• Stimulus spending, sheltering in place help Walmart results exceed expectations

    Stimulus spending, sheltering in place help Walmart results exceed expectations

    Walmart exceeded Wall Street expectations with its quarterly revenue and earnings on Tuesday and reported record US online sales after consumers rushed to stock up on necessities during the coronavirus pandemic. Shares in the world’s top brick-and-mortar retailer were up 2 percent in morning trading and about 7 percent so far this year, far outpacing …
  • JCPenney to permanently close 242 stores amid bankruptcy

    JCPenney to permanently close 242 stores amid bankruptcy

    JCPenney plans to trim its store count by 29 percent, to about 604, as the US department store chain looks to focus on those more profitable, a regulatory filing showed on Monday, two days after it filed for bankruptcy protection. The stores to stay open accounted for 82 percent of the company’s fiscal 2019 sales, …
  • Online art marketplaces enjoy renaissance amid gallery closures

    Online art marketplaces enjoy renaissance amid gallery closures

    Demand for buying artworks online has more than doubled amid the coronavirus crisis, with one online art marketplace recording its best month for sales in its seven-year history. London-based Artfinder has seen a 110% surge in new customers in April compared with the same period last year, with an artwork being sold every 12 minutes …
  • DHL slammed by skyrocketing shipping needs during coronavirus crisis

    DHL slammed by skyrocketing shipping needs during coronavirus crisis

    Delivery business DHL is struggling to cope with a flood of parcels from online purchases due to the coronavirus crisis, forcing it to cut back extra collections from retailers in Germany, parent company Deutsche Post said on Thursday. A Deutsche Post spokesman said that the extra pick-up trips to retailers had been reduced nationwide, adding …
  • Amazon lifts ban on shipping of non-essential products amid hiring spree

    Amazon lifts ban on shipping of non-essential products amid hiring spree

    Amazon on Monday lifted its ban preventing sellers from shipping non-essential items to its warehouses. The move comes a month after Amazon told sellers that it would only accept “household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products” so that it could focus on shipping essentials during the coronavirus pandemic. Amazon had curtailed what its sellers …
  • Online grocery deliverers struggle to satisfy coronavirus demand

    Online grocery deliverers struggle to satisfy coronavirus demand

    A pandemic forcing everyone to stay home could be the perfect moment for online grocery services. In practice, they’ve been struggling to keep up with a surge in orders, highlighting their limited ability to respond to an unprecedented onslaught of demand. After panic-buying left store shelves stripped of staples like pasta, canned goods and toilet …
  • States urge US to allow SNAP recipients to grocery-shop online

    States urge US to allow SNAP recipients to grocery-shop online

    Yvonne Knight, who has respiratory problems that make her especially vulnerable in the coronavirus pandemic, can’t buy groceries online with her food stamps — even though each trip to the store is now a risky endeavor. Going out to buy food terrifies the 38-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, but she is one of millions of …
  • Amazon encourages its shoppers to assist with price-gouging probe

    Amazon encourages its shoppers to assist with price-gouging probe

    Amazon has started asking customers to cooperate with a Department of Justice criminal investigation of third-party sellers on its e-commerce marketplace, according to an e-mail seen by Reuters. The company is informing customers, who may have purchased products from such sellers, according to the e-mail, which was sent by Joell Parks, a senior law enforcement …