Retail

Bloomberg Warehouse clubs, purveyors of off-price denim and massive tubs of mayonnaise, aren’t usually on the cutting edge of retail. Walmart Inc.’s Sam’s Club wants to prove otherwise. The retailer is opening a test store in Dallas called Sam’s Club Now, where shoppers will make all their purchases on their smartphones, which they’ll also use to build shopping lists and …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. issued a disappointing revenue and profit forecast for the busy holiday quarter, suggesting sales growth is slowing for the e-commerce giant while higher pay for warehouse workers could hurt the bottom line. Revenue will be $66.5 billion to $72.5 billion in the current period, the Seattle-based company said in a statement, falling short of analysts’ average estimate …

Bloomberg Target Corp. is expanding perks like free two-day delivery to snag as much as possible of the $100 billion in sales the company sees up for grabs from retailers that have gone under. Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell said he’s built “playbooks” to capture market share sacrificed by Sears, Toys “R” Us and others, and has also accelerated planned …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc.’s scatter-shot attempt to shake up women’s fashion by launching a barrage of private label brands isn’t going so well, according to a report by Jungle Scout, a data-research firm for merchants on the e-commerce website. Apparel makes up 88 percent of all Amazon private label brands, but only 1 percent of all private label sales, according to …

Bloomberg Metro AG, the German big-box retailer and wholesaler, is working with Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to review options for its Chinese operations, according to people familiar with the matter. The business could be worth about $1.5 billion, based on earnings and the valuations of its rivals, the people said, asking not to be identified as the …

Bloomberg The losses that drove Sears Holdings Corp. into bankruptcy could end up being a valuable multi-billion dollar asset because of tax breaks — especially for its most notable creditor and Chairman, Eddie Lampert. As of the retailer’s bankruptcy on October 15, Sears estimated it had net operating losses it could use to offset $5 billion of future taxable income, …

Bloomberg Once upon a time, shoppers at the great American malls bounced from Sears to Bon-Ton to Borders Books and Circuit City, stopping along the way at all the smaller stores in between. Now the anchor model, which relied on big-box retailers to drive traffic, is fading. Sears Holding Corp filed for Chapter 11 protection on October 15, saying it …

Bloomberg If you want to score a meeting with Chip Wilson, you better be prepared to sweat. The founder of Lululemon Athletica Inc likes to start his days hiking a 2.9 kilometer (1.8 mile) trail up the face of Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain. It’s his preferred way to conduct meetings and he’s sometimes accompanied by as many as 20 people seeking …

Bloomberg Stores are so 20th century. At least that’s what many online brands believed. Companies like Warby Parker, Bonobos and Casper didn’t need physical locations to win over millennials and steal market share; a well-designed website was more than enough. And who could fault their logic? Given the brick-and-mortar carnage across America, the evidence seemed overwhelming. Then a funny thing …

Bloomberg Fast-dwindling cash is casting doubt on whether Sears Holdings Corp. can firm up its survival plan in time to avoid liquidation. Sears is expected to bleed $220 million in just the first month of its bankruptcy, court filings show, cutting deep into the $300 million loan it secured this week from senior lenders. The crunch could become more acute …