Wal-Mart Stores, the nation's largest retailer and a rare bright star in the grim retailing universe, said Tuesday that it planned to cut 700 to 800 jobs at its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., as it made broad changes to its operations.
For example, Wal-Mart, which had a 3.4percentt sales increase in November and has been bucking grim retailing trends, said Friday it would sell slightly discounted iPhone 3Gs at nearly 2,500 stores beginning Sunday.
Despite the grim tally of retail collapses in which problems with vouchers have featured prominently, the association said sales of gift cards and vouchers actually increased by 3% in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2012.
The news is blazingly grim on the retail front.
Despite grim news on unemployment, retail sales, and corporate earnings, he is hopeful that an economic recovery will begin sometime next year.
The recession has taken a grim toll on the retail sector with tens of thousands of jobs disappearing as weaker chains collapse and even strong multiples look to cut costs.
Zavvi's fall into administration comes in a grim week for the retail sector, which began with insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor predicting that 15 national and regional chains would collapse early next year.
But the picture remains grim in other sections, with retail sales down in the Midwest, loan demand falling in New York, commercial real estate weakening and manufacturing activity stumbling in many regions.
With economic recession in the air and layoffs everywhere, the outlook for online retail sales looks grim this holiday season.
British retail stocks were down Tuesday morning amid grim predictions for 2017.
