WALMART

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart has unveiled a multi-pronged holiday strategy that emphasizes convenience, expanded assortments, price discounts, speedy deliveries — and in-store fun. The company said it will throw three themed parties at its stores (for a total of 20,000 parties chainwide) over the course of the season. At the parties, which will include product demonstrations, customers will be able to test (and, in some instances, taste) top holiday items.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — After a two-year sabbatical, Jeff Fernandez is returning to Nutritional Products International as VP sales and marketing.

Fernandez took a couple of years off to spend more time with his growing family, but his passion for distribution and sales has led him back to Nutritional Products International, where he last served in the same position in 2015.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Virtual reality was the star of Walmart’s Store No. 8 inaugural innovation gala — an event that exhibited how the technology will shape retail shopping.

Store No. 8, Walmart’s technology incubator focused on ideas that will transform the future of commerce, held its first innovation gala on Wednesday. Store No. 8 works with startups that specialize in areas that include robotics, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence. This event however, gave put the spotlight on the value of VR.

NEW YORK — The Emerson Group last month hosted its 10th Annual Retail Industry Day in a packed room, with hundreds of merchants eager to discover how to better position their products for tomorrow’s ever-evolving consumer.

They weren’t disappointed.

PLANO, Texas — As Walmart looks to centralize its merchandising activity planning process and establish standard operating procedures for in-store service providers, it has named sales and marketing company Crossmark as one of its preferred service providers. With the selection, Crossmark is one of five companies that can execute merchandising activity on behalf of suppliers in nearly 5,000 U.S. Walmart locations.

Can other retailers find a comfortable — and profitable — niche in the marketplace, while Amazon.com and Walmart go toe-to-toe in their seemingly endless battle for retail supremacy?

The answer will not only define retail for the next generation or two, but also determine who will survive what many call the “new normal” in what is becoming a more complex and risky arena.

Walmart’s Shawn Townzen told a group of sales and marketing executives that his company’s buying teams are focusing on the ‘bigger picture” as the chain seeks to maintain momentum in an increasingly-complex retail arena.

Speaking in Bentonville, Ark. at a Mack Elevation thought leadership conference, Townzen, who is a VP and DMM, personal care, said that industry executives must align with Walmart’s philosophies and be ready to change on the go as the chain’s blueprint evolves.