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