Today In Retail: Panasonic Agrees To Purchase Blue Yonder; Skechers Cashes In On Pandemic-Era Walking Trend

In today’s top retail news, Panasonic announced it has agreed to acquire Blue Yonder, while Skechers said its first-quarter sales climbed by 15 percent. Plus, Square has introduced new inventory management features for its retail sellers.

Panasonic Agrees To Acquire Blue Yonder

Panasonic announced that it has agreed to purchase end-to-end online fulfillment platform company Blue Yonder. Japan-based Panasonic is expected to buy 80 percent of shares ($5.6 billion) of Blue Yonder. The deal come as a surge in eCommerce has strengthened demand for technology to smooth the flow of moving merchandise from vendors to merchants to shoppers.

Skechers Cashes In On COVID-Era Walking Trend With Record Q1 Results

Skechers announced that its first-quarter sales increased 15 percent to $1.4 billion for the three months concluding March 3. “Skechers new sales record in the first quarter is a remarkable achievement, especially given the lockdown measures in many key countries, including across Europe,” CEO Robert Greenberg said in an announcement. Skechers also said it experienced a dramatic rise in direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales last quarter.

Square Unveils New Inventory Management Features For Retailers

Square has debuted new inventory management functionalities for its retail sellers. The firm said in an announcement that the new functionalities are meant to “provide sellers greater control over their inventory management, and improve efficiency with better ways to create, count and reorder inventory.” Quick inventory counting is among those features. And “Easy Item Create” helps merchants populate their catalog.

Walmart To Focus On Faster Fulfillment, More Features And Greater Assortment

Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said the company is continually adjusting to experiences and events and pointed out that a year of pandemic-related changes and hurdles confirmed the firm’s resolve  to its omnichannel roadmap. The comments were made in the executive’s letter to shareholders inside of the Walmart 2020 Annual Report, which reflected on the past and pointed to the road ahead.