Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” discusses the proposed merger of UK grocery retailers Sainsbury’s and Asda, which would create the country’s largest grocery retailer.
• Many of America’s biggest retailers have been slashing staff even faster than they have been closing stores, a dynamic that has left fewer clerks and longer checkout lines at remaining locations.
• Two of the UK’s biggest grocery retailers, Sainsbury’s and Asda, plan to merge. The merger would result in Asda owner Walmart holding 42% of the new company and receiving £2.975 billion ($4.1 billion) in cash.
• Chinese consumers living overseas represent an increasingly lucrative segment for China’s leading e-commerce companies, including Alibaba and JD.com, especially as online spending growth in China is expected to slow as e-commerce penetration plateaus in major cities.