Page 8A
BUSINESS
East Oregonian
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Walmart flexes its muscle against
Amazon in battle for online retail
BRIEFLY
Community Bank
accepts donations
for charities
The annual holiday
Charity Drive for local
nonprofit organizations is
underway at each branch
of Community Bank.
People can give through
Wednesday, Dec. 19 in
donation jars at each
branch. Community Bank
will match donations of
50 cents on each dollar, up
to $500 at each branch. In
2017, more than $27,000
was disbursed to charities
in communities where the
bank serves.
Chosen charities for
local branches are Pendle-
ton Center for the Arts for
its Free Craft Saturdays for
Kids program (Pendleton),
The Neighborhood Cen-
ter Food Bank (Heppner),
Made to Thrive program
for kids (Hermiston) and
the Milton-Freewater City
Light & Power Energy
Assistance Program.
For more informa-
tion, contact marketing
manager Leah Johnson
at
ljohnson@communi-
tybanknet.com, 541-207-
0717 or visit www.com-
munitybanknet.com.
By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
AP Retail Writer
NEW YORK — Walmart
may be bruised by Amazon,
but it’s learning how to fight
back.
The world’s largest
retailer delivered strong
third-quarter results Thurs-
day, extending a streak of
sales growth into its 11th
straight quarter that was
helped by services, such as
online grocery pickup. It
also raised profit expecta-
tions for the year heading
into the holiday shopping
season.
Like other retailers,
Walmart is benefiting from
a strong job market and ris-
ing consumer confidence.
But retailers are also benefit-
ing from the misfortunes of
others. Toys R Us and Bon-
Ton Stores have gone out
of business, while the Sears
bankruptcy is creating more
opportunities to grab sales.
J.C. Penney, still flounder-
ing, on Thursday withdrew
profit guidance and lowered
its sales expectations for the
year.
Walmart posted strong
sales across a wide range
of products from toys and
back-to-school items to
fresh food. That helped sales
at stores open at least a year
rise 3.4 percent, a bit slower
from the previous quarter’s
4.5 percent at Walmart’s
U.S. division, which marked
its best performance in more
than a decade. The mea-
sure, an indicator of a retail-
er’s health, was helped by a
1.2 percent increase in cus-
tomer traffic and a 2.2 per-
cent increase in transactions.
Since buying Jet.com two
years ago, Walmart has been
expanding online by acquir-
ing brands and adding thou-
sands of items. It’s also been
ramping up grocery deliv-
AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File
Shoppers look at toys at a Walmart Supercenter in Houston. Walmart Inc. reported
earnings on Thursday.
ery and pickup options. Gro-
cery pickup is now offered at
nearly 2,100 of its 4,700 U.S.
stores, while grocery deliv-
ery is available in nearly
600 locations. Walmart has
also revamped its website
with a focus on fashion and
home furnishings. That all
helped to drive a 43 percent
increase in online sales in the
U.S. during the latest quar-
ter. That was up from a 40
percent increase in the sec-
ond quarter and a 33 percent
increase in the first quarter.
Still, Walmart’s online
sales remain a fraction of
Amazon’s online global
merchandise empire, which
hit $108 billion last year.
Walmart’s U.S. online busi-
ness was a mere $11.5
billion.
A visit to a Walmart
store in Houston last week
showed generous holiday
merchandise offerings, such
as expanded toy aisles with
large interactive toy ponies
and Barbie dream campers,
each selling for nearly $400.
Shoes are now unboxed and
hang on racks to make it eas-
ier for shoppers to find them.
“We’re feeling confi-
dent going into this holiday
season,” said Walmart U.S.
CEO Greg Foran during an
exclusive interview and tour
last week at the Houston
store. “I think the standards,
the flow of merchandise, our
pricing are feeling better
than it was a year ago.”
Walmart, based in Ben-
tonville, Arkansas, is prom-
ising more to come. Under
Foran, Walmart is creating
a tech-powered shopping
experience, while trans-
forming its stores into effi-
cient distribution hubs that
can fill online orders to
reduce shipping costs and
speed up deliveries. To do
that, Walmart is doing more
extensive training for work-
ers who are taking on new
roles or redefined responsi-
bilities while using scanning
robots and other automation.
Walmart is deploying
giant pickup towers that spit
out online orders in hun-
dreds of its stores. Custom-
ers can now also better find
items in the store because of
digital maps on their smart-
phone. Workers, armed with
new apps on their mobile
devices, are also able to
manage routine tasks, free-
ing them to serve the cus-
tomer or check them out in
key areas of the store.
“We can provide a much
better customer experience
because we are in stock of
the right item, at the right
time and at the same time it
is going to help us be much
more precise,” he added.
Still, Foran acknowledges
it’s facing stiffer competi-
tion from Amazon as well as
other traditional chains like
Target. Consulting firm Bain
& Co. predicts that Ama-
zon in the U.S. will outgrow
the market and capture up to
half of all e-commerce sales
by the end of the year.
ALL NEW 2018
Farm Fair sets
table for sponsors,
decorators
HERMISTON — With
the annual Hermiston
Farm Fair coming up, peo-
ple with a creative flair are
invited to help out.
Sponsors or decorators
are still needed for several
of the tables for the event’s
banquet. Businesses can
use the opportunity to
showcase their wares or
services. Those interested
can either make plans to
decorate a table or spon-
sor a table for $200 and
the Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce will take care
of the decorating. The agri-
cultural trade show brings
people in from across the
Pacific Northwest.
White table cloths and
white linen napkins will be
provided. The tables can be
decorated Thursday, Nov.
29 between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
at the Hermiston Commu-
nity Center, 415 S. High-
way 395. Those responsi-
ble for decorating the table
must provide a centerpiece
and additional décor for
eight settings. Table guests
will take home the decora-
tive items.
For more information
about decorating a table
or a sponsorship, contact
Kelly Schwirse at kelly@
hermistonchamber.com or
541-567-6151.
Wildhorse’s
Hegarty wins
merchandiser
award
PENDLETON — Mike
Hegarty, head golf profes-
sional at Wildhorse Resort
& Casino in Mission, was
selected as the 2018 Mer-
chandiser of the Year by
the Central Washington
Chapter PGA.
This award is based on
a professional’s overall
performance in merchan-
dising and unusual and
innovative promotion of
sales, according to Tyler
Brooks, the organization’s
chair. The award considers
the skill of planning and
presenting of merchan-
dise in a timely basis, and
through the use of special-
ized merchandising tech-
niques that include display
and advertising.
The awards will be
given out at the Cen-
tral Washington Chapter
Spring Meeting in March,
according to Brooks.
4 , 000
$
HIGHLANDERS
OFF!
IN STOCK!
Stk# 18h889. See dealer for details. $4,000 off msrp. $2,500 Rogers discount and $1,500 Toyota Financial Service customer cash. Plus tax, title
and $75 doc fee. On approved credit. Offer expires 11/30/18.
ALL NEW 2018
TUNDRAS
IN STOCK!
5 , 500
$
OFF!
Stk# 18h957. See dealer for details. $5,500 off msrp. $2,500 Rogers discount and $3,000 Toyota Financial Service customer cash.
Plus tax, title and $75 doc fee. On approved credit. Offer expires 11/30/18.
ALL NEW 2018
RAV4 ’S
IN STOCK!
4 , 000
$
OFF!
Stk# 18h1057. See dealer for details. $4,000 off msrp. $1,000 Rogers discount and $3,000 Toyota Financial Service customer cash.
Plus tax, title and $75 doc fee. On approved credit. Offer expires 11/30/18.