Scott Benedict

Walmart has reported strong earnings in the first quarter, with a 6% year-over-year improvement in sales and growing profits. The retailer has seen traction among higher-income shoppers, although it is not specifically targeting this demographic. Walmart is investing in renovating its stores and building new locations to create a more inviting shopping experience. The company is expanding its product selection, including the launch of its premium private label brand Bettergoods, and has seen a significant increase in third-party marketplace sellers. The convenience of e-commerce, particularly through delivery and curbside orders, is contributing to sales growth. Walmart's combination of nicer stores, upscale merchandise, and convenient services is making it resemble Target. Target, on the other hand, has projected a decline in sales and has faced criticism over its handling of its annual Pride celebration. Walmart's success in emulating Target is surpassing Target's success in emulating Walmart. Walmart continues to be effective in its core business while also improving its performance in areas traditionally associated with Target. #walmart #target #retail

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According to a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, labor productivity declined 1.6% in wholesale trade and rose 1.6% in retail trade in 2023. The report also showed that hourly pay in the broad retail sector outpaced productivity gains. In wholesale trade, productivity fell for the second year after growing annually since 2011. Wholesale trade output grew 0.4% with hours worked growing at a higher rate of 2.1%. Retail trade productivity rebounded in 2023 after having declined in 2022. Retail trade output rose 1.6% while hours declined 0.1%. #laborproductivity #economicindicators #retail

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An article in The Business of Fashion on "Fashion's Golden Opportunity With Older Shoppers"... Is total and complete BS. There is an opportunity across ALL shoppers. Dividing them up by descriptors that have been used for decades is just not going to cut it anymore. While teaching fashion marketing at Fashion Institute of Technology last Fall, there were modules on generations and how they spend, how they consume information, etc. I had to add caveats to each statement in the textbook because you can't make these types of assumptions anymore. This is an old school way of marketing. We can't put customers into these buckets anymore as there are so many other data points to consider. The affluent customer shops at Walmart, Target and Costco Wholesale. The tech boom will go through another cycle and you will have more younger customers with disposable income. Resale luxury is bought by Gen Z to the boomer. Generalizing is a wasted effort and it's what gets retailers in trouble with excess inventory to irrelevant product assortments. The customer has evolved across generations and we need to stop generalizing to avoid marketers look at the data in just 1 way. #retail #retailnews #fashion #fashionmarketing #bof

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According to a Progressive Grocer article that published this week “Majority of Shoppers Won't Buy Nonfood Items at Grocery Stores” Acosta SVP Shannon Hodock states “We believe grocery retailers have an exciting and expansive opportunity to capture and grow HBC and GM sales. "Strategically, retailers need to create a targeted 'get on the grocery list' campaign for their shoppers, incorporating a holistic omnichannel strategy and a customized marketing plan as they tackle the three key challenges to overcoming current perceptions and shopping habits." For these retailers looking to capitalize on “gateway” categories and seek growth and grow share of impulse sales than ECRM should be in your playbook. You can check out our GM/Non-Food solutions programming in link below. We have also seen a great uptick in new items within our RangeMe discovery platform within these categories. https://lnkd.in/eCuH9gVJ #nonfoods #generalmerchandise #impulse #seasonal #grocery

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Hello Retail Friends, convenience retailers face unique challenges. Small footprints and limited storage space require highly accurate and scalable supply chain planning – especially when charged with supporting aggressive growth targets. We’re proud to announce that OXXO, the largest convenience retail chain in the Americas, recently chose RELEX to optimize forecasting and replenishment as they focus on international growth.    https://lnkd.in/ebaedkfH   #supplychainplanning #supplychainoptimization #supplychain OXXO Internacional Enhances Retail Operations with RELEX Solutions for Forecasting and Replenishment | RELEX Solutions Focused on international growth, OXXO adopts RELEX AI-driven forecasting and replenishment solutions for smarter supply chain and inventory management.

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Will JCPenney's loyalty and rewards program be the key to its turnaround? It's mind-boggling how many brands and retailers do NOT have a loyalty program. Without a loyalty program, customers are just individual transactions, and there's no way to connect the same person from marketing to physical store to e-commerce. First-party data is gold and shoppers have shown they are willing to share information in exchange for personalization and promotions. What keeps retailers and brands from rolling out a loyalty program? #ecommerce #loyaltyprograms #firstpartydata

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I recently sat down with our ECRM & RangeMe partner Wayne Bennett and discussed how Walmart develops suppliers. We covered everything from recruiting events to resources for onboarding to how we want suppliers to grow alongside us. Check out our conversation below 👇.   #WalmartSourcing #SupplierDevelopment

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RETAILERS LOWERING PRICES… CNN Article 5/5/24. It’s been my contention that retailers have been increasing sales the last 2 years by increasing prices in the face of falling total transactions and falling customer counts… no one wanted to report falling $ comp. sales and profits after the “pandemic spending effect” when customer traffic slowed down so prices were jacked up (and in many cases, quantity and quality reduced) to compensate for falling traffic… this is a bubble that eventually bursts…ie. once my Cheetos reached $10 a bag, I stopped buying them! Month after month I’ve been reading articles saying “consumer spending remains strong…sales were up x% over last year”… followed by the significant disclaimer “NOT ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION.” Anyone taking a statistics 101 class will tell you that not adjusting the sales number for inflation is bogus… it gives a false sense of optimism. Basic math tells you that if inflation (prices) are up 3.5% and retail sales are only up .7% then LESS PEOPLE are buying LESS STUFF! I would like to see reports not only adjusted for inflation but also include +/- customer counts to Last Year, +/- UPT’s (units per transaction) to Last Year and +/- AUR (avg. unit retail) to Last Year… THEN we’d get a truer picture of what’s REALLY going on.

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As a lifelong retail merchant, I'm going to potentially have a stroke if the retail media continues to report sequential month-over-month results as an indicator of anything. Year-over-year results are indicative of true performance, with the caveat of a shift in a key seasonal event like...I don't know, perhaps Easter...that will impact the natural trends in consumer purchase behavior. In good news, inflation appears to continue to be cooling...good news unless you are trying to convince your buyer that a price increase you took previously should not now be reversed. Good luck with that, by the way... #retailmerchandising #retailsales #inflation

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With the 8.1% sales decline accelerating over the last quarter and with losses growing on the bottom line, JCPenney has started its new fiscal year on a sour note. Unfortunately, the market has been soft which has not helped revenue, but as it is only part way through its reinvention program JC Penney also isn’t firmly on the front foot. Lower credit income is also unhelpful, with revenues here down by 20.5 over last year.   The changes JCP has been making to some stores and to assortments seem to be delivering, with refurbished shops performing better and some categories like womenswear producing stronger numbers. Sadly, these things are not yet sufficiently developed or widespread enough to offset staleness in the balance of the business. Basically, there is still a lot of work to do to put JCP on a more stable footing.   Fortunately for JCPenney, it is well financed and has a strong financial partner in its owners. As such, management won’t lose too much sleep over being in the red. However, the company needs to produce some better results across the remainder of this fiscal to prove its strategy is working. It was great to chat with Daphne Howland of Retail Dive about the latest Q1 numbers - link to article in the comments. #retail #retailnews #departmentstores #trading #apparel

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Target reported a rather soft first quarter, with declines in sales and revenue that reflect overall shopping habits. Although the retailer didn’t open the year with a bang, it is setting up for growth later in the year through new initiatives and, hopefully, in a more conducive selling environment. #retailsales #target

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Hello Retail Friends,   I cannot stress enough how important fresh products are to grocery retailers. When it comes to inventory planning, “point solutions” that lack end-to-end integration and only address store-level planning simply are not enough!   Retailers need proven, multi-echelon planning solutions that extend beyond the store - unifying, automating, and optimizing planning in stores, DCs, and omnichannel. This is the only way to get crucial visibility and insight across the end-to-end value chain.   https://lnkd.in/ej53RsFV #supplychain #grocery #freshproduce How to improve retail fresh food inventory management | RELEX Solutions Tackle fresh food inventory management challenges head-on with the right strategies and robust planning software. www.relexsolutions.comhas context menuCompose

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We've heard a lot about Chinese sellers in the e-commerce marketplace, such as Temu and SHEIN. Now Walmart is helping Indian sellers be introduced to the global e-commerce market. How long before an Indian seller as big as Temu or SHEIN unveils itself on the global stage? How are you competing against these global sellers in an increasingly competitive market? #ecommerce #worldcompetition #itsaglobalmarket

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Kroger’s results earlier this week showed a clear picture of a company that is struggling to generate meaningful growth. Notably, Kroger’s headline sales continue to fall below both the prevailing rate of inflation in grocery and below the overall growth of the market. So both volumes and market share are sliding, an indication Kroger is on the back foot. Some of the weakness is because Kroger customers continue to cut back as household incomes remain under pressure. Kroger is not the only food retailer suffering from this, but it has not been able to offset this erosion by picking up new customers. From our data, Kroger has been a net loser of customers over the past quarter. Admittedly, defections are driven by a small number who have moved to more value focused players like Walmart and Aldi, but this nevertheless has a material impact on growth. The dynamic also underlines that Kroger is perhaps not doing enough to push value for money and low-price messages to its shoppers. I chatted with Reuters about the issues that won’t, at least for some time, be disguised by a merger with Albertsons. Link to article in comments. #retail #retailnews #grocery #food #supermarkets #consumers

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Following a successful pilot at one of its stores in Texas, Walmart is laying out plans to introduce digital shelf labels (DSLs) at 2,300 of its stores over the next two years. The labels, developed by VusionGroup, will allow the retailer to update prices at the shelf using a mobile app. Key benefits of the Vusion Group shelf labels include: 1️⃣ 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: With the “Stock to Light” feature, an associate can flash an LED light on the shelf tag using their mobile device, signaling locations that require attention. This feature makes it easier for associates to identify shelf location when stocking shelves. 2️⃣ 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: The “Pick to Light” feature guides us directly to the products needed for online orders, speeding up the picking process and improving order accuracy. 3️⃣ 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲: DSLs allow us to update prices with a few clicks. A price change that used to take an associate two days to update now takes only minutes with the new DSL system. This efficiency means we can spend more time assisting customers and less time on repetitive tasks. | Progressive Grocer https://lnkd.in/g4jv4UxE #retail #grocery #digital #Walmart #prices #digitalshelflabels #supermarkets

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Seeing the remarkable success that live shopping has generated in China, U.S. retailers are eager to build out their own live shopping capacities to entice younger shoppers and deepen customer engagement. Although the live shopping category is expected to grow to $68 billion in the U.S. in just two years, translating the awareness that livestreams generate into conversions remains a challenge. In fact, in 2023, less than 15 percent of U.S. adults had made a purchase from a livestream shopping event. #liveshopping #retailinnovation

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