Quick Take — Walmart: first retailer to deliver groceries by drone in 5 states

This is confirmation of news announced in June: Walmart recently became the first retailer to scale its drone delivery in five states with the expansion of the service to Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston; and Orlando and Tampa, Florida. The new service has launched in 100 shops in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, in addition to current operations in Northwest Arkansas and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Quick Take — Walmart cuts the ribbon on the latest high-tech distribution centre

Walmart recently held the grand opening of its new 725,000 square foot perishable distribution centre in Lyman, South Carolina, the third of five new high-tech facilities designed to receive and process fresh produce, eggs, dairy, meat and frozen products for delivery.

The new distribution centre, which uses advanced automation to process more than twice the volume of a traditional distribution centre, will serve 180 Walmart shops in the area and house over 600 Walmart employees…

Quick Take — Sycamore completes acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance: the end of Stefano Pessina’s dream

The private equity firm acquired assets in transactions valued at up to $23.7bn. New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners completed the acquisition of retail pharmacy company Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc(WBA).

WBA is an integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retail leader serving millions of customers and patients every day. With approximately 12,500 locations in the US, Europe, and Latin America, its consumer brands include Walgreens, Boots, Duane Reade, No7 Beauty Company, and Benavides.

WBA, under the Boots brand , also has a presence in Milan and was a supplier to Esselunga (beauty products).

Covid- 19, Amazon and Walmart contributed to its sale to Sycamore.

How to measure – well – sales in distribution: with a constant network

Sales in distribution are measured by gross revenues, including new openings and restructurings. But there is another, healthier and clearer method to understand whether a company is really doing well or not, regardless of network development: constant network sales, which exclude new openings and major restructuring in the year measured

Quick Take — China falls in love with American-style wholesale shopping at Sam’s Club (Walmart)

despite trade tensions in the US Walmart’s warehouse chain reaches the tipping point to become one of the fastest growing foreign retailers in the country…

Although economic momentum has slowed in China, Sam’s Club’s revenue grew more than 40 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, as consumers flocked to the stores for their low prices and bulk purchases…

Walmart’s sales in China rose 17 per cent to $20 billion in the last fiscal year. Eight of Sam’s Club shops are each expected to record half a billion dollars in sales this year, Walmart China CEO Christina Zhu told investors in April…

Half of Walmart’s sales in China take place online, compared to less than 20 per cent in the US. To fulfill e-commerce orders, China CEO Zhu described Sam’s Club locations as “mother clubs” that accumulate goods for networks of eight to 15 delivery hubs serving dense neighbourhoods within a three-mile radius…

About Sam’s Club discounters read here.