Wal-Mart Stores Inc has announced that Australian Greg  Foran, former CEO of the leading Australian supermarket group Woolworths, has been appointed president and CEO of Wal-Mart China effective 1 March 2012. After resigning from the position of head of food, liquor and petrol at Woolworths in July 2011, Greg Foran moved to theUSas senior vice president for Wal-Mart International and has been there since. This appointment will see Mr Foran take charge ofWal-MartChina’s retail operations, which... ...Read more »

The Consumer Goods Forum has unveiled a new set of industry-wide resolutions designed to promote health and wellness. On the first day of its annual global summit in Barcelona today (15 June), the Forum committed to improving access to healthier products, providing “transparent, fact-based” information to allow consumers to make informed dietary decisions and promoting educational programmes that raise awareness of healthy lifestyles. The collaborative work to promote these resolutions... ...Read more »

Wal-Mart Stores has announced plans to reformulate thousands of its packaged food products including slashing sodium by 25% and cutting sugars by 10% by 2015. The world’s largest retailer unveiled the plans at an event in Washington yesterday (20 January), attended by Michelle Obama.  Wal-Mart said the initiative aims to build on the success of the First Lady’s ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to “make healthy choices more convenient and affordable for families”. Mrs... ...Read more »

Wal-Mart Stores has confirmed the opening of a new “discount compact hypermarket” format in China, called Trust Mart. A spokesperson said on Friday (3 December) that the urban stores will be opened in “second and third-tier cities”. The first store opened in October in Zhangshu. Compared with its Wal-Mart Supercenters, the spokesperson said the new stores will have a smaller sales floors of between 3,000-5,000 square metres. The spokesperson declined to comment on the expansion... ...Read more »

Sales of Fair Trade Certified products to US grocery stores has risen 30% in the last year, according to newly-published data. During the 52 weeks to 4 September, sales to food, drug, mass-merchandise and natural-food stores reached US$140m, figures from industry consultants SPIN show. The data excludes sales at Wal-Mart Stores, Whole Food Market and of own-label products. Sales of packaged coffee certified as Fair Trade grew 44%, while ready-to-drink tea and coffee sales were up 51%. Fair Trade... ...Read more »

* Wal-Mart to open 30-40 “small” and “medium” format stores * Top end of capex spending forecast lowered * Spending on international operations to rise Wal-Mart has revealed plans to open smaller stores in the US, targeting urban markets and small towns.The move is part of the retailer’s strategy to move to a “three-format portfolio” in the US, with small stores of less than 30,000 square feet which will “drive expansion to urban markets and small towns,... ...Read more »

The president and CEO of Wal-Mart US Bill Simon has detailed the retail giant’s shifting strategy, which was hinted at in its second-quarter results last month.Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Retail Conference on Wednesday (15 September), Simon said that the retailer was refocusing on its EDLP offer, as “the very aggressive Rollback campaign we had in place that was designed to drive traffic and stimulate sales” did not do what the retailer hoped it would do. “It did not drive... ...Read more »

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is trying to do for the environment what it has done for consumers. Wal-Mart is notorious for pushing suppliers to drive down prices if they want to display their products on the shelves of the world’s largest retailer. With $408 billion in revenue and a net income of $14.3 billion for the fiscal year that ended in January, Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world ranked by revenue. Now Wal-Mart is using its clout to clean up the environment. Wal-Mart “has more... ...Read more »

Asda has struck a deal to buy the UK stores of discount chain Netto, as part of the Wal-Mart subsidiary’s bid to run smaller stores in the country.The GBP778m (US$1.13bn) will lead to the UK’s second-largest retailer converting Netto’s stores to Asda outlets and integrate them into a new supermarkets division for units smaller than 25,000 sq ft. Asda wants to run smaller stores in the UK and has said it sees much of the growth in the country’s grocery sector coming from smaller... ...Read more »

The appointment of long-time Asda executive Andy Clarke as chief executive of the supermarket operator suggests that US parent Wal-Mart is seeking strategic continuity at its UK arm, despite recent admissions that the company’s sales growth is falling below expectations. Katy Humphries reports.Wal-Mart announced yesterday (11 May) that it has promoted Andy Clarke to the post of president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Clarke, formerly chief operating officer at the UK’s... ...Read more »