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Business news. Some American retail companies are just now reporting what their sales were like for the 2019 holiday shopping season and at least for brick and mortar retailers — companies with physical stores, it wasn't great.
Wal-Mart is the biggest retail company in America. It says in the few weeks before Christmas there was quote "softness" in sales of toys, video games and clothing. It did see growth at its stores and websites that had been open for at least a year but the increase wasn't as big as investors expected.
Part of the reason for this, Thanksgiving fell later in November than usual. There were six fewer days between that holiday and Christmas. That gave Americans less time to spend money and Wal-Mart's not alone. Target, Kohls, Bed Bath & Beyond, they all struggled last season. We told you yesterday how Macy's plans to close 125 stores in the three years ahead. There were exceptions though. Costco did well. TJMax had good sales and Amazon what one business writer described as a blow-out holiday stretch.
Despite it's disappointing Christmas sales, Wal-Mart said its largest business, groceries is doing well and the company expects a strong year ahead. It's been able to survive and thrive in the age of Amazon and it's made a number of changes to do it. Online grocery pick-up and delivery is part of that. There are also changes taking place in Wal-Mart stores themselves but it's hard to say what the overall impact of robots will be.
