According to Jharonne Martis, Refinitiv’s director of consumer research, this success is in part thanks to a “secret ingredient” that gives Walmart the edge over the competition.

In a recent chat with Yahoo Finance Live, Martis identified Walmart’s gasoline discounts as a big reason why the company manages to have favorable results in challenging times. The retailer offers Walmart+ membership, which, among several other perks, gives members a 10¢ a gallon discount on its own stations as well as those of Murphy, Exxon, and Mobil.

“When you look at the same store sales number, not only are these customers opening a membership to save money at the pump, but they’re parking their cars, and they’re going inside of the store and this is translating into strong same store sales, excluding gas,” she explained.

Gasoline discounts especially proved useful in recent months when gas prices skyrocketed in the United States and were more than $5 per gallon at one point.

Walmart shares have seen a slight slip in recent days but are still doing well compared to other retailers. The stock is down 6.82% year to date compared to Target, which saw its shares dip 30% in the same period.

The post Refinitiv Expert Shares “Secret Ingredient” That Gives Walmart the Edge Over Competition appeared first on financialreader.com.

Aaron’s adjusted its predictions for 2022 sales and now sees them in the range of $2.19 billion to $2.27 billion compared to previous estimates of $2.32 billion to $2.39 billion. At the same time, the retailer doesn’t expect earnings per share to be $2.65 to $2.90 but much more disappointing $1.75 to $2.15. Other highlights were reported $0.17 losses per share, net losses of $5.3 million, and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.79.

In a follow-up statement, Aaron’s CEO Douglas Lindsay said these numbers are a reflection of the impact that the high inflation had on “the lower-income customers.”

“In Aaron’s Business, customer demand and payment activity progressively worsened through the quarter as high inflation impacted the lower-income consumer,” Lindsay said.

The Aaron’s Company shares climbed all the way to $16.57 last week, marking their highest price since mid-June. However, its stock fell to a 52-week low after the adjusted full-year outlook and went as low as $12.50 at one point. It saw a slight recovery later on Tuesday, trading at $13.34 per share.

The post The Aaron’s Company Stock Dives 25% After Bleak 2022 Guidance appeared first on financialreader.com.

In the past, Costco’s membership saw a price hike every five-and-a-half years on average. The next time the company is scheduled to reach that mark is late 2022. Bob Nelson, senior vice president of finance and investor relations, told investors on Thursday that he expects discussions about membership fees to intensify in the coming months but reiterated that there are no immediate plans to change them.

“We have nothing more specific to report in terms of timing,” Nelson said.

According to Nelson, the company feels the timing is not quite right for that kind of move.

“Given the current macro environment, the historically high inflation and the burden it’s having on our members and all consumers in general, we think increasing our membership fee today, ahead of our typical timing, is not the right time,” he added.

Costco’s most recent membership fee hike took place in 2017. At the time, Business and Gold Star memberships were upped from $55 to $60. In addition, executive membership saw an increase to $120 from the previous price of $110.

The post Costco Says “It’s Not the Right Time” to Increase Membership Fees appeared first on financialreader.com.

Walmart reported revenue of $141.57 billion for the first quarter of the year compared to an expected figure of $138.94 billion. However, earnings per share (EPS) was a big miss at $1.30 versus the $1.48 prediction.

The company’s stock (WMT) opened the week by trading for $148.21 on Monday before suffering an 11.4% drop the next day. This was the company’s one-day slide since 1987. The fall continued throughout the week, with WMT trading for $119.07 as of Thursday.

Target also beat the predicted $24.49 billion to record $25.17 billion in revenue but had an even bigger EPS miss. The $2.19 adjusted earnings per share were well below the $3.07 expected. As a result, TGT stock saw a one-day dive of 25 percent. It is currently at a 52-week low of $153.43 per share.

Walmart and Target, as well as most other retailers, have experienced increased costs due to rising prices in labor and fuel. Retail companies also face supply chain issues and sizeable inventories that might take time to clear out.

The post Walmart and Target Stocks Plunge as Retailers Report Earnings Misses appeared first on financialreader.com.

The data shows that the total spending across the nation was $649.8 billion in the first month of 2022. The number was significantly higher than expected, considering that predictions of most economic experts were in the range of 2.1 percent and 2.5 percent.

The sales of cars and demand for auto parts had the most significant contribution to the rise. But even excluding the car industry, the retail sales had a gain of 3.3 percent thanks to online shopping. Moreover, the tendency of Americans to make their purchases on the internet resulted in a healthy 14.5 percent gain for the online selling platforms.

Sectors that saw their sales drop included music shops, book stores, and places that sell sporting goods. Restaurants, bars, and other food and drink establishments also experienced a slower month, seeing 0.9 percent dive in sales.

The positive trend is expected to continue in the following months. The fact that inflation is closing on a 40-year record won’t discourage Americans from spending in the future, according to PNC chief economist Gus Faucher.

“Even taking into account the December decline, retail sales in recent months have been increasing much faster than prices, so households are purchasing larger volumes of goods and services, not just paying higher prices,” Faucher told CNBC.

The post Retail Sales in the U.S. Better Than Predicted, Go Up 3.8 Percent Amid Surging Inflation appeared first on financialreader.com.

This declining growth rate is largely attributed to a lack of discounts and promotional deals that have been caused by global supply chain disruptions. In order to better manage inventory levels amid widespread product shortages, many retailers resorted to spreading deals over several weeks, a strategy that retailers hope will help to maintain inventory levels as the holiday season approaches.

Rob Garf, general manager of retail at Salesforce, announced that discount rates on Cyber Monday were on average 8% lower than what they were in 2020. He went on to dismiss the likelihood of any potential rebound in sales during the last few weeks of the year, stating: “There won’t be more presents under the tree this year. U.S. order growth across November is flat and consumers are purchasing 1% fewer items per transaction.”

The post Cyber Monday Sales Projected to Slip Due to Limited Deals appeared first on financialreader.com.

While there is not yet any word on how many jobs will directly be based within the UAE’s borders, the retail giant did divulge some details of its plan in the following public statement: “Amazon will open four new delivery stations, boosting last-mile capabilities to speed up deliveries and reach more customers.”

The construction of the new delivery stations marks just one phase in Amazon’s overall plan to expand its footprint in the Middle East. In addition, the eCommerce retailer is also looking to utilize the UAE in the growth of Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud service unit.

The company announced that it is planning to launch three data centers for AWS in the UAE during the first half of 2022, which will be its second excursion into the Middle East as a means of growing Amazon Web Services’ infrastructure.

The post Amazon Embarks On UAE Job Creation Journey appeared first on financialreader.com.

In addition to credit and debit cards, Adobe is in talks with PayPal Holdings over the inclusion of PayPal as one of the accepted forms of payment. This move will enable the simplifaction of the eCommerce development process, as until now, Adobe clients have had to build and operate their own payment channels.

“What they’re really looking for is the simplicity of operations and having all of their reporting and reconciliation in a single toolset,” Peter Sheldon, senior director of commerce strategy at Adobe, said in an interview.

Adobe’s decision to branch out into payment services marks the latest effort of the company to embrace a broad expansion strategy. The company has stated that it intends to expand into territories such as Australia, Canada, and Western Europe by 2022.

The post Adobe Launches eCommerce Business, Challenges Shopify appeared first on financialreader.com.

The sales growth, a revenue of 55.6 billion crowns ($6.46 billion), is significantly lower than analysts’ projections of a 14% rise.

Compared to 2019’s pre-pandemic figures, net sales are still down by 11%. The fashion retailer was able to hit a peak sales figure of 62.6 billion crowns in the year preceding the coronavirus outbreak.

H&M explained during an official statement that while the easing of lockdown restrictions has facilitated some sales growth, many regions, such as Asia, continue to implement strict health and safety guidelines that limit the potential for the development of further brick-and-mortar sales opportunities.

The Swedish fashion company retains confidence in its ability to facilitate further revenue growth, however, explaining that, “sales in-store have picked up in many markets while online sales have continued to increase.”

The post H&M Experiences Underwhelming Sales Rise From June to August appeared first on financialreader.com.

This move comes as retailers across the US gear up for the holiday season, when sales hit their peak and the demand for workers experiences an upward trend.

In order to cater to exceedingly high customer demand, large numbers of retailers have resorted to hiring tens of thousands of temporary workers as a means of boosting their workforces.

Greg Portell, lead partner in the global consumer practice of consultancy Kearney, reflected on the challenge that retailers face in order to equip themselves to meet an uptick in demand: “The biggest challenge for retailers going into the holiday season is going to be how do they get the sales associates and the warehouse workers in position to fulfill demand.”

This is Walmart’s third wage increase within a year, raising the company’s average hourly wage to $16.40. This is just shy of $2 more than the $14.87 mean hourly wage for retail salespeople, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The post Walmart Raises Employees’ Hourly Salaries Ahead of Holidays appeared first on financialreader.com.

According to Jharonne Martis, Refinitiv’s director of consumer research, this success is in part thanks to a “secret ingredient” that gives Walmart the edge over the competition.

In a recent chat with Yahoo Finance Live, Martis identified Walmart’s gasoline discounts as a big reason why the company manages to have favorable results in challenging times. The retailer offers Walmart+ membership, which, among several other perks, gives members a 10¢ a gallon discount on its own stations as well as those of Murphy, Exxon, and Mobil.

“When you look at the same store sales number, not only are these customers opening a membership to save money at the pump, but they’re parking their cars, and they’re going inside of the store and this is translating into strong same store sales, excluding gas,” she explained.

Gasoline discounts especially proved useful in recent months when gas prices skyrocketed in the United States and were more than $5 per gallon at one point.

Walmart shares have seen a slight slip in recent days but are still doing well compared to other retailers. The stock is down 6.82% year to date compared to Target, which saw its shares dip 30% in the same period.

The post Refinitiv Expert Shares “Secret Ingredient” That Gives Walmart the Edge Over Competition appeared first on financialreader.com.

Aaron’s adjusted its predictions for 2022 sales and now sees them in the range of $2.19 billion to $2.27 billion compared to previous estimates of $2.32 billion to $2.39 billion. At the same time, the retailer doesn’t expect earnings per share to be $2.65 to $2.90 but much more disappointing $1.75 to $2.15. Other highlights were reported $0.17 losses per share, net losses of $5.3 million, and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.79.

In a follow-up statement, Aaron’s CEO Douglas Lindsay said these numbers are a reflection of the impact that the high inflation had on “the lower-income customers.”

“In Aaron’s Business, customer demand and payment activity progressively worsened through the quarter as high inflation impacted the lower-income consumer,” Lindsay said.

The Aaron’s Company shares climbed all the way to $16.57 last week, marking their highest price since mid-June. However, its stock fell to a 52-week low after the adjusted full-year outlook and went as low as $12.50 at one point. It saw a slight recovery later on Tuesday, trading at $13.34 per share.

The post The Aaron’s Company Stock Dives 25% After Bleak 2022 Guidance appeared first on financialreader.com.

In the past, Costco’s membership saw a price hike every five-and-a-half years on average. The next time the company is scheduled to reach that mark is late 2022. Bob Nelson, senior vice president of finance and investor relations, told investors on Thursday that he expects discussions about membership fees to intensify in the coming months but reiterated that there are no immediate plans to change them.

“We have nothing more specific to report in terms of timing,” Nelson said.

According to Nelson, the company feels the timing is not quite right for that kind of move.

“Given the current macro environment, the historically high inflation and the burden it’s having on our members and all consumers in general, we think increasing our membership fee today, ahead of our typical timing, is not the right time,” he added.

Costco’s most recent membership fee hike took place in 2017. At the time, Business and Gold Star memberships were upped from $55 to $60. In addition, executive membership saw an increase to $120 from the previous price of $110.

The post Costco Says “It’s Not the Right Time” to Increase Membership Fees appeared first on financialreader.com.

Walmart reported revenue of $141.57 billion for the first quarter of the year compared to an expected figure of $138.94 billion. However, earnings per share (EPS) was a big miss at $1.30 versus the $1.48 prediction.

The company’s stock (WMT) opened the week by trading for $148.21 on Monday before suffering an 11.4% drop the next day. This was the company’s one-day slide since 1987. The fall continued throughout the week, with WMT trading for $119.07 as of Thursday.

Target also beat the predicted $24.49 billion to record $25.17 billion in revenue but had an even bigger EPS miss. The $2.19 adjusted earnings per share were well below the $3.07 expected. As a result, TGT stock saw a one-day dive of 25 percent. It is currently at a 52-week low of $153.43 per share.

Walmart and Target, as well as most other retailers, have experienced increased costs due to rising prices in labor and fuel. Retail companies also face supply chain issues and sizeable inventories that might take time to clear out.

The post Walmart and Target Stocks Plunge as Retailers Report Earnings Misses appeared first on financialreader.com.

The data shows that the total spending across the nation was $649.8 billion in the first month of 2022. The number was significantly higher than expected, considering that predictions of most economic experts were in the range of 2.1 percent and 2.5 percent.

The sales of cars and demand for auto parts had the most significant contribution to the rise. But even excluding the car industry, the retail sales had a gain of 3.3 percent thanks to online shopping. Moreover, the tendency of Americans to make their purchases on the internet resulted in a healthy 14.5 percent gain for the online selling platforms.

Sectors that saw their sales drop included music shops, book stores, and places that sell sporting goods. Restaurants, bars, and other food and drink establishments also experienced a slower month, seeing 0.9 percent dive in sales.

The positive trend is expected to continue in the following months. The fact that inflation is closing on a 40-year record won’t discourage Americans from spending in the future, according to PNC chief economist Gus Faucher.

“Even taking into account the December decline, retail sales in recent months have been increasing much faster than prices, so households are purchasing larger volumes of goods and services, not just paying higher prices,” Faucher told CNBC.

The post Retail Sales in the U.S. Better Than Predicted, Go Up 3.8 Percent Amid Surging Inflation appeared first on financialreader.com.

This declining growth rate is largely attributed to a lack of discounts and promotional deals that have been caused by global supply chain disruptions. In order to better manage inventory levels amid widespread product shortages, many retailers resorted to spreading deals over several weeks, a strategy that retailers hope will help to maintain inventory levels as the holiday season approaches.

Rob Garf, general manager of retail at Salesforce, announced that discount rates on Cyber Monday were on average 8% lower than what they were in 2020. He went on to dismiss the likelihood of any potential rebound in sales during the last few weeks of the year, stating: “There won’t be more presents under the tree this year. U.S. order growth across November is flat and consumers are purchasing 1% fewer items per transaction.”

The post Cyber Monday Sales Projected to Slip Due to Limited Deals appeared first on financialreader.com.

While there is not yet any word on how many jobs will directly be based within the UAE’s borders, the retail giant did divulge some details of its plan in the following public statement: “Amazon will open four new delivery stations, boosting last-mile capabilities to speed up deliveries and reach more customers.”

The construction of the new delivery stations marks just one phase in Amazon’s overall plan to expand its footprint in the Middle East. In addition, the eCommerce retailer is also looking to utilize the UAE in the growth of Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud service unit.

The company announced that it is planning to launch three data centers for AWS in the UAE during the first half of 2022, which will be its second excursion into the Middle East as a means of growing Amazon Web Services’ infrastructure.

The post Amazon Embarks On UAE Job Creation Journey appeared first on financialreader.com.

In addition to credit and debit cards, Adobe is in talks with PayPal Holdings over the inclusion of PayPal as one of the accepted forms of payment. This move will enable the simplifaction of the eCommerce development process, as until now, Adobe clients have had to build and operate their own payment channels.

“What they’re really looking for is the simplicity of operations and having all of their reporting and reconciliation in a single toolset,” Peter Sheldon, senior director of commerce strategy at Adobe, said in an interview.

Adobe’s decision to branch out into payment services marks the latest effort of the company to embrace a broad expansion strategy. The company has stated that it intends to expand into territories such as Australia, Canada, and Western Europe by 2022.

The post Adobe Launches eCommerce Business, Challenges Shopify appeared first on financialreader.com.

The sales growth, a revenue of 55.6 billion crowns ($6.46 billion), is significantly lower than analysts’ projections of a 14% rise.

Compared to 2019’s pre-pandemic figures, net sales are still down by 11%. The fashion retailer was able to hit a peak sales figure of 62.6 billion crowns in the year preceding the coronavirus outbreak.

H&M explained during an official statement that while the easing of lockdown restrictions has facilitated some sales growth, many regions, such as Asia, continue to implement strict health and safety guidelines that limit the potential for the development of further brick-and-mortar sales opportunities.

The Swedish fashion company retains confidence in its ability to facilitate further revenue growth, however, explaining that, “sales in-store have picked up in many markets while online sales have continued to increase.”

The post H&M Experiences Underwhelming Sales Rise From June to August appeared first on financialreader.com.

This move comes as retailers across the US gear up for the holiday season, when sales hit their peak and the demand for workers experiences an upward trend.

In order to cater to exceedingly high customer demand, large numbers of retailers have resorted to hiring tens of thousands of temporary workers as a means of boosting their workforces.

Greg Portell, lead partner in the global consumer practice of consultancy Kearney, reflected on the challenge that retailers face in order to equip themselves to meet an uptick in demand: “The biggest challenge for retailers going into the holiday season is going to be how do they get the sales associates and the warehouse workers in position to fulfill demand.”

This is Walmart’s third wage increase within a year, raising the company’s average hourly wage to $16.40. This is just shy of $2 more than the $14.87 mean hourly wage for retail salespeople, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The post Walmart Raises Employees’ Hourly Salaries Ahead of Holidays appeared first on financialreader.com.