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☆ Walmart shares hit all-time high, as retailer's value focus attracts shoppers and investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The big-box retailer's stock hit a peak of $166.30 earlier in the day. That marks the highest since Walmart first began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in August 1972. Shares of Walmart touched an all-time high Friday, as investors bet that the discounter will outmatch retail rivals and draw shoppers throughout the holiday season because of its reputation for value. That business has helped Walmart draw foot traffic, even as other retailers like Macy's and Target give cautious outlooks and see weaker results. "It really shows that the value proposition for Walmart is much more than just low prices or value.

Persons: —, John David Rainey, Rainey, Walmart's, — CNBC's Christopher Hayes Organizations: Walmart, New York Stock Exchange, CNBC, Target

☆ Cities try to take back curbs from cars and delivery trucks
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

There are a slew of users and uses that compete for curb space. The solution, some advocates say, is removing free parking and charging for spots based on demand. Free parkingThe root of the chaos at the curb stems from free on-street parking, critics say. Cities “squander curbs for free parking for cars because drivers are the people who show up at public meetings,” Shoup said. Smart loading zonesEven if cities managed their on-street parking problems for private vehicles more effectively, bikers, delivery workers, outdoor dining and other uses would still crowd the curb.

Persons: ”, Chrissy Mancini Nichols, ” Nichols, Yorkers, Donald Shoup, ” Shoup, Mike Estey, ” Estey, Michelle Wu Organizations: New, New York CNN, Workers, Walker Consultants, city’s Department of Transportation, University of California, Drivers, New York City’s Department of Transportation, Seattle Department of Transportation, Boston Locations: New York, “, New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, America, San Francisco, Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles , Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Washington, New, Omaha , Nebraska, Minneapolis, Philadelphia

☆ Walmart beefs up its third-party marketplace as it challenges bigger online rival Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

In this article WMTAMZN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTWalmart hosted its first seller summit for its third-party marketplace this summer. Walmart leaders gave third-party marketplace sellers an early gift, too: Waiving extra fees for storing merchandise during the peak season. Already, the company is using the third-party marketplace to try to drum up early business. About 70% of items included in Walmart Plus Week, which coincided with Amazon Prime Day in July, were marketplace items. There are signs Walmart's growing third-party marketplace could help the company defy slower spending patterns and capitalize on inflation-wary shoppers.

Persons: Doug McMillon, Santa Claus, Sam Walton, Walmart's, Tom Ward, Rick Watson, Watson, Melissa LaCognata, Jaré Buckley, Cox Organizations: Walmart, Amazon's, Amazon, Walmart U.S, eBay, RMW Commerce Consulting, Federal Trade Commission, Disney, Reebok, Lucky Locations: Las Vegas, Amazon

☆ Swedish startup Luvly is making flat-pack electric microcars
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

In addition to the novel flat-pack delivery, Luvly is hoping that the electric car’s other features – including its super-light frame and swappable batteries – will make sustainable transport more affordable, says Håkan Lutz, Luvly CEO and co-founder. LuvlyA “Luvly” solutionLuvly O is a “light urban vehicle,” also known as a microcar. Luvly plans to license its patented light vehicle flat-pack framework to other car manufacturers to build their own branded versions. Resource-light and requiring less energy to manufacture than electric passenger cars, light electric vehicles (LEVs) such as microcars could make a serious dent in transport carbon emissions, says Brost. This is where Luvly hopes to add value: inspiring more car manufacturers to develop light urban vehicles with its patented framework.

Persons: it’s, Håkan Lutz, Lutz, Luvly, ”, —, “, Luvly isn’t, Citroën, Ami, Mascha Brost, Brost, ” Brost, It’s Organizations: CNN, IKEA, BMW, Formula, Opel, Fiat, Micro, German Aerospace Center, German Aerospace, Institute for Highway, US, Peachtree Locations: Swedish, Stockholm, €, Italian, Swiss, Germany, Peachtree City, Georgia

☆ Walmart Spark Drivers Spend Over an Hour Waiting for Orders in Lots
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Drivers for Walmart's Spark delivery service are waiting an hour or more in parking lots for orders. According to conversations with four Spark drivers, wait times have become an issue for the drivers as the service has grown. The same Walmart associates responsible for Spark orders also bring items out to customers waiting in parking lots. Spark drivers told Insider that the wait times at Walmart make it hard to know which orders are worth taking. In August, Walmart started asking Spark drivers to deliver orders in batches of up to three orders each.

Persons: —, he's, Walmart's, Doug McMillon, Jeff Greenberg, I've, I'm, gabriellew13 Organizations: Service, Walmart, Getty, Costco Locations: Alabama, Nevada, Indiana

☆ U.S. online sales to grow 4.8% in crucial holiday season, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Stephanie Keith/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOct 5 (Reuters) - Online sales during the crucial U.S. holiday season are expected to rise 4.8% from a year earlier as retailers go all out to woo inflation-hit consumers with even bigger discounts and promotions, a report from Adobe Analytics showed on Thursday. Adobe said the holiday season would see heavy discounts this year, especially in the toys, sporting goods and furniture categories, with markdowns peaking at 35%. Last month, Mastercard's (MA.N)SpendingPulse report forecast a 6.7% rise in online sales during the holiday season. Online discounts expected to be as high as 35% this holiday seasonWith Amazon.com (AMZN.O) hosting its second Prime Day sale in October, holiday shopping is expected to start as early as this month. Shoppers, especially the younger ones, are more likely to use buy-now-pay-later services to stretch their budgets, according to the report.

Persons: Stephanie Keith, Adobe, Savyata Mishra, Anil D'Silva Organizations: REUTERS, Adobe Analytics, Walmart, Adobe, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ How an end-to-end payments solution could be your business' secret weapon
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Paypal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

By investing in a full suite of integrated payment solutions, businesses can become more agile and improve the buying experience for customers. Through effective targeting, businesses can help customers discover their product or service by showing up where they already are, like on social media platforms. Quick Tip: Watch the video below to see how an integrated payments platform can help you strengthen your payments ecosystem and drive revenue. Consumers crave transparency, so ensure a frictionless customer experience at checkout by offering all purchase costs up front. 1Forrester Consulting survey commissioned by PayPal, PayPal Evolution of commerce insights 2023. n=5,036, 5 markets: the US, UK, Australia, Germany and France.

Persons: it's, — Organizations: Forrester Consulting, PayPal, Insider Studios, 1Forrester Consulting Locations: UK, Australia, Germany, France

☆ Fast-food drive-thru lanes speed up as fewer drivers wait in line
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Fast-food drive-thru lanes are speeding up as fewer customers choose to order their meals and milkshakes sitting in their car, according to an annual study by Intouch Insight released Monday. The average total time spent in a drive-thru lane shrank by 29 seconds this year. In other words, Carl's Jr and Yum Brands' Taco Bell and KFC were only speedier because their drive-thru lanes weren't as popular. But across the board, drive-thru lanes have waned in demand since the pandemic began. Despite those efforts, this year's total drive-thru times still lag 2019 times by 15 seconds.

Persons: Carl's Jr, Dunkin, Taco, Wendy's, Carl's Organizations: Intouch, KFC, Taco Bell, Yum Brands, Bell, Taco Locations: Arby's, Burger, Fort Worth, Taco Bell, Brooklyn Park , Minnesota

☆ I'm an Uber and Lyft driver and I wish passengers knew these 9 things before getting in my car
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Greg Erken | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Greg Erken drives for both Uber and Lyft in Washington, DC, and has given over 12,000 rides. Your passenger app first guesstimates where you are, but it may put you on the wrong side of a busy street or be off by several blocks. People who tip don't announce it — they just tip. In my experience, most people who do leave stuff in my car don't tip when I've returned it. But since these bonuses can come and go with the wind, my allegiance to Uber vs. Lyft tends to be equally fickle.

Persons: Greg Erken, Uber, —, you'll, I've, Lyft, they'll, haven't Organizations: Service, Capitol, Drivers Locations: Washington ,, Washington

☆ A former biology teacher who bought a small-town bookstore explains how she made the business profitable and competes with behemoths like Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Kathleen Elkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Outside the front door of Main Street Books sits a three-tiered cart with neatly stacked brown bags filled with books. The "Curbside Pickup" cart, which sits outside Main Street Books, was born out of the coronavirus pandemic. Courtesy of Main Street BooksMain Street Books is on Main Street in Davidson, North Carolina, nestled between another local business, Summit Coffee, and a Fifth Third Bank. In 2018, the best-selling author David Sedaris came to Main Street Books for a reading. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, like most businesses, Main Street Books was forced to close.

Persons: Adah Fitzgerald, she's, she'd, —, bookstore's, They're, it's, Fitzgerald, — Barbara Freund, Betty Reinke —, stepdad, David Sedaris, Fitzgerald didn't, That's, Andrea Jasmin, Beth Helfrich, Catherine Edmondson, Kendra Adachi, QuickBooks Organizations: Small, Service, Fifth Third Bank, Books, Woodlawn School, Davidson College, Street Books, American Booksellers Association Locations: breakeven, Davidson , North Carolina, Davidson

Walmart's logo is seen outside one of the stores ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. November 27, 2019. The merchandise mix Walmart (WMT.N) will carry rests not purely on retail executives' judgment but rather on software it developed around 2019. Its machine-learning algorithm relies on weather patterns and each store's past sales data to predict inventory needs of its more than 4,700 U.S. locations, a Walmart tech executive told Reuters. Walmart executives say it is aided by its large tech team in India, spanning three cities and employing 11,500. Software directs Walmart workers to use the quickest route while assembling online orders for pickup and delivery, Vasudev said.

Persons: Kamil Krzaczynski, D.A, Davidson, Michael Baker, Doug McMillon, Thomas Hayes, Hari Vasudev, Vasudev, David Klink, Huntington, Nandan Mandayam, Siddharth Cavale, Mark Porter Organizations: REUTERS, Walmart, Reuters, Target, Shoppers, Amazon, New, Great, U.S, Walmart's India, Software, Workers, Hunting Private Bank, Thomson Locations: Chicago , Illinois, U.S, United States, Bentonville , Arkansas, New York, India, Bengaluru, Target's, Walmart's

☆ Walmart cut starting pay for some new jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The pay change did not apply to any existing employees. Walmart’s starting pay ranges from $14 to $19 depending on the store and local market. Walmart said it made the change so its starting pay was consistent across store jobs, whether workers were cashiers, shelf stockers or helped with online orders. “Consistent starting pay results in consistent staffing and better customer service,” a Walmart spokesperson said in a statement. While Walmart reduced pay for future hires, it increased the pay scale for some existing employees.

Persons: ” Jefferies, Corey Tarlowe, “ Organizations: New, New York CNN, Walmart, Street Journal, Federal Reserve Locations: New York

☆ Walmart cuts starting pay for new hires who prepare online orders, stock shelves
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A worker stocks the shelves at a Walmart store on January 24, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Walmart announced that it is raising its minimum wage for store employees in early March, store employees will make between $14 and $19 an hour. Walmart has cut starting pay for new store employees who pick and pack online orders and stock shelves, raising questions of whether companies face a cooling labor market or are adjusting to a return to pre-pandemic shopping habits. New Walmart employees who join the digital or stocking teams now make about a dollar-an-hour less than they would have if hired several months ago. In a statement, Walmart said it made the change so its starting pay was consistent, whether a store employee worked at the cashier, stocked shelves or helped with online orders.

Persons: Anne Hatfield, Hatfield, John Furner, That's Organizations: Walmart, Amazon, Wall Street, Walmart U.S Locations: Miami , Florida, U.S, Target

☆ Walmart ramps up efforts to grow third-party marketplace with Las Vegas event, new perks
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart is hosting its first seller summit businesses that are part of its third-party marketplace. LAS VEGAS — Walmart is looking for new ways to woo sellers to its third-party marketplace, as it pushes to drive more online sales and close a wide gap with rival Amazon . Walmart also hired another Amazon veteran, Jare' Buckley-Cox, as vice president of Walmart Fulfillment Services. Walmart is the nation's largest retailer, but it lags far behind Amazon in online market share and e-commerce sales. Walmart's annual online sales were less than one-fifth of Amazon's last year, according to Insider Intelligence.

Persons: Doug McMillon, Manish Joneja, Sellers, Jare, Buckley, Cox, John David Rainey, Amazon's Organizations: Walmart, LAS, Amazon, Wednesday, Walmart Marketplace, Joneja, eBay, Intelligence Locations: Chile, North America, U.S

☆ Aldi is getting bigger. Here's why the no-frills German grocer is looking to the Southern U.S. for growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

No-frills discounter Aldi is the latest grocer to shake up the industry with big moves. It's also had to race to keep up with competitors' online options, prompting Aldi to expand curbside pickup to more stores. But the deal has big implications for publicly traded competitors including Walmart and Kroger, as well as regional grocers. CNBC spoke to Jason Hart, the CEO of Aldi U.S., about why the company is doing the deal and how it sees Aldi fitting into a fast-changing grocery landscape. Why was Aldi interested in acquiring Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket?

Persons: Kroger, Joe's, It's, Jason Hart, we've Organizations: Winn, Dixie, Southern, Aldi, Albertsons, Companies, Amazon, Walmart, Kroger, CNBC Locations: Southern U.S, Florida , Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Germany, Winn

☆ Three ways Walmart and Target are diverging as consumers watch their wallets
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Target followed that pattern in the second quarter. E-commerce sales rose 24% for Walmart U.S. in the second quarter. Both retailers pointed to curbside pickup as a major driver of online sales — a key differentiator from competitor Amazon. Walmart chalked up online sales gains to store pickup and delivery, as well as more advertising revenue. Sales of frequency categories, such as food and beauty items, weren't enough to offset weaker discretionary sales at the retailer.

Persons: Rainey, Christina Hennington, That's, Target's Hennington, Taylor Swift, Stanley tumblers, Chip, Joanna Gaines Organizations: Wal, Rogers, Getty, Walmart, Walmart U.S, Amazon Locations: Rogers , Arkansas, Tenleytown, Washington, DC

☆ Trader Joe’s says it’s not adding self-checkout lines to its stores
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Self-checkout kiosks are invading several chains, like Target and Kroger. In a recent company released podcast, Trader Joe’s President Jon Basalone said a rumor that the quirky grocery chain was adding them was as “false as false can be.” He added: “We believe in people. Ignoring the trendsNot jumping on the self-checkout trend isn’t the only thing that Trader Joe’s has ignored despite their competitors doing it. But Trader Joe’s stores are already overcrowded since the chain squeezes a limited number of items into small stores, many on city street corners. Additional people inside stores or cars in parking lots could make Trader Joe’s unbearable and adding curbside pickup would also be difficult to implement for these reasons.

Persons: New York CNN —, Jon Basalone, We’re, ” Basalone, “, ”, Bryan Palbaum interjected, ” Palbaum, Basalone, they’d, Sylvain Charlebois, it’s, Joe’s, Matt Sloan Organizations: New, New York CNN, Target, Kroger, Agri, Food, Dalhousie University, CNN Locations: New York, Nova Scotia

☆ Target is rolling out Starbucks curbside pickup across the country as it looks for sales jolt
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Target is looking to jolt sales by adding Starbucks drinks and food to its curbside pickup service at stores across the country. The retailer began testing the Starbucks curbside pickup service at some stores in the fall. Target's curbside pickup service, Drive Up, helped fuel the company's e-commerce and sales growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, according to Target, curbside pickup has led to more business. That explains why Target has added other features and more items to curbside pickup, including beer and wine.

Persons: curbside, Target, Howard Schultz, — CNBC's Amelia Lucas Organizations: Target, Starbucks

☆ Target will now let you add Starbucks to your curbside delivery order, but there's a catch — you have to buy something from Target
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Target is rolling out an option that lets customers nationwide order Starbucks food and beverages for curbside delivery. Unlike a regular drive-thru, Starbucks customers will have to pair their order with a Target product purchase. The purchase requirement appears to be designed to keep Starbucks order volumes under control and could boost sales. The Target app will prompt drive-up customers to add a Starbucks item to their order and to customize it. TargetHere are the states where Starbucks ordering is currently available via Target drive-up:(* indicates select stores)

Persons: We've, who've, Mark Schindele Organizations: Service, Pumpkin, Starbucks Locations: Wall, Silicon, Wisconsin

☆ Walmart cuts price of Walmart+ for households that receive food stamps, other government aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The nation's largest retailer said Thursday that it will cut the price of Walmart+ in half for those low-income households. Walmart has not disclosed total Walmart+ subscribers, but said about a quarter of its members get government assistance. Walmart launched Walmart+ in 2020 to hook shoppers and increase the likelihood of them spending more on its website and in stores. Along with the Walmart+ discounted price, Walmart said it has made it easier for families receiving food aid to shop online. It said it now accepts SNAP online in all 50 states.

Persons: Doug McMillon, Morgan Stanley Organizations: Walmart, Nutrition, SNAP, United States Department of Agriculture, Amazon Prime, Costco, Sam's, Paramount, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Walmart Connect Locations: U.S, Alaska

☆ Never Mind the Delivery, More Online Consumers Are Turning to Store Pickup
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A 24-hour Walmart pickup site in Oklahoma City. Walmart CFO John David Rainey said the retailer last year handled more than 200 million curbside pickup orders. Photo: Sue Ogrocki/Associated PressWhen Kinneret Shick Ohana, a 36-year-old mother of five in South Florida, recently ran out of pasta and hot dogs, she didn’t go shopping at a grocery store or even order the food to be delivered. She placed an online order, then drove to her local Walmart a few hours later to collect it at the curb.

Persons: John David Rainey, Sue Ogrocki Organizations: Walmart Locations: Oklahoma City, South Florida

☆ Never Mind the Delivery, More Online Consumers are Turning to Store Pickup
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Persons: John David Rainey, Sue Ogrocki Organizations: Walmart Locations: Oklahoma City, South Florida

☆ This year’s Amazon Prime Day was the biggest in company history
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Consumers spent $12.7 billion across the web on July 11 and 12 during Amazon’s Prime Day sales, a 6.1% jump from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics. Amazon said July 11 was the single largest sales day in the company’s history, but declined to provide totals. “Prime Day has become of one the biggest e-commerce moments of the year, as consumers latch onto major discounts from a number of different retailers,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. Amazon holds Prime Day in July every year to juice sales numbers during what are typically slow summer months. Since Prime Day began in 2015, other chains, like Walmart with its Walmart+ week and Best Buy with “Black Friday in July,” have also jumped in to capture shoppers’ spending during slow summer months.

Persons: ”, Vivek Pandya, Doug Anmuth Organizations: New, New York CNN, Amazon’s, Adobe Analytics, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Adobe, “, Adobe Digital Locations: New York

☆ Costco is telling Instacart shoppers: Stop lurking in the parking lot while you wait for orders
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Alex Bitter | Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some Costco locations are asking Instacart workers to wait outside of their parking lots. "I'm sure there are some people who are doing dumb stuff in parking lots," one commenter on the Reddit post said. Instacart does not require shoppers to wait in a store's parking lot to be eligible for an order. "Shoppers who are shopping an active batch may utilize the Costco parking lot," Instacart said. "Access to batches extends beyond each Costco parking lot," the company said.

Persons: —, we're, Instacart, Alex Bitter, Dominick Reuter Organizations: Costco, Costco doesn't, Walmart, Target, Service, Shoppers, dreuter Locations: Los Angeles

☆ Why cities want to ban new drive-thrus
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Magnets of traffic and congestion, drive-thrus discourage walking, public transit use and visits to neighboring businesses. A host of cities and regions want the sprawl to stop: Atlanta lawmakers will vote this summer on whether to ban new drive-thrus in the popular Beltline area. Minneapolis; Fair Haven, New Jersey; Creve Coeur, Missouri; Orchard Park, New York, and other cities have banned new drive-thrus in recent years. Experts say pedestrian safety can be improved by tightly managing access along arterial roads and locating drive-thrus away from them. Cities push backAtlanta City Councilman Jason Dozier proposed a bill this year to block new drive-thrus around the Atlanta Beltline, a pedestrian trail along a 22-mile railroad corridor.

Persons: Creve, ”, David Dixon, Jack, Wendy’s, Sweetgreen, Taco Bell, Leonard Ortiz, Eric Dumbaugh, David Paul Morris, Dixon, Stantec, Jason Dozier, Dozier’s, “, ” Dozier, Marilyn Nieves, iStockphoto, Levi Thatcher, Charlotte, Keba Samuel Organizations: New, New York CNN, Starbucks, Smithsonian, Companies, MediaNews, Orange, Register, Florida Atlantic University, “, CNN, Bloomberg, Atlanta City, Atlanta, Atlanta Beltline, Sugar House, Sugar, Transportation, Charlotte Planning, Charlotte City Locations: New York, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Fair Haven , New Jersey, Creve Coeur , Missouri, Orchard, , New York, Southern California, Long, Pittsburgh, Mesa , Arizona, “, ”, California, Santa Ana , California, driveways, Atlanta’s, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, WCNC

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