Retail & Wholesale

In fiscal 2014, women’s apparel accounted for 29% of Ross Stores’ sales of $11 billion. Home accents is also a key category at 24% of total sales.

Walmart’s (WMT) e-commerce business is slated to grow the fastest of all its channels, at 20%–30% per annum from fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2019. E-commerce sales were $12.2 billion in fiscal 2015, a growth rate of 22%.

The year 2014 marked 100 years of JCPenney’s (JCP) first private brand Marathon Hats. One of the major focus points of JCPenney’s turnaround strategy was to bring back its private brands.

In the last fiscal year, Nordstrom’s revenue growth was 7.7%, a substantial number when compared to its peers.

Chinese policymakers should try to implement Ray Dalio’s three rules of thumb as closely as possible to get the country’s economic growth back on track.

Let’s take a look at some product categories that benefit from the back-to-school season. They include clothing and accessories, electronics or computer, shoes, and school supplies.

Over the last five years, Family Dollar was able to generate a five-year CAGR revenue of 7.2%. That looks decent when you look at it alone. But let’s compare it to its peers.

Retail traffic dipped in July 2015 after increasing in June 2015. The July numbers came in 17% below what was recorded by ShopperTrak in June.

Tesla plans to expand its product portfolio to include the Model-X, which is expected to hit the roads sometime later this year.

When we compare the S&P 500 (SPX) with the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT), the retail ETF has beaten the broad market index on a trailing one-year basis.

By 2020, the Tesla Gigafactory will reach full capacity and produce more lithium ion batteries annually than were produced worldwide in 2013.

The abundance of counterfeit goods and accessories is adversely affecting the sales of Estée Lauder’s products. This also hurts EL’s brand image.

Consumer confidence is one of the major factors that affect consumer spending. As a result, the retail sector has had a direct relationship with this metric.

CVS Health’s Retail Pharmacy segment reported sales of $17.2 billion in 2Q15, an increase of 2.2% over 2Q14. CVS boosted its share of the retail pharmacy market to 21.6% in 1Q15, from 21% in 2Q14.

CVS Health (CVS) expects Retail Pharmacy sales growth between 0.5% and 2% year-over-year in 2Q15. Total same-store sales are expected to be in the range of -1.25% to 0.25%.

Amazon (AMZN) has a new competitor in town—Jet.com. It opened to the public early last week. The startup was founded by Marc Lore.

Restoration Hardware, the luxury furniture retailer, is one of the most successful adapters of omnichannel retailing in the industry. It uses its stores as brand showrooms.

In the US, consumer sentiment rose in June. The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) has gained about 1.22% over the past month.

Nordstrom’s online channel has been very instrumental in growing sales. In fiscal 2014 ending January 31, 2015, sales of Nordstrom.com grew 23.0% to $2.0 billion.

Despite having negative comps in 1H15, Lululemon’s revenue growth for its physical stores was positive at 9.7% year-over-year in fiscal 2015.

Lululemon is testing RFID (radio frequency identification) technology and plans to implement the technology, which is currently used in ~13 stores.

Kering, a Paris-based luxury goods maker, sued Alibaba (BABA) for encouraging counterfeiting on its online platforms.

What starts as a competitive strategy for Wal-Mart may also affect the general level of grocery price inflation in the United States.

Walmart announced it was testing unlimited shipping for $50 per year, presenting significant competition to Amazon’s Prime service.

In March, Nordstrom announced the opening of its second international location in Canada. Nordstrom plans to open six Canadian stores through 2017.

In 4Q14, TPG-Axon sold its stakes in Macy’s (M), Monsanto (MON), Alibaba Group Holding (BABA), and Vantiv (VNTV).

Home Depot’s (HD) stock has performed well over the past five years. In fact, it’s been the best-performing stock in its peer group.

The growth in TJX Companies’ same-store sales slowed down in fiscal 2015, growing by 2.0% compared to 3.0% in fiscal 2014.

As of 2014, there were about 2,500 Baskin-Robbins locations in the United States and about 5,000 locations in the international market.

Marketing initiatives at Home Depot include Pro Xtra. This program exclusively targets professional customers.

Home Depot invests considerable sums in providing a superior customer experience. Its co-founders say “the customer has a bill of rights at The Home Depot.”

Kitchen and garden products are the best-grossing product categories. These accounted for nearly 27% of revenues in fiscal 2014.

The home improvement industry is highly concentrated, particularly in the consumer market. The degree of concentration is growing.

Fiscal 2015 was a record year for Home Depot. The stock has returned over 47% over the past year and over 10% year-to-date.

For the quarter ending in December 2014, Alibaba achieved 265 million monthly active users on its mobile commerce apps. This is a sequential growth of 22%.

Part of the reason for Alibaba’s GMV growth was the growth in its active user base. The growth was driven by an increase in active buyers throughout China.

During the fourth quarter of 2014, Eminence Capital lowered its stake in eBay (EBAY). The company accounted for 2.55% of the fund’s 4Q14 portfolio.

Viking Global Investors is an US-based hedge fund. The total value of Viking Global’s US long portfolio decreased to $21.78 billion in 4Q14.

Japan is a classic case of how depreciating currency can boost economic growth. The stimulus package, launched in October 2010, worked over the short term.

Stock price movement affected Walmart’s stock performance. Walmart’s stock is only up by 8.8% since the start of 2014.