The pandemic created a perfect storm for Amazon. With more people shopping, and more people working from home using cloud services, Amazon's profits have soared. Sebastian Herrera reports for The Wall Street Journal (abridged): Amazon. AMZN 0.37% com Inc. reported record quarterly profit as demand remained robust for its deliveries, cloud-computing and advertising businesses, capping a blockbuster earnings season for the world’s largest technology companies. The Seattle company’s profits in the year since the pandemic started exceeded $26 billion, more than the previous three years … [Read more...]
Thanks to the Pandemic by 2025, America’s Biggest Retailer May Be Online
According to a report by Edge by Ascential, which claims to deliver "one of the industry's most accurate and actionable sales-driving data, insights and advisory solution sets," by 2025, Amazon.com will outpace Walmart in retail sales. Bloomberg's Spencer Soper reports: Amazon.com Inc. will supplant Walmart Inc. as the biggest U.S. retailer by 2025, according to a new report, suggesting the e-commerce giant has too much momentum for Walmart to stop despite big investments in its own e-commerce offerings. By 2025, U.S. shoppers will buy US$632 billion worth of products at Amazon and retail … [Read more...]
Can Barnes & Noble Boss Save Traditional Bookselling?
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg investigates Barnes & Noble's plan to save traditional bookselling, led by CEO James Daunt. He reports: A year ago, John Radford had little control over the book selection at the Barnes & Noble store he manages in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Executives in New York decided which titles to carry. The retailer’s 600-plus stores were expected to follow that blueprint. Mr. Radford had to stock dozens of James Patterson and John Grisham books, even though there wasn’t that much local demand. Often, he’d have to return about half the inventory after a few months. These … [Read more...]
The Swedish Firm that Could Turn Amazon into an Also-ran
As we all know, Amazon dominates online commerce. Wal-mart is a strong, but distant number two. The pandemic exacerbated those trends, but it may have also lit a fire under complacent retailers. Brick and mortar retailers who want to survive realized they must have a strong online presence. The two biggest hurdles we see to buying from other online retailers are fast shipping and the hassle of signing up for an account. A Swedish startup firm, Klarna may have a solution to the second problem. Klarna allows users who sign up for their service to buy products online and pay later at … [Read more...]
CVS Gets a New CEO
Current CVS CEO, Larry Merlo is retiring, and the company's board has picked a new chief executive, Karen Lynch. Supermarket News reports: Plans call for Lynch to take the CEO reins on Feb. 1, 2021, and join the CVS board of directors. At that time, Merlo will shift to a strategic adviser role to help in the leadership transition, CVS said. He also will continue to serve on the board until the next CVS annual shareholders meeting in May 2021. Merlo is slated to officially retire on May 31, 2021. “Karen is a seasoned health care expert who knows our business. She brings a relentless focus … [Read more...]
Kroger Scares up Business with Ghost Kitchens
Kroger is working with startup "ghost kitchen" company, ClusterTruck to expand its delivery of freshly made delivered foods. Ben Mahaney writes: Leading grocery chain Kroger and technology start-up ClusterTruck will launch two on-premise ghost kitchens at Kroger stores in Indianapolis, Indiana and Columbus, Ohio. The launch follows a pilot conducted by the two companies last year at stores in Carmel and Indianapolis, Indiana and Columbus, Ohio. The two-on premise ghost kitchens or delivery-only kitchens will offer a variety of over 80 freshly prepared meals on-demand with no service or … [Read more...]
The World Gets Back to Buying Clothes, but Online
Nike's online sales boomed in the second quarter, increasing by 82% compared to the year before. The Wall Street Journal's Khadeeja Safdar reports: Nike Inc.’s sales rebounded in the summer quarter after slumping earlier during the coronavirus pandemic, as rising digital sales offset declining revenue at traditional stores. On Tuesday, the sportswear company said revenue was $10.6 billion in the quarter ended Aug. 31, down 1% from the prior year. Digital sales increased 82%. “These are times when the strong can get stronger,” Chief Executive John Donahoe said on a conference call with … [Read more...]
Americans Make Peace with Shopping Online for Groceries after COVID-19
Americans quickly embraced the idea of shopping online for most things. First books launched Amazon, and then inexpensive MP3s launched Apple's iPod. The hardest in-store shopping habit to give up has been groceries. That is changing now, thanks to people avoiding grocery stores to keep away from COVID-19. Teresa Rivas writes in Barron's: Americans can be very picky about their avocados. That was one of the reasons often cited by experts to explain why people were happy to buy almost everything except groceries online. E-commerce penetration of the food and beverage sector, which includes … [Read more...]
A Look at the Future of Main Street America
That’s no joke. Amazon is planning to open 1,000 mini-warehouses in suburbs and cities around the country. How long will it be before Bezos decides to expand to rural towns across the country? Amazon became a behemoth on the back of a special provision that allowed it to charge consumers no sales tax when all of its brick and mortar competitors had to charge sales tax. Amazon has now grown to a scale that has allowed it to put the mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar stores which define the character of many towns across the country out of business. How does a small retail operation survive … [Read more...]
COVID-19 Retail Survivors Could Benefit from Less Competition
COVID-19 shutdowns have strangled many retailers to death. The industry was already having trouble before 2020 hit, but those retailers who survive may end up in a favorable position. Teresa Rivas reports for Barron's: More than two dozen retailers have gone bankrupt this year, as the Covid-19 pandemic has ripped through the industry. Yet that could be good for the survivors, says Yardeni Research. Even after the large number of bankruptcies in recent years, Barron’s has argued that the U.S. still has too many stores. Ed Yardeni writes that perhaps with this most recent wave of … [Read more...]
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