Retail

Bloomberg Walmart Inc hired an executive who has held senior roles at Google, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc as its new technology chief, while expanding and elevating the role. Suresh Kumar will join Walmart on July 8 as the retailer’s chief technology officer and chief development officer, reporting to chief executive officer Doug McMillon. He’ll be based out of the ...

Bloomberg Two months ago, Amazon.com Inc halted orders from thousands of suppliers with no explanation. Panic ensued — until the orders quietly resumed weeks later, with Amazon suggesting the pause was part of a campaign to weed out counterfeit products. Suppliers breathed a sigh of relief. Now a larger, more permanent purge is coming that will upend the relationship between ...

Bloomberg UK consumers unexpectedly kept up spending last month as retail sales beat economists’ forecasts. The volume of goods sold in stores and online was unchanged following three consecutive months of gains, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Expectations were for a 0.3 percent drop. The good news may not last. A separate survey for the month of May ...

Bloomberg Nike Inc, responding to criticism that the brand treated its female athletes unfairly during pregnancy, vowed to better promote its policies and change a rule that resulted in women losing pay when they had children. The company is eliminating a performance requirement for “12 months for those athletes who decide to have a baby,” Nike Vice President Amy Montagne ...

Bloomberg Rihanna revealed her first Fenty collection in Paris. She arrived wearing a blazer as a dress—the white canvas number had exaggerated shoulders and was cinched in at the middle with a built-in corset—paired with strappy going-out heels in gold leather, all from her new label. The mood was boss lady on top, party girl below. This mix of high ...

Bloomberg Mothercare Plc surged despite posting a large loss and falling sales, after it said it had made significant headway restructuring its operations. The baby and parents retailer’s shares rose as much as 19 percent, the most since March, after it said it reduced its store count to 79 from 134 a year earlier, a faster-than-expected pace. The retailer has ...

Bloomberg Sales by Canadian wholesalers in March rose by the most in more than a year, another sign the economy is emerging from a temporary slow patch. Wholesale sales rose 1.4 percent during the month, the fastest increase since October 2017 and the fourth straight monthly gain, Statistics Canada reported. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting a gain of 0.9 ...

Bloomberg The company that shook up Swiss watchmaking is looking to the fast-food industry for inspiration on how to spruce up retailing. Swatch Group AG, the maker of $50 plastic timepieces, is setting up a drive-through store where it will sell products from its namesake label packed in burger boxes and brown paper bags. The shop, next to the company’s ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s Natura Cosmeticos SA agreed to buy rival Avon Products Inc in an all-stock deal valued at about $2 billion, positioning it as a growing force in the booming global cosmetics and skincare industry. Controlling shareholders of Natura, which bought the Body Shop retail chain in 2017, will form a new publicly traded holding company that will offer 0.3 ...

Bloomberg Kontoor Brands Inc, whose Lee line is already the biggest denim brand in China, plans to bring its other big American jeans name to the world’s largest consumer market within a year. “In January 2020, we are introducing Wrangler to the Chinese market because there’s an appetite,” Chief Executive Officer Scott Baxter said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. ...