Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: Cost cutting your way to a better day
Check out how cost cutting helped Whirlpool.
The world’s biggest appliance maker used cost cuts to offset weak sales as it reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit. Whirlpool also raised its full-year profit outlook, citing downsizing and — yes, you guessed it — cost cuts as demand remains uncertain in many markets.
Sales at appliance makers like Whirlpool, known for its Maytag and KitchenAid brands, and Sweden’s Electrolux have suffered in the global economic slowdown as consumers trim spending on items not deemed essential.
Whirlpool’s recent cost cutting actions have included plant closures, consolidation of its Chinese operations, lower retirement plan contributions, frozen salaries and lower capital spending.
Also in the basket:
Fortune Brands profit tops Street view
Cache posts wider-than-expected Q3 loss; sees Q4 profit
Wal-Mart shrinks US supercenters, sees tepid sales
Long lines as Microsoft opens retail store
Amazon soars above Street view, shares skyrocket
(Reuters photo)
Check Out Line: Bottoms Up!
Check out the slowing sales at Diageo. 
The world economy is in a shambles. You would think people would drink more, not less.
But Diageo — the folks who make Smirnoff vodka, Guinness beer and Johnnie Walker whisky — warned today that sales growth was slowing – a lot.
The company slashed its profit growth forecast and said it did not expect any improvement in the second half of the year from slowing sales growth it saw in the first half.
“What we are seeing is sales growth slowing. Consumer demand is soft in certain parts of the world, we are seeing some destocking and we are stopping some orders where we have concerns about credit quality,” Finance Director Nick Rose said in an interview.
The company also said it would cut an unspecified number of jobs as part of a program aimed at reducing costs by $144 million
Hopefully, somebody will by those displaced workers a drink.
Also in the basket:
Coca-Cola profit tops view, shares rise
U.S. retail sales unexpectedly up 1 percent
(Reuters photo)
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