easier for the thousands of retailers and vendors that are working with ChannelAdvisor to get their products on Wal-Mart's website. Wal-Mart has made expanding its online assortment, currently at about 9 million items, a priority for its online business this year.

While Wal-Mart procures and warehouses many of the high-volume products on its own, like other retailers it has turned to third-party sellers to round out its assortment. That includes online industry leader Amazon.com Inc, which has more than 200 million products for sale.

The move to expand its product line-up follows major investments on new distribution facilities dedicated to filling e-commerce orders and on an in-house technology platform that has boosted its capacity to process and analyze data.

Seth Beal, head of Wal-Mart's online marketplace, said the retailer could expand the number of third-party sellers, currently less than 500, into the thousands as early as this year. He declined to give a specific timetable.

"We think that number will be in the thousands pretty quickly," Mr Beal said in an interview.
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REUTERS

Source: Business Times Breaking News
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