Tausi Insider

A Walmart store in Washington, on Nov. 2. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images Walmart Inc WMT-N on Tuesday lifted its annual sales and profit forecast as demand for groceries holds up despite higher prices, while discounts on clothing and electronics helped it cut back excess inventories ahead of the busy holiday season. The company also announced a new $20-billion share buyback plan, sending its shares as much as up 7 per cent in morning trading to a six-month high of $148.40. Its results boosted stocks of other major retailers, including Target Corp, Costco and Macy’s Inc. Target reports results on Wednesday. Amid persistent inflation, investors have been nervously eyeing how consumer spending pans out during the crucial holiday season, when retailers make more than a third of their annual profits. “In this period of macroeconomic uncertainty … we are well equipped to continue gaining market share in an environment where consumers need to stretch their dollars further,” Chief Finan...

People walk walk past Hudson’s Bay’s interactive, augmented reality Christmas display, at their Downtown Toronto location, on Nov. 16. Many retailers overestimated consumer demand and were caught off guard by the impact of what turned out to be soaring prices this year on consumers. Christopher Katsarov/Tausi Insider Excess inventory and fears of a looming recession are leading retailers to offer bigger and longer-than-usual Black Friday deals across North America. After struggling to keep the shelves stocked because of global supply chain snags during last year’s holiday season, the retail industry has swung to the other extreme, with warehouses now piled high with merchandise. And companies are under pressure to draw down on that inventory before the end of the holiday season, when consumer malaise is likely to set in amid high inflation and a slowing economy, said Kostya Polyakov, national industry leader for consumer and retail at consultancy KPMG. “Retailers really need this hol...

A pedestrian walks past a shop in Paris, on Nov. 25. EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images Europe’s retailers are hoping Black Friday discount day will get shoppers spending, though it is taking place against a backdrop of a worsening cost-of-living crisis and the distraction of the soccer World Cup. Retailers across Europe fear the overall Christmas trading season could be the worst in at least a decade as shoppers cut back, while the costs of doing business show no sign of abating, squeezing profit margins. Double-digit inflation has dented consumers’ purchasing power and their confidence is also at or close to the gloomiest on record as soaring energy bills add to the spiralling cost of living. But to help budget their finances, consumers have begun their Christmas shopping early this year and many are still shopping on Black Friday. Some consumers may, however, have other priorities, with Wales, England, the Netherlands and Poland all in action on Friday at the World Cup. Britons will...

Canadian shoppers are out deal-hunting during a muted Black Friday as decades-high inflation weighs on consumers and prompts some to rein in spending. Retailers have stretched deals over several weeks and offered similar discounts online, taking some of the frenzy out of the holiday shopping event. Several big box stores in the Toronto area, such as Best Buy and Walmart, lacked the usual early morning lineups that once epitomized Black Friday. Malls in the area appeared busy around lunchtime, but not swarming with the crowds and queues seen in previous years. Few stores appeared to have lines of waiting customers. “We’re seeing a dilution of Black Friday as a physical shopping event where you go to the store early in the morning,” retail analyst Bruce Winder said Friday. “It’s finally sort of hit that tipping point where it’s much less about the day and it’s more about the shopping period.” Inflation-weary shoppers were expected to turn out in record numbers for deals on Black Friday...

Sobeys parent company Empire Co. Ltd. is taking an estimated $25-million hit as a result of a cybersecurity breach that affected the retailer’s operations last month. The IT system issues began on Nov. 4, causing many pharmacy services to shut down for four days, and affecting other operations for roughly a week, including self-checkout terminals, gift cards, and redemption of points in the Scene+ loyalty program. On a call to discuss the company’s second-quarter results on Thursday, Empire executives gave an update on the issues, saying the disruption had no effect on its supply chain. Empire, which owns grocery banners including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA and FreshCo, is still bringing some of its information and administrative systems back online. Those systems were shut down when the company became aware of the breach, which executives on Thursday referred to as a “cybersecurity event.” CBC, citing unnamed employees, reported last month that the disruption was the result of a ransomwar...

An H&M store in New York, on Nov. 15, 2019. Mike Segar/Reuters Shares in H&M, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, fell almost 6 per cent on Thursday as net sales for the September-November quarter failed to match a recent pick up in some analysts’ expectations. H&M, which has struggled to keep up with bigger rival Zara, last month became the first big European retailer to lay off staff in response to the cost-of-living crisis as it tries to save 2 billion Swedish crowns ($196-million) a year. Net sales for September-November, H&M’s fiscal fourth quarter, rose 10 per cent to 62.5 billion Swedish crowns ($6.1-billion), up from 56.8 billion crowns a year ago. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had on average forecast 62.17 billion crowns. “This is a slightly disappointing update in the context of expectations which had drifted higher in recent weeks amid somewhat better market data from Germany and Sweden,” said J.P. Morgan analysts in a research note. “Furthermore, w...

Sobeys parent company Empire Co. Ltd. is taking an estimated $25-million hit as a result of a cybersecurity breach that affected the retailer’s operations last month. The IT system issues began on Nov. 4, causing many pharmacy services to shut down for four days, and affecting other operations for roughly a week, including self-checkout terminals, gift cards, and redemption of points in the Scene+ loyalty program. On a call to discuss the company’s second-quarter results on Thursday, Empire executives gave an update on the issues, saying the disruption had no effect on its supply chain. Empire, which owns grocery banners including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA and FreshCo, is still bringing some of its information and administrative systems back online. Those systems were shut down when the company became aware of the breach, which executives on Thursday referred to as a “cybersecurity event.” CBC, citing unnamed employees, reported last month that the disruption was the result of a ransomwar...

Hudson's Bay Co. says the head of The Bay, its online marketplace division, is retiring this month. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press Hudson’s Bay Co. says the head of The Bay, its online marketplace division, is retiring this month and that the current president of Hudson’s Bay, which oversees Canadian retail stores, will take on the additional role. The retailer says Sophia Hwang-Judiesch, who came on as president of Hudson’s Bay last September, will lead efforts to transform and improve both the digital and in-store performance of the retailer after Iain Nairn retires. HBC separated its 86 stores into a separate division from its website in 2021. Nairn, who is stepping down as president and CEO of The Bay, was appointed president of Hudson Bay’s before the split, in January, 2020. Richard Baker, executive chairman of HBC, thanked Nairn in a statement and said he was confident Hwang-Judiesch could help improve the retailer’s performance. HBC did not give a specific reason for N...

Hudson’s Bay is laying off two per cent of its total workforce, estimated to be about 250 employees, largely within Canada. The layoffs will impact corporate roles at The Bay and Hudson’s Bay, the retailer’s online and brick-and-mortar operations, respectively, the company said Tuesday. Retail workers in stores are not affected by the job losses. Spokeswoman Tiffany Bourre said the changes come as the retail sector navigates “significant external pressures.” The company is “realigning its strategic priorities and increasing efficiencies within its operations,” she said in a statement. The decision was not easy and the company is committed to treating everyone with fairness and respect, Bourre said. Hudson’s Bay permanently laid off about 600 workers in Canada two years ago amid extended COVID-19 lockdowns affecting non-essential retail. Last June, more than 330 Hudson’s Bay warehouse workers went on strike after talks with the company broke down. https://www.tausiinsider.com/hud...