CAMPBELL SOUP TO SELL ITS INTERNATIONAL AND FRESH FOOD BUSINESSES In an attempt to regain its financial footing and shift the company’s focus back on its signature packaged foods, Campbell Soup announced that it is selling its internation- al and fresh food businesses, which includes Bolthouse Farms, as well as its overseas brands Arnott’s and Kelsen. The board considered a "full slate of strategic options, including optimizing the portfolio, divesting businesses, splitting the company, and pursuing a sale,” Campbell’s interim CEO, Keith McLoughlin said in a recent statement. The board concluded that the “best path forward” is to “focus the company on two core businesses in the North American market,” he added. Company executives are blaming the companies offering up too many initiatives at once for its poor performance and given the legacy of the business, Campbells had little expe- rience and no brand reputation in the fresh food industry. Campbell has been under pressure from shareholders to increase profits and some market analysts say that there could be a potential sale of the entire company and specu- lation that Kraft Heinz might make a move to purchase the 149-year-old soup maker.
WALMART STORES TO STOCK MORE TOYS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
Walmart announced that it is expanding its assortment of toys by 30 percent at all brick-and- mortar locations this holiday season, and it will offer 40 percent more toys on Walmart.com.
Walmart will shift store space allotted for seasonal goods, like back-to-school merchandise to toys as the holiday season approaches in an attempt to “show customers the best place to shop for toys is Walmart,”said Anne Marie Kehoe, the vice president of Walmart’s U.S. toy business.
This announcement shows that Walmart is aggressively going after market share this holiday season and looking to fill the void for holiday gift givers that was created after hundreds of Toys R Us stores closed their doors earlier this year.
Toys R Us leaving the sector has opened the door for other retailers, like Walmart and those not traditionally known for being a toy retailer, like Party City, who is opening 50 Toy City stores this holiday season, to step in and take more of the $21 billion toy market share this holiday season.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2018
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