Quick Take — Japan : Walmart will also sell its remaining 15% stake in Seiyu to Trial

.Since 2021, KKR and Walmart have been working closely together to support Seiyu’s growth through technology adoption. According to Walmart, Seiyu has benefited from a number of value creation efforts such as:

  • Improving product quality and selection, particularly for Seiyu’s fresh produce, deli products and in-house brands.
  • Developing standard operating processes and adopting technology solutions, such as self-checkout and automated replenishment systems, to support workers, resulting in increased productivity in terms of man-hours.
  • Transform Seiyu from a traditional general merchandise shop to a ‘supermarket’ by optimising product assortment and distribution strategies.
  • Accelerate Seiyu’s digital transformation to enable a superior customer experience, including by strengthening and modernising its IT infrastructure.

Source

Quick Take — Target: consumer boycott for change of direction on diversity and inclusion policies in the US

Last month, Target joined Walmart, McDonald’s, Ford and Lowe’s in withdrawing some of their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the face of mounting pressure from critics. Target announced the decision shortly after President Donald Trump signed several executive orders restricting such initiatives within the federal government and private sector… The drop in customers boycotting the chain ranges from – 4% to – 9%, depending on the week.

Quick Take — Amazon, Alibaba and Walmart

This morning Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu presented profits up 239% over 2023

  • Alibaba in HK rises 13%

this very good result is attributed to strong performance in the cloud business and expansion on AI

  • the ecommerce sector showed signs of recovery in China

yesterday Walmart reported its quarterly results

for the first time Amazon had higher revenues than Walmart in a quarter

  • expectations show that by 2025 full-year revenues will also be higher

Amazon becomes the number one company by revenue in the US, surpassing Walmart

Walmart had held the top spot since 2012 when it overtook Exxon

Quick Take — Fourth quarter comparable sales increased 4.6% for Walmart’s US operations. Slowdown expected for next year due to ‘Trump factor’

For the fiscal year 2025, Walmart’s sales were $681.0 billion, up 5.1%. Operating income increased by $2.3 billion, or 8.6%, growing faster than sales. The company increased its dividend by 13% to 94 cents per share, its largest increase in more than a decade.. Great e-commerce progression. But Trump’s policies sow uncertainty about the future and a possible slowdown in sales: “Uncertainty about the economic impact of President Donald Trump’s trade policies is dampening expectations for how consumer spending will hold up this year. Just look at Walmart, which today projected that its revenue growth this fiscal year would slow to between 3% and 4%, compared with 5% for the year that ended Jan. 31, 2025″ Theo Wayt

Compiled 20 February, updated 21 February 2025

Quick Take — USA: Thousands of tonnes of eggs will be imported from Turkey due to bird flu

According to the Department of Agriculture, about 18 million birds will be culled in December 2024 and 23 million in January 2025. In three years, the spread of the H5N1 virus has forced American farms to cull 158 million turkeys, chickens and, above all, laying hens (from FT: some retailers, including Walmart, are rationing egg sales to the public).

This disease will affect inflation in the US