Retail

Bloomberg Robots are coming to a Walmart Inc. near you, and not just as a gimmick. The world’s largest retailer is rolling out 360 autonomous floor-scrubbing robots in some of its stores in the US by the end of the January, it said in a joint statement with Brain Corp., which makes the machines. The autonomous janitors can clean floors …

Bloomberg UK consumer spending growth slowed in November as concerns about Brexit prompted households to become more cautious with their cash. Spending grew 3.3 percent in November, the weakest pace since extreme cold weather dubbed the “Beast from the East” kept shoppers away from stores in March, according to a report by Barclaycard published on Tuesday. The proportion of UK …

Bloomberg Employees of Sears Holdings, inspired by the hardship fund for workers affected by the collapse of Toys ‘R’ Us Inc., are asking Chairman Eddie Lampert and the firms involved in the chain’s bankruptcy to preserve jobs and stores as well as guarantee severance pay and pensions. “While we understand that Sears and Kmart must make changes to survive, we …

Bloomberg Wayfair Inc.’s strong Cyber Five year-over-year sales gain suggests “considerable upside potential for this quarter,” according to Baird Equity Research, who cites comparable period results over the past two years. The Boston-based online home-goods retailer reported a 58 percent increase in direct retail sales for the shopping period of Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. This compares to 2017 and …

Bloomberg Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), the Middle East’s biggest plane-leasing company, said its board and shareholders approved an additional $300 million to repurchase bond. It will be conducted through open-market transactions, the company said. To date, Dubai Aerospace has repurchased $295 million of principal amount of its publicly traded bonds under the previous authorisation of $300 million. The company currently …

Bloomberg Total holiday shopping this year might be one for the record books, but you wouldn’t know it looking at this past weekend’s numbers. More than 165 million Americans shopped either in stores or online during the five-day period from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday — more than expected, but well below the 174 million shoppers during the same period …

Bloomberg The initial Black Friday results have reinforced that this US holiday shopping season will be one of the best in recent memory. But even in good times, there are concerns for retailers. The takeaway from the past few days is that Americans are spending at unprecedented levels, and the overwhelming majority of that growth — if not all of …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. is on a shopping spree in India. Helmed by the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos, Amazon has bought into one brick-and-mortar retailer, backed purchase of another and is reported to be in talks to acquire a stake in at least one more as the online retailing giant looks to get more boots on the ground in the …

Bloomberg Thousands of Dolce & Gabbana goods have been pulled from China’s biggest shopping websites after the Italian fashion house’s marketing went off the rails in a country that’s driving the industry’s growth. Calls for a boycott against the label gained traction after a video campaign showed a Chinese model struggling to eat spaghetti with chopsticks — a depiction that …

Bloomberg Shoppers will spend an estimated $7.8 billion on Cyber Monday — a record — boosting a strong holiday shopping season. And Wall Street will likely shrug it off. Even a blockbuster holiday won’t divert the market’s attention from the rising interest rates that could hurt car and home sales next year and the escalating trade war between the US …