The two retail giants are capitalizing on sustained investment in their technology foundations even as they face economic headwinds.

The company marked a milestone in May — posting its first profitable quarter for its e-commerce business in the U.S. and globally.

Walmart's results WMT.N on Thursday show U.S. consumers across the spectrum are still flocking to the retailer's stores despite economic headwinds, but shares dipped as the company's margins ebbed and inventory costs rose.

Fiddelke acknowledged many of these problems on Wednesday, saying Target was “urgently adjusting” to tariffs and changing consumer needs, embracing technology to automate manual work, and working to mend problems like slow decision-making, siloed internal goals, and a lack of access to quality data that would drive better inventory planning.

It didn’t have to be this way. At the start of his tenure, Cornell, who the company announced yesterday will step down as CEO on February 1, was an outsider unafraid to move fast and break things. He had been CEO of a big PepsiCo unit, Michaels Stores, and Sam’s Club before that.

But today's focus is on the state of retail, with Walmart (WMT) reporting a mixed second quarter and Target (TGT) delivering another weak quarter on Tuesday. Both of these earnings reports couldn’t have been more different, though each clearly showed the ...

Walmart's Q2 earnings missed Wall Street profit forecasts with adjusted EPS of $0.68, but sales surged to $177.4bn as e-commerce, memberships, and advertising drove growth.

According to a recent analyst note obtained by MarketWatch, BofA analysts state that because of its high import exposure, Target will need to increase its prices to twice the rate