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☆ Walmart overhauls its intimates and sleepwear line to keep pace in a competitive market
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart has rolled out Joyspun, a new intimates and sleepwear line. Walmart is overhauling one of its most popular apparel lines — its top intimates and sleepwear brand. Secret Treasures, Walmart's largest intimates and sleepwear line, drove $1 billion in sales last fiscal year — one of the retailer's 13 private brands of general merchandise to do so. Yet the intimates and sleepwear space has gotten more competitive, especially during the pandemic as people worked remotely and spent more time at home. Joyspun is also hitting Walmart's stores and websites ahead of the holiday season.

☆ Big bargains will dominate the holiday season, but shoppers may not be sold
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Last holiday season, shoppers started buying gifts early to avoid out-of-stocks and shipping delays. Even with the bigger discounts, industry-watchers expect a muted holiday season because of households' stretched budgets. Consulting firm Bain & Co. forecasts growth of as much as 7.5% from last holiday season, but when adjusted for inflation, that is only 1% to 3%. Computers, the category that's expected to have the highest level of discounting during the holiday season, according to Adobe, has seen cooling demand. More items were on sale during backyard barbecue season than during peak holiday season a year ago.

☆ Caraway to sell cookware in Target stores in its biggest brick-and-mortar push yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Some of Caraway's pots and pans are now sold by Target stores. Online cookware company Caraway is making its biggest push yet into brick-and-mortar stores, with its pots and pans debuting in 350 Target stores this week. Target will become the largest retailer to sell the brand in stores. Select Caraway products also are sold in 80 Crate & Barrel stores, 80 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 20 Nordstrom outlets. Over time, he said he expects Caraway to get about half of sales from other retailers' websites or stores.

The companies said Kroger agreed to buy Albertsons for $34.10 a share in a deal valued at $24.6 billion. The tie-up comes during a challenging time in the grocery industry. The grocery industry is highly fragmented. Albertsons’ share was about 5%. Consolidation in the grocery industry has not historically paid off in the form of higher profits, he said.

☆ Kroger has to win over Wall Street and Washington on its Albertsons deal – here's how it plans to do that
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article ACIKR Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTA customer shops for eggs in a Kroger grocery store on August 15, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty ImagesKroger knows it needs the blessing of investors and federal regulators to pull off its $24.6 billion deal to buy rival grocery company Albertsons . If approved, the grocers would become a more formidable second place in terms of grocery market share behind Walmart . Together, the companies would capture nearly 16% of the U.S. grocery market, according to market researcher Numerator. That's because Wall Street has already seen a spree of grocer acquisitions — including some by Kroger and Albertsons — but no meaningful changes in profit margins.

☆ Kroger deal to buy rival grocery company Albertsons could be announced this week
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Kroger could announce a deal to buy rival grocery company Albertsons this week, sources told CNBC's David Faber. The companies could announce the all-cash deal as soon as Friday morning, sources told Faber. Albertsons' market cap is about $14.9 billion. Its stores, which now include Amazon Fresh, still command a small percentage of the overall U.S. grocery market, but sparked a wave of investment. Kroger, for example, struck a deal with British online grocer Ocado to build huge robot-powered fulfillment centers to pick and pack online grocery orders.

☆ Walgreens beats sales expectations, as it expands its health-care business
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Walgreens Boots Alliance on Thursday exceeded fiscal fourth quarter sales and earnings expectations, as the drugstore chain turns itself into a more health-care focused company. At the end of the quarter, Walgreens had a total of 334 doctor offices with VillageMD. Covid vaccines, which boosted Walgreens' sales and foot traffic, have fallen off significantly. It had fourth quarter sales of $5.1 billion, a drop of 6.6% from the year-ago period. Its U.S. digital sales growth grew 14% in the fourth quarter, on top of an 82% increase in the year-ago period.

☆ Retailers trot out 12-foot skeletons, haunted house cookie sets to boost Halloween sales
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-09 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

At the Target department store in Exeter Township Tuesday afternoon for a story on halloween costumes. Cislo, 43, of Dallas, plans to spend about $700 for Halloween to step up his family's front yard decorations. As retailers brace for a lackluster holiday season, many are planning to pump up sales early by dangling a wider assortment of Halloween merchandise. Target executives expressed high hopes for sales of costumes, haunted house cookie building sets and other Halloween merchandise, even after cutting the company's profit outlook twice. That's expected to lift total Halloween spending to a record $10.6 billion, a jump from last year's $10.1 billion, the survey found.

Bed Bath & Beyond on Thursday said sales plunged by 28% in the fiscal second quarter, as the home goods retailer struggled to draw customers. It also announced cost-cutting measures, including layoffs and closing about 150 Bed Bath & Beyond stores. Bed Bath faces several significant challenges, including mounting debt, vacant leadership roles and tense relationships with vendors. In late August, Bed Bath got some relief by securing more than $500 million of new financing, including a $375 million loan. According to former company executives, Bed Bath has had strained relationships with suppliers — and could face a repeat of two Christmases ago, when it did not have several hot products from well-known national brands.

☆ Buybuy Baby, a bright spot for Bed Bath & Beyond, reports steep drop in sales against tough comparisons
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Buybuy Baby has been a rare bright spot for struggling Bed Bath & Beyond. At Bed Bath & Beyond's namesake stores and website, comparable sales dropped by 28% year over year. Interim CEO Sue Gove said Thursday that Buybuy Baby faced tough comparisons in the quarter because of that, but has maintained market share in the category. Buybuy Baby has been one of its parent company's strongest businesses and most valuable assets. As Bed Bath & Beyond namesake stores have shuttered, the company has opened more BuyBuy Baby locations.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond reports 28% drop in sales as it presses ahead with turnaround plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A person enters a Bed Bath & Beyond store on October 01, 2021 in the Tribeca neighborhood in New York City. Bed Bath & Beyond on Thursday said sales plunged by 28% in the fiscal second quarter, as the home goods retailer struggled to draw customers. It also announced cost-cutting measures, including layoffs and closing about 150 Bed Bath & Beyond stores. She said Bed Bath is "confident that our current liquidity will enable the necessary changes we are implementing." Bed Bath faces several significant challenges, including mounting debt, vacant leadership roles and tense relationships with vendors.

☆ Walmart enters the metaverse with Roblox experiences aimed at younger shoppers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Walmart has two experiences in Roblox. Walmart is entering the metaverse with two experiences premiering Monday on online gaming platform Roblox. Roblox will serve as a testing ground for Walmart as it considers moves in the metaverse and beyond, said William White, Walmart's chief marketing officer. Some of the trademarks indicated interest in making or selling virtual goods and offering users virtual currency, as well as non-fungible tokens or NFTs. In a year-in-review blog post, Roblox called out the success of brand experiences, including top destinations for users who are 17 or older.

Over the past two years, however, Bed Bath has tested vendor relationships by making late payments, pushing aggressively into private labels and losing shoppers. Those tensions have intensified as financial troubles mounted, according to the former Bed Bath executives. Make or breakA customer carries a shopping bag outside a Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. store in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bed Bath already had a significant debt load prior to the new financing. Growing troublesCustomers carry bags from Bed Bath & Beyond store on April 10, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.

Bed Bath & Beyond has announced dozens of the roughly 150 stores it plans to close. In late August, Bed Bath secured more than $500 million in new financing, including a loan, ahead of the key holiday season. Bed Bath & Beyond posted a list of 56 namesake locations it will close. Already, Bed Bath & Beyond's footprint has shrunk significantly. By the same time this year, it had a total of 955 stores, including 769 Bed Bath & Beyond shops.

☆ Walmart unveils virtual fitting room to push shoppers to buy more clothes
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart is rolling out its latest version of virtual try-on, which allows shoppers to upload an image of themselves and see how items would look. As some shoppers reduce their spending on clothes, Walmart is rolling out a new tool that it hopes will nudge them toward clicking the "buy" button. Starting this week, customers can use a virtual try-on tool to see how a shirt or another clothing item would look on their own bodies. It is the latest feature the company has added to its website because of the acquisition of Zeekit, a virtual fitting room startup. The newest feature for Walmart, "Be Your Own Model," uses algorithms and machine learning technology that was originally used to develop more accurate topographic maps.

Bed Bath & Beyond has tapped its chief accounting officer as interim CFO after its former executive died on Friday. Laura Crossen is interim chief financial officer as of Monday, the company said in a regulatory filing. Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond were down by about 15% early Tuesday as investors weighed the struggling retailer’s path forward. It said last week that it would eliminate the jobs of chief operating officer and chief stores officer. Customers leave a Bed Bath & Beyond store in New York on Aug. 25.

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☆ Bed Bath & Beyond shares decline after CFO's death
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-06 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond were down in premarket trading Tuesday after the struggling retailer’s chief financial officer died over the weekend. The stock was down more than 15% as investors weighed the company’s leadership crisis after Gustavo Arnal’s death. The loss comes after the company recently eliminated some executive positions, including chief operating officer, as part of its efforts to win back investor confidence and customers. Bed Bath & Beyond is operating under an interim chief executive, Sue Gove, after the company’s former leader, Mark Tritton, was ousted by the board in June. Arnal joined Bed Bath & Beyond in 2020 from London-based cosmetics company Avon after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

☆ Earnings playbook: The investing game plan as retail giants Walmart and Target wrap up the season
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-14 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Tuesday Walmart is set to report earnings before the bell, followed by a conference call at 8 a.m. Home Depot is set to report earnings before the opening bell, with management slated to hold a call at 9 a.m. Wednesday Target is set to report earnings in the premarket, with a conference call slated for 8 a.m. Cisco Systems is set to report earnings after the bell. Thursday Kohl's is set to report earnings before the bell, with a call slated for 9 a.m.

☆ Earnings playbook: How to play the second half of the season with Starbucks and Caterpillar on deck
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-31 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Tuesday Caterpillar is set to report earnings before the bell, followed by a conference all with management at 8:30 a.m. What history shows: Caterpillar has reported a better-than-expected profit in each of the last eight earnings days, FactSet data shows. What history shows : FactSet data shows Airbnb has beaten analyst expectations in the last four quarters. What history shows: FactSet data shows Paramount has missed earnings expectations in two of the past four quarters. Block is set to report earnings after the close, with management set to hold a call at 5 p.m.

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