Whole Foods thrived for years, but its growth and its relevance have gone off-track. It has an onslaught of competition, and there may be little room to work on pricing at the consumer level.
Amazon.com said it would add 30,000 jobs in the United States over the next year. These will be part-time jobs, and 5,000 of the new employees will be able to work from home.
March same-store sales are forecast to increase compared with last year's anemic growth of just 0.2%, but first quarter same-store sales are expected to show the smallest year-over-year gain in four years.
Amazon Prime's estimated 50 million U.S. members not only spend more time shopping at Amazon, they spend more time shopping at other e-commerce sites as well.
Amazon has acquired Middle Eastern e-commerce company Souq.com for an undisclosed purchase price. The U.S. company was apparently able to beat back a last-minute offer from a Dubai-based buyer.
One area of retail that shows no sign of slowing down is the home improvement segment, where big dogs Home Depot and Lowe's are optimizing their omni-channel efforts to post solid growth.
Wal-Mart is the top choice for consumer purchases of personal care products like shampoo and toothpaste. The retail giant gets nearly 20% of the $40 billion market for personal care items.
Discount and dollar stores were a hot trend a few years ago, but one key analyst believes that this trend has run its course. Credit Suisse put both Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) and…