What Steps Has Macy’s Taken to Improve Inventory Management?
Department stores like Macy’s (M) are focusing on improving their inventory management so as to maintain the optimal level of inventory, bring down costs, and avoid stock-outs.
Retail & Wholesale
Market Realist tracks the latest news on stock performance, acquisitions, and earnings in the retail and wholesale sectors.
Analyzing Walmart’s Profitability And Margins Versus Peers
Despite its sales growth, the gross profit rate declined for Walmart’s US operations, consisting of the Walmart US and Sam’s Club segments.
Analyzing Viking Global Investors’ Positions in 4Q14
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.
Currency war: Did it boost growth in Japan?
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.
Walmart’s Stock Performance Has Been Below Par
Stock price movement affected Walmart’s stock performance. Walmart’s stock is only up by 8.8% since the start of 2014.
Why eBay isn’t worried about a falling take rate
eBay’s take rate fell from 3.79% in 2Q13 to 3.53% in 2Q14. However, the company isn’t worried about it since take rate is offset by healthy revenue growth.
Walmart’s Capital Structure – A Mix Of Debt And Equity
Walmart (WMT) has a mix of debt and equity in its capital structure. The retailer’s (XRT) total debt, both short and long-term, is ~$56.6 billion.
Why Amazon benefits from more third-party sellers
The main reason for Amazon’s gross margin increase was the increasing proportion of third-party sellers who sell their products on Amazon.
Walmart Is Looking For Growth In International Markets
Walmart (WMT) is the world’s largest retailer. The company reported 6,189 stores in its International segment—compared to 4,987 in the US in 3Q15.
Nordstrom’s inventory management better than that of its peers
This article discusses Nordstrom’s inventory management in comparison to that of its industry peers.
Competitive Forces: Why Walmart Dominates The Grocery Industry
Walmart’s largest merchandising category is groceries. According to the USDA, Walmart was the largest seller of grocery items in the US in 2013.
Managing Walmart’s Supply Chain – Cross-Docking and Other Tools
Cross-docking is an inventory management system. Walmart made it popular. Cross-docking can lower the time required to transport merchandise.
What The Supercenter Format Contributes To Walmart
Walmart (WMT) has been concentrating on expanding the store count of its larger supercenter format. A supercenter averages ~179,000 square feet in size.
Walmart: When Big-Box Retail Embraces Small
Walmart (WMT) operates retail (XRT) and wholesale stores. The stores are located in the US and 26 other countries around the world.
Understanding Nordstrom’s revenue streams
In fiscal 2013, the company’s Retail segment contributed 97% of Nordstrom’s revenues of $12.5 billion, while the Credit segment accounted for only 3%.
Walmart’s Sam’s Club Segment: Positioning For The Next Level
Walmart’s Sam’s Club segment consists of membership-only club warehouse retail operations. Members include both business owners and individual consumers.
Nordstrom’s target customers
Nordstrom is an upscale department store that competes with other high-end stores. However, not all of Nordstrom’s target customers are high-end shoppers.
Who’s The Greatest Retailer Of Them All? – Walmart
Walmart is among a select group of global retailers (XRT) (RTH) competing in a variety of store formats. However, Walmart dwarfs all of the other companies.
Nordstrom’s multichannel strategy, customer focus lead to success
Nordstrom’s multichannel strategy and best-in-class customer service have made the company famous.
An overview of Nordstrom’s growth story
This article provides a brief overview of Nordstrom’s growth story.
The Office Depot–Staples merger is about cost savings
Staples expects to spend $1 billion up front in order to achieve $1 billion in annual synergies—usually meaning reducing workforce—beginning in year three.
Macy’s works on inventory management: Will it improve sales?
Macy’s is taking measures to improve inventory management, including its My Macy’s program that customizes merchandise according to local preferences.
Macy’s target consumers: Do they make a difference?
Macy’s target consumers include Millennials. The company launched collections aimed at Millennials, including QMack, Maison Jules, and Bar III Carnaby.
Macy’s: What does the largest department store look like?
Only two of the top 12 US retailers, Macy’s and Nordstrom, managed to witness a rise in market share over the period 2009–2014.
Why Illumina’s outlook is so bright
Illumina’s outlook is outstanding, as it has posted excellent 3Q14 results and its earnings continue to be bullish.
Assessing Best Buy’s debt profile
Gauging a company’s debt levels is crucial to understanding its financial health. Maintaining high debt levels in uncertain times can be damaging.
Focus on online sales: Best Buy goes head-to-head with Amazon
To address inventory issues associated with online sales at its distribution centers, Best Buy rolled out a ship-from-store strategy.
Best Buy joins forces with key suppliers
Best Buy is building strong relationships with key suppliers to mitigate the impact of heightened competition from suppliers’ retail stores.
Best Buy attempts to optimize inventory levels
At Best Buy, returns, replacements, and damages account for nearly 10% of revenues and have cost the company over $400 million in losses each year.
Best Buy sees better same-store sales in 3Q 2015
Best Buy’s growth rate in same-store sales had been negative since fiscal 2011. Efforts to optimize the shopping experience have changed that.
Understanding Best Buy’s revenue mix
The computing and mobile phone category is the largest of Best Buy’s revenue mix, accounting for 48% of the Domestic segment’s fiscal 2014 revenues.
Renew blue: Best Buy’s turnaround strategy
As part of its turnaround strategy, Best Buy is also revamping its stores and trying to encourage more robust store traffic.
Best Buy CEO transforms the company for the better
Before being appointed Best Buy CEO, Hubert Joly was credited with turning around two other companies. Best Buy’s stock has appreciated by 111% since.
Best Buy: The largest consumer electronics retailer
Best Buy is the leading consumer electronics retailer in the US. Today, Best Buy has more than 1,900 stores and locations.
Why is e-commerce such a low-margin business?
Everything is not hunky-dory with the e-commerce business. Brick-and-mortar stores complain that being online hurts them on two fronts.
Starbucks Has Seven Growth Strategies
SBUX recognizes its limitation in attracting customers. As a result, SBUX is exploring other growth strategies. It’s looking at other beverage businesses.
Headwinds And Tailwinds For Lululemon Revenues This Year
Lululemon Athletica announced an increase of 10.4% in its revenues to $419.4 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2015 compared to $379.9 million in 3Q14.
Lululemon’s Retail Inventory Management Strategies Are Crucial
These changes should lower future inventory levels and probably result in higher inventory turnover and lower inventory-to-cash days.
Tiger Global starts new position in Mobileye
Mobileye, the Israel-based vehicle safety technology company, earned gross proceeds from its initial public offering of $1.023 billion.
The Vast Expanse Of The Tyson Foods Product Portfolio
The Tyson Foods product portfolio includes a variety of products such as value-added chicken, beef, and pork, pepperoni, pizza crusts, and much more.
Overview: Lululemon’s Target Market And Product Assortment
Major product lines include fitness pants, shorts, tops and jackets. It also has a range of fitness-related accessories like bags, socks, and yoga mats.
Lululemon Attempts To Reinvigorate Its Interrupted Growth Model
In this series, we’ll provide an overview of Lululemon Athletica, its financials (including its latest quarterly results), and its strategies.
Must-know: Tiger Global Management’s holdings in 3Q14
Tiger Global Management’s holdings included 48 stocks during the third quarter. The size of the fund’s US long portfolio fell slightly from $7.8 billion to $7.5 billion.
Tyson Foods Pork Biz In The Top Three
The Tyson Foods Pork segment processes live hogs into primal, sub-primal cuts, case-ready pork ready to be sold at retail stores, and fully cooked products.
Under Armour revenues and retail presence
Wholesales represented 68% of Under Armour revenues in 2013. As a category, however, DTC sales have increased steadily over the years.
The Cogs In The Under Armour Supply Chain
Under Armour: Sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution decisions Under Armour, Inc. (UA) manufactures virtually nothing in-house. Production is outsourced to third-party manufacturers overseas. This is common practice in the apparel industry among companies including the The Gap, Inc. (GPS) and Fossil, Inc. (FOSL). These companies are held by the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY), as are United Armour, or […]
Soros Fund Management opens a new position in Marathon Petroleum
George Soros’ Soros Fund Management added a new position in Marathon Petroleum (MPC) that accounts for 0.45% of the fund’s 1Q 2014 portfolio.
Must-know basics of Simon Property Group’s spinoff REIT, Spinco
Spinco will have one of the largest, most diversified portfolios of strip centers and malls in the United States. It will hold a total of 98 assets.