Top Retailers

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Bad weather and a reduction in food stamps led to weaker-than-expected sales at Walmart and Sam’s Club, which — combined with greater than expected international expense — prompted an uncharacteristic preannouncement from the company that fourth quarter profits would be worse than expected.

If you don't succeed the first time, try, try again. That's exactly what McKesson did when it announced that it reached an agreement with Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH to acquire its entire holding of Celesio shares. And in a separate and subsequent agreement, McKesson also picked up the Celesio convertible bonds from Elliott.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Fifty-seven percent of consumers purchased digital gift cards in December 2013, and 43% purchased physical cards. Data from prepaid product and transaction services company InComm also shows that 80% of consumers purchased digital cards in the six days leading up to Christmas, and 20% of consumers purchased physical cards in the six days leading up to Christmas.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid's January same-store sales increased 1.8%, beating out an analyst projection of a 0.5% increase in overall comparable-store sales. Total drug store sales for the four weeks ended Jan. 25 increased 1.5% to $1.9 billion.

January front-end same-store sales decreased 1.3%, of which 1.4% was attributable to a decrease in sales of flu-related over-the-counter products. Pharmacy same-store sales, which included an approximate 124 basis points negative impact from new generic introductions, increased 3.2%. 

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Apigee recently hosted Tim McCauley, Walgreens’ senior director of mobile commerce, and Joe Rago, a senior product manager at Walgreens, to discuss Walgreens' digital transformation and API strategy during the organization's I Heart APIs conference.

Apigee made the video of the presentation available in a blog on Wednesday. 

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens announced on Thursday that it is expanding its relationship with technology company Inovalon to implement its patient assessment tool and technology platform to support improvements in care, quality and risk score accuracy programs across more than 400 Healthcare Clinic at select Walgreens locations.

CHICAGO — In January, Walgreens recognized students, teachers and their schools for their leadership in teen health advocacy and awareness. Students, teachers and schools were awarded more than $28,000 for their contributions to the Expressions Challenge, Walgreens stated. 

DUBLIN, Ohio — The loss of the Walgreens contract was a key consideration in Cardinal Health's 12% decline in overall revenue for the company's second quarter 2014, George Barrett, Cardinal Health chairman and CEO, told analysts Thursday morning. Revenue totaled $22.2 billion. The loss of the Walgreens contract totaled $5 billion. 

But Cardinal Health is bullish regarding its future. Cardinal Health increased its outlook for the next six months, raising its non-GAAP EPS range to $3.75 to $3.85.