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Labor conditions in Chinese factories that supply Walmart, Disney, Dell and other companies and in China's manufacturing in general.

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Microsoft to open retail stores in Scottsdale and Mission Viejo. It has hired a Walmart executive to set up the stores.

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How the discount drug programs at the big drug store retail chains like CVS. Walgreens and Walmart are leading to increasing competition and lower prices in generic drugs that are now sold for one month supplies for hundreds of unbranded drugs. Mass mechandisers like Target have their own programs selling drugs in the same manner as the Walmart which started this with its $4 generic prescriptions for one month supplies in 2006. Its changing the landscape for drug pricing gradually and will become part of a larger trend as health care costs are challenged in different ways by customers, merchandisers, and others in a low inflation cost conscious economic environment, with an overstretched indebted consumer looking for ways to cut costs on everything from groceries, shopping needs and prescription drugs.

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Comcast's bid for TV company Sky is one of many mergers planned in 2018. U.S. corporate tax cuts and incentives for investment are fueling a merger wave not seen since 2000, says this report in the WSJ. This report also points out that the amount spent on increasing wages at Walmart and AT&T is small compared to the hundreds of billions being spent on share buybacks and in pursuing growth or higher returns. Dealogic numbers show $325 billion going into bids for mergers launched so far in 2018 and much faster than the pace in the first months of 2000. About $200 billion have gone into share buybacks in 3 months to the end of Feb. 2018, according to WSJ analysis.

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If only there was some way to get this farm produce to homes. For the government to buy the farm produce and Kroger, Walmart, or some other volunteer agency to distribute it to homes and food banks. Much of it is now being destroyed, even as people stocking up canned foods in their pantry are not able to eat healthy for months, as fresh fruits and vegetables are  needed now more than ever with so much time spent inside. The ample time to cook and learn, to try new recipes, also makes this waste of fresh fruit and vegetables a poor national response in this crisis. A supplement to the government farm aid program should be set up and money set aside for the purpose of getting this produce out of farmers hands and into homes at little cost to families, in the effort to keep them healthy with so much time spent inside. 

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UK economy declines 0.3% in April 2025 as exports to US decline. The UK is one of the few countries that reached a trade agreement with the US. Also important to note is that the UK economy grew by 0.7% in the 1st quarter of 2025. The US tariffs are a negotiating strategy says Treasury Secretary Bessent to get countries  including the EU and China to have a level playing field in trade with the US, and not take the US for a ride. This has some costs but they are temporary and we are all better off that world trade can now be on a firmer footing than the imbalances of before. Bessent for instance told members of the US Congress in the last 2 days that US inflation is actually 0.1% and has come down, the 10 year yield in the US bond markets has come down, and the US is managing this transition without cost increases. He said Walmart had increased prices after tariffs, Amazon and Home Depot had not, and he sees American buying from sellers like Amazon and Home Depot. The British economy will also benefit with the certainty that it now has a clear trade agreement under fair rules that will promote bilateral trade with the US. ...

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WSJ Board criticism of DJT Tariffs paints a picture different from what is happening at a time when the president needs support to change the rules of world trade so that there is a level playing field for everyone. First Japan and then China have begun and pursued a course that uses the international trading system set up after 1945 to their advantage resulting in the deindustrialization of the US and Europe since the 1980's. WSJ's own reporting in July shows the inflation is subdued at about 2%. The president's jawboning or moral suasion has worked so that retailers such as Walmart have actually reduced prices on basic products and all retailers including Amazon and Target have cut prices on the more expensive products where their margins are larger. One WSJ report shows Amazon increased prices on products that were made in the US, as its own form of jawboning so that Amazon would get the point. It also belittles the extraordinary effort of Bessent and Jamieson as trade negotiators in getting the deal with Japan for $550 billion. It says DJT was lucky to get the deal when it is clear that Japan is returning the US the favor the US did to Japan, as a true ally should do, aside from US defense of Asia. ...

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Walmart now has 300 generic drugs selling for $10 for 90 day supplies.

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Focus on billionaires and remote parts of the world distract from the vital issues of infrastructure renewal, cost of living and incomes growth that affect everyday lives of Americans. In an economy the size of the US the $5 trillion of billionaires out of a $31 trillion US GDP, is about 15% of the nation's wealth. Many of the billionaires such as at Amazon lead product and service companies that generated new products and services. Five of the top 25 in the US are from Walmart a large retailer in the US, 2 from Amazon, three from Microsoft in personal computers, 3 from chemical industries.This accounts for 13 of 25 or half. Removing these billionaires would take out $2.5 trillion leaving the billionaires controlling 7-8% of the country's wealth. The focus by Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK on remote spots in the world and on billionaires distracts from the real issues of cost of living, of incomes of ordinary families, of everyday issues of health and quality of life faced by all. It also does not help in the discussion because of the need to move away from the poor leadership of the Blair-Brown, Cameron- Johnson years and the Bush-Obama years in the UK and the US. Here no ideologies are needed just common sense solutions to common problems that affect lives of all the people, with the cooperation of all the people. ...

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How information generated by Tesco's Clubcards can be used through rigorous information collection, analysis of mounds of data by computers based on a clear structure for the information and what they are looking for. And how the information insights can be used to quickly take action in what to stock and who to target with what is stocked through direct mail and coupons. Tesco uses information about what interests customers, who they are, for example: child care providing fathers who might want the beer as well as the baby stuff, South Asians in immigrant heavy communities in the U.K. tracking what they buy, and don't buy and where. 1. This information driven strategy of Tesco has been copied by other retailers. P&G, Coca Cola, Kimberly Clark and other consumer product companies buy analyses based on Tesco data. 2. This strategy has helped Tesco battle Walmart overseas. Walmart failed in the S. Korean market after 8 years selling its 16 outlets to a local competitor, while Tesco has 39 stores in S. Korea that are doing well. Tesco is also doing well in Central Europe where Walmart intends to open stores. In the UK which accounts for 45% of Walmart's international sales and 10% of its overall sales, Walmart's share of the British market is 16% for groceries compared to 31% for Tesco. Walmart entered the British market in 1999 through the acquisition of the Asda chain of stores. Tesco is growing and doing much better than Walmart in the UK. 3. Tesco's Clubcard based information driven strategy- 3-1. Uses a outside provider that is excellent in its field, can pioneer techniques that will work with Tesco strategy, and has the energy and dedication. Tesco uses Dunnhumby, a husband-wife consultancy that also works with Kroger in the US running its loyalty card program and analyzing customer data. The research firm is now majority owned by Tesco. 3-2 How it works. Each week Dunnhumby receives data on 15 million shopping baskets. Each product is scored on 50 dimensions such as price and the size of the package. The computer looks for customers whose shopping baskets have similiar combinations of scores. Dunnhumby has made 6 segments for Tesco. Finer Foods segment is made up of affluent time strapped customers who go upscale and Traditional segment comprises homemakers who buy ingredients to cook meals from scratch. 3-3 The clubcard works as follows. Introduced in 1995 by Mr Leahy, now CEO, the application asks for information about dietary preferences, size of household, ages of children . The plastic a card in the mail gives customers a point for every pound they spend after they reach $280. Each point is a penny off future purchases and it also can be converted into miles in frequentflier programs In addition large spenders get discount coupons every 3 months on particular products keyed to their buying profile in the database. Quarterly coupon package from Tesco would include 3 coupons for stuff they regularly buy and 3 for stuff Tesco would like them to try. While only 1-2% of coupons ever get redeemed about 15-20% of Tesco coupons get redeemed. The package also includes vouchers through which members can redeem points. $300 of purchases would generate a voucher for $3.00 off any purchase. Karen Masek, an actor and mother of two in London, says Tesco's mailings reflect her preference for fresh produce, environment-friendly cleaning products and organic meat. She says Tesco knows her buying habits and never sends anything that is way off the mark. 3-4 The way Tesco battled successfully with Walmart: Tesco searched its database and identified shoppers who buy the cheapest items available. About 300 items were identified for price conscious customers. Tesco lowered prices on these items such as Tesco Value Brand margarine so that these buyers would not defect to Walmart. 3-5 Examples of how the computer data is used. 1n 2001 Kimberly Clark introduced a premium version of its Andrex toilet paper in the UK infused with aloe vera. Through the Clubcard research data one could track who was buying this toilet paper and how consistently, and later tracked what other products these buyers were buying so that they could be targeted with incentives. It was found that they bought skincare products so Kimberly Clark sent direct mail to 500,000 customers offering free beauty treatments for purchasing the toilet paper twice....

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Here is the answer to how retailing is doing in February 2009. See the graph. By type of store, Discount stores have held up with 2.9% increase, drug 1.6% decrease, Apparel 5.5% decrease, Department stroes 9% decrease. Of the discounters Walmart is up 5.1%, Target is down 4.1%; of Department stores Macy's down 8.5%, Penneys 8.8%, Saks and Neiman Marcus down 26 and 21%; and in Apparel stores Gap is down 12%, Abercrombie and Fitch down 30%, and Aerospatiale up 11%.

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Walmart in Mexico, how it helps the average man in Mexico and adapts to Mexican ways. About a fourth of its sales and profits come from Mexico. And it is helping bring modernized retail experience to Mexico and changing people's lives.

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While communities with high unemployment and depressed areas like Rocky Mount in N. Carolina, with 14% unemployment -and many customers skipping prescriptions because they can't afford them- are the worst off, the national picture shows many similiarities. Even with Medicare drug benefit, lowcost generics, and Walmart type low cost drugs, many Americans cannot afford prescription medications for life threatening illnesses. Nationally a third of respondents say they are not complying with prescriptions as they cannot afford them, compared to a fourth three years ago.

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Costco and Walmart Sams Club are selling more flat panel LCD televisions and bringing aggressive pricing to the industry. This is helping Sony, Sharp and other makers because it is making flat panel LCD television affordable. Sales of LCD will increase as people convert both for the high definition signal and clarity of viewing and for the decor sleek new looks. especially since broadcasters will only sendout digital signals in Feb 2009. This means that like tech spending some areas of consumer spending should do beter in this recession.

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How slowing sale and inventory pileups at Walmart are affecting factories that supply Walmart. Particularly hit are garment and clothing factories. This counts for about 10% of Walmart sales.

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Sears Holdings spent $1.46 per square foot in 2012 on its stores compared to an average of $9.45 per square foot for Target, Penneys, Walmart, Lowe's and Home Depot, according to this report. Lampert counters this by saying his fund made investments in technology and online retail. Yet Sears stock is up 41% for the year by Oct 2013 largely on the basis that Sears Holdings is worth much more for its parts. Land's End is being put up for sale as well as other pieces of Sears Holdings by Ed Lampert's Hedge Fund ESL Investments.

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Best Buy electronics retail chain plans to close 50 big box stores in 2012 and open 100 mobile small format, stand alone stores. This is part of a strategy to reduce costs by $800 million by fiscal 2015. Total sales at stores open at least 14 months declined 2.4%. Best Buy competes with online retailers like Amazon.com and discounters such as WalMart. Best Buy's response was to increase online and mobile options for purchases and discounting efforts of its own. This has put pressure on its profits, with a loss in fiscal fourth quarter ending March 3, 2012, of $1.7 billion, which also reflects restructuring charges.

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Brian Dunn will be new CEO of Best Buy. He worked for 24 years in Best Buy most of them in Best Buy sales and in stores. He believes in Best Buy's blue shirted sales employees, who help custoners navigate difficult technology. He sees them as asingular advatage in the electronics struggle for market share with Walmart, and in keeping customers. His idea is to turn Best Buy shopping into a series of experiences, and using innovative practices of store employees. Best Buy stores sales fell 6.5% in December and 4th quarter estimates are for sales decline of 5-15%, with anlysts estimates of a 20% decline in earnings per share.

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Walk in clinics at drug stores like CVS and stores like Walmart now have the cooperation of hospitals. Hospitals are now affiliated with 25 Walmart clinics. THe Cleveland Clinic has lent its name and backup services to a number of CVS clinics in northeastern Ohio. And the Mayo Clinic is operaing ne Express care clinic at asupermarke in Rochester, Minnesota, and asecond one at ashopping mall. This helps clear emergency rooms of people seeking bsic medical care as for astrep throat or flu. About one thousand clincs are operating in the US at drugstores, supermarkets and big stores since the idea took root 4 years ago. Wal-Mart has partnered with hopitals like the Christus Medical Group in Texas, Aurora Health System in Wisconsin and COxHealth in Missouri to setup clinics. Mayo did so after employees and patients said they wanted more convenient treatment for minor medical problems, so there may be a need here that as not been met. The lower costs at these centers compared to primary care doctors offices or emergency rooms make it possible for them to price lower and meet the needs of the 45 million or so uninsured people in the US, numbers growing as jobless rate increases. They are typically staffed by nurse practitioers or physicians asistants. Dr Herman at Mayo Clinic, who supervises its retail store clinics, says rather than fight this trend primary care doctors should learn from it, and work with hospitals around the country to offer more convenient locations and consumer friendly office hours, including periods of walk-in care with no appointment....

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Price is No. 1 in the minds of Japanese consumers. Seiyu discount stores, part of Walmart, is doing weel, and so are discount retailers across the board. Luxurry brands are suffering declines in revenue. From vegetables and fruits to other products cheap is fashionable and also meets the budgets of many families. Bean sprouts, and local mushrooms are up, cheap bananas replace melons in family budgets, umbrella sales are up as people walk rather than hail acab. Average household spending fell $762 to $38475 or 3.5 million yen in 2008 according to Dai-Ichi Life. There is adefaltionary gap of 40 trillion yen in the economy with demand short by that much from production, and unemployment is at 5.7%.

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BBC News covers the opposition by business leaders in the U.S. to president Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate change agreement. Elon Musk of Tesla and Robert Iger of Disney say they will quit working on the president's advisory councils. Walmart, Apple, Google and other companies also opposed the move. Energy companies Exxon and Chevron also opposed the move. This reduces the business community's confidence in and support for the Trump administration. Some analysts see the Trump move as a way to satisfy the mood of his own election base of support among people who see the climate change accord as one more aspect of a rigged system of globalization, a theme Trump has used during his campaign in 2016. During the first 100 days many of the decisions Trump made took into account the views of business leaders from Boeing on the Export Import Bank, of Gary Cohn on tax reforms, of Wilbur Ross, the Commerce Secretary on NAFTA trade agreement. With the investigations in Congress underway the analysts see the move as political to shore up support with the Trump base. Yet it also brings with it the cost of losing support in the business community that has traditionally supported Republican presidents. ...

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Walmart now supports an employer mandate for health insurance but insists on cuts in health care costs. Walmart employs 1.4 million people in its stores, and 51% are insured by the company.

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Walgreens is changing its growth model to add the business of Health and Wellness buying two companies I-trax Inc. and Whole Health Management which run 350 health centres at corporate offices. Pharmacies will be added to these centres. Its targeting 7600 office sites with 1000 or more employees that could use a health-care center. Its competitors CVS and Walmart are going into managing employer drug benefit programs, with Walmart's selling point being reducing costs of paying for prescriptions for employers.