šŸ¢Get ready for a lot more Walmarts.

Walmart plans to expand its presence in the United States

February 02, 2024

Greetings from the Retailist team! As we look ahead to 2024 the e-commerce, retail, and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) world shows no signs of slowing down. We've seen a range of key news, developing trends, and unique stories from the world of retail over the last week. Dive in to explore the top stories:

Retailist 2024 Power Player Awards 

šŸ”„ Application opportunities will soon open for the Retailist 2024 Power Player Awards! Sign up to be notified and find details on submission requirements here.

New from Retailist

Study Reveals Top 25 Fairest Brands

Roughly 70% of respondents felt that pricing was fair across all brands evaluated, but the fairest brands had significantly higher satisfaction rates. Here are the top five brands to emerge

Have an exclusive scoop on a retail story? Click here to email our team.

In the news: Top headlines this week

Get ready for a lot more Walmarts. Walmart plans to expand its presence in the United States by "building or converting" over 150 stores in the next five years, with upgrades to 650 locations this year under its "store of the future" concept. The move, including the opening of new Neighborhood Markets in Florida and Georgia, signals a potential shift from the recent "Retail Apocalypse," with Walmart aiming to counter the industry trend of store closures, exemplified by the shuttering of over 2,800 stores by major brands in the previous year. [Business Insider]

Adidas predicts 2024 operating profit leap after Kanye West break-up. Adidas anticipates its operating profit to nearly double to around 500 million euros ($542.3 million) in the current year following the separation from Kanye West and the discontinuation of its Yeezy business. Despite a decrease in operating profit to 268 million euros in 2023 from 669 million euros the previous year, Adidas exceeded expectations and avoided the projected 100 million euro loss, as CEO Bjorn Gulden led efforts to navigate challenges stemming from the fallout with Kanye West and the accumulation of unsold Yeezy shoes valued at 1.2 billion euros. The company's decision to not write off most of its Yeezy inventory for 300 million euros contributed to a better-than-expected fourth quarter, with plans to sell the remaining products at cost. [Reuters]

Pardon the Disruption: Self-checkout needs a better strategy, not just better tech. Contrary to recent reports suggesting the demise of self-checkout terminals in grocery stores, industry experts and observations indicate that the technology is not on the decline. While there is acknowledgment of the need for improvement in the self-checkout experience and reducing shrink, retailers seem to be increasingly relying on self-checkout machines, with no indication of them being phased out. [Payments Dive]

Peloton posts mixed holiday results, dismal quarterly guidance. Peloton, despite achieving a gross profit from its connected fitness products for a second consecutive quarter, anticipates future challenges after falling short of CEO Barry McCarthy's outlined goals. In its holiday quarter, Peloton reported mixed results, with a net loss of $194.9 million, or 54 cents per share, slightly exceeding Wall Street's expected loss of 53 cents per share, while beating sales estimates with revenue reaching $743.6 million against an expected $733.5 million. The company's sales dropped from $792.7 million in the previous year's corresponding period. [CNBC]

Starbucksā€™ earnings report was weak ā€” but Wall Street expected worse. Despite Starbucks' weak quarterly report and a decrease in stock value over the past year, Wall Street seems optimistic, interpreting the company's challenges as "transitory." Starbucks' stock saw a slight increase in morning trading after reporting earnings and revenue below expectations and lowering its full-year sales outlook. CEO Laxman Narasimhan attributed the disappointing results to three factors: the impact of the Middle East conflict on local licensees' sales, "misperceptions" in the U.S. regarding the company's stance on the Israel-Hamas war, and a "more cautious" consumer in China. [CNBC]

Instacart quietly deletes its unsettling AI-generated food pics. Instacart removed some AI-generated food images following a Business Insider article that highlighted their unusual and physically impossible compositions. Users on the Instacart subreddit had noticed and compiled these oddities, including images like conjoined chickens in a "Chicken Inasal" recipe and a hot dog slice with the interior texture of a tomato in a "Hot Dog Stir Fry" photo.  [Business Insider]

ā€˜This is natural evolutionā€™: Saks and Neiman Marcus on the state of luxury. Luxury retailers Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, undergoing significant changes in recent years, faced challenges such as bankruptcy for Neiman Marcus in 2020. The CEOs, Geoffroy van Raemdonck and Marc Metrick, discussed the transformative journey, highlighting Neiman Marcus's substantial debt reduction, from $4 billion during the peak of the pandemic to a refinanced additional $1.1 billion the following year, enabling a shift towards building relationships and gaining market share. [Retail Dive]

Job Board: This weekā€™s Top Openings in DTC, RetailTech, and more

Want to submit a role to our talent board? Email [email protected].

āœˆļø Upcoming Industry Events

ABOUT RETAILIST

Retailist Magazine is an outlet focused on modern commerce as it relates to digital innovation. The publication examines our cultureā€™s ever-evolving relationship with marketing, commerce and traditional retail. Our goal is to connect our audience to quality content and award programs for retail brands to tell their story of innovation.

These experts stand at the helm of their niche in retail and provide readers with real-time, trending insights to ensure you remain on the bleeding edge of commerce innovation. Contributing thought leaders include C-suite executives from Hubspot, Wix, Printful, Global-e, Zapaygo, TradeGala, Birdie, Inurface Media, and more.