Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Thursday 13 april 2017
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Wal-Mart to discount online-only items delivered to stores

ANNE D’INOCENZIO says it will then expand the vidual shoppers’ homes. been three to five days. streaming music and video
AP Retail Writer price cuts to more than one The offer builds on Wal- Also, at the time, it reduced that have created fierce
NEW YORK (AP) — Starting million items by the end of Mart’s move in late Janu- the spending necessary for loyalty. Analysts say that
next week, Wal-Mart will of- June. ary that replaced a pilot free shipping to $35 from Amazon Prime members
fer discounts on thousands Among some of the offers program offering free ship- $50. These moves are being buy frequently and spend
of online-only items when starting April 19: An infant ping but that came with an spearheaded by Walmart. more money.
customers elect to have car seat that was priced annual fee of $49, with one com’s CEO Mark Lore, who “We’re creating price
them shipped to one of at $148.05 will have an ad- with a lower free-shipping joined the company when transparency to empower
the company’s stores for ditional discount of $7.40. A threshold, faster delivery Wal-Mart bought Jet.com, customers to shop smarter
pickup. Lego Great Vehicles Ferry and no membership fee. which he founded last year. and choose what’s best
The move is part of the priced at $23.99 will have The retailer said it will re- It’s also another illustration for them,” Lore wrote in a
retailer’s efforts to better an additional pickup dis- duce free shipping time to of how Wal-Mart is trying to company blog post. He
compete with online lead- count of $2.55. two days on 2 million of its figure out a way to com- noted now they can ei-
er Amazon. Wal-Mart is able offer the most popular items includ- pete with Amazon and ther pick up an item and
Initially, the discount will be discounts by delivering the ing essentials like diapers its dominant Prime plan. save even more money,
available on about 10,000 products directly to its 4,700 and pet food as well as hot Amazon’s membership or get two-day shipping for
items. But the Bentonville, stores, saving on costs by toys and electronics. Wal- program costs $99 a year, free without paying for a
Arkansas-based retailer avoiding shipping to indi- Mart’s average time has but includes services like membership.q
Delta’s 1Q profit falls, but airline forecasts rising prices

DAVID KOENIG is at stake. Delta claims
AP Airlines Writer that its reputation for reli-
DALLAS (AP) — Rising labor ability allows it to charge a
and fuel costs cut into Del- premium — prices that are
ta’s first-quarter profit, but 9 percent higher on aver-
the airline expects help this age than competitors.
spring from higher average When thunderstorms
prices. rolled through Atlanta last
Delta said Wednesday Wednesday, Delta shut
that it expects a key reve- down operations at Harts-
nue measure to rise by be- field-Jackson Atlanta Inter-
tween 1 and 3 percent in national Airport for most of
the second quarter com- the day.
pared with a year earlier. “The storm hit our largest
That is a sign that after fall- hub during spring break,
ing for two years, average one of the busiest weeks of
fares are heading back up. the season, and it took us
Shares of Atlanta-based several days to fully recov-
Delta Air Lines Inc. rose 68 er the operation,” CEO Ed
cents, or 1.5 percent, to Bastian said on a confer-
$45.97 in afternoon trad- ence call with analysts and
ing. reporters.
The airline’s executives of- A Delta Air Lines sign overlooks the unloading area at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International The effects of the storm
fered their most detailed Airport, in Atlanta. Delta Air Lines reported financial earnings, Wednesday, April 12, 2017. lingered through Sunday
comments yet about last (AP Photo/David Goldman) as planes and crews were
week’s breakdown that led trapped out of position —
to 4,000 canceled flights elers. Executives said the Delta leaders like to boast a flight — 64 during Janu- often unable to get to their
and inconvenienced hun- episode will cost Delta $125 about the number of days ary, February and March, next flight. q
dreds of thousands of trav- million. they go without canceling they said. More than pride
New Jersey:
Best month for online gambling lifts casinos

WAYNE PARRY the calculation, the seven lion a year ago.
Associated Press surviving casinos saw an in- Of the seven brick-and-
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — crease of nearly 17 percent mortar casinos currently
There’s no longer much of last month. operating, only Bally’s post-
a debate about it: Internet Figures released Wednes- ed a decrease, and it was
gambling is helping to save day by the state Division of only 2.2 percent.
Atlantic City’s casinos. Gaming Enforcement show Internet gambling began
New Jersey’s online gam- the casinos won $221.8 mil- in New Jersey in November
bling market had its best lion in March. 2013 as a way to help the
month ever in March, regis- That’s an increase of 9.3 state’s struggling casinos.
tering an increase of more percent compared with It appears to be doing just
than 40 percent from a March 2016. that, gambling authorities
year ago as it helped At- The results were helped by said.
lantic City’s casinos boost an increase of 40.2 per- “Every month should be as
their gambling revenue cent in online gambling good as March was,” said
by more than 9 percent. revenue, which increased Matt Levinson, chairman
When the shuttered Trump to $21.7 million in March, of the New Jersey Casino
Taj Mahal is excluded from compared with $15.5 mil- Control Commission. q