Retail

Bloomberg Call it the nostalgia factor: PepsiCo is getting a boost from some of its classic brands. The snack and beverage giant posted quarterly results that beat estimates, sending shares to the highest since at least 1980. The company’s sales growth was boosted by its key Frito-Lay operation and North American beverage unit, with its Pepsi soda line and Lay’s ...

Bloomberg You’d need a cast of thousands to re-enact Black Friday at a Walmart store, so virtual reality comes in handy at the company’s training centres. Employees get to experience a shopper stampede on their headsets, part of a widening national effort that encompasses some 7,000 workers a week. The retail giant isn’t alone. From hotels to fast food chains, ...

Bloomberg Canadian retailers emerged from months of slumping sales with a sharp rebound in February that may ease some worries about consumer weakness. Retailers posted a 0.8 percent gain in sales on the month, Statistics Canada said from Ottawa, versus economist expectations for a 0.4 percent gain. February’s increase was the strongest since May 2018, and follows six straight months ...

Bloomberg Kering reported sales that narrowly beat analysts’ estimates as growth at its flagship Gucci brand cooled from last year’s relentless pace. Gucci’s growth has been slowing gradually in the third year of a blockbuster turnaround under CEO Marco Bizzarri and designer Alessandro Michele, whose decadent products like crystal-coated sunglasses and serpent-painted handbags ushered in an era of new maximalism ...

Bloomberg UK retail sales unexpectedly increased for a third consecutive month in March, underlying the resilience of consumers in the face of Brexit uncertainty. The volume of goods sold in stores and online jumped 1.1 percent from February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Sales excluding auto fuel increased 1.2 percent. Both measures had been expected to show a ...

Bloomberg In a rare retreat for Amazon.com Inc, the e-commerce giant plans to shut down its Chinese marketplace business in July as it shifts its focus to offering mainland consumers overseas products rather than goods from local sellers. Amazon will keep running its other businesses in China, including Amazon Web Services, Kindle e-books, and cross-border operations that help ship goods ...

Bloomberg L’Oreal SA got more revenue from Asia than from western Europe for the first time last quarter as the region’s surging demand for luxury products continued to resist the drag of a slower Chinese economy. The shift for the maker of products like Maybelline mascara and Acqua di Gio Armani cologne is the latest example of how French companies ...

Bloomberg In naming Corie Barry chief executive officer, Best Buy Co hands the reins to the architect of its current growth strategy, widely considered to be one of the retail industry’s most remarkable turnarounds. Barry, chief financial and strategic transformation officer, will replace Hubert Joly in June after almost seven years at the helm. In her outgoing role, she oversaw ...

Bloomberg On a recent weekday at the newly opened Champion store in Philadelphia’s Center City, the brand’s oversize red, white and blue “C” is everywhere: across the chest of thick cotton sweatshirts, down the sides of track pants and on the front of baseball caps. A couple of 20-somethings sift the clothing racks during the lunch hour. They drift through ...

Bloomberg Mall owners have sung the praises of “experiential retail,” touting it as the saviour of a sector battered by store closures and the shift to online shopping. It turns out the buzz may be a bit overblown. A study by location-data firm Thasos Group shows that malls with a Tesla showroom, Apple store, Eataly or Starbucks Roastery don’t have ...