This week in retail: Walmart’s Black November, and Instacart’s first earnings call

Welcome back, everyone. Yep, it’s that time of year when it gets dark at like 4pm, but we hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep on Sunday. You’ll need it, because there’s a lot going on this week.

In sales: If it wasn’t already clear, the holiday shopping period now starts months before December 25. Walmart cemented that last week when it revealed it’s having a “Black Friday” sales event that starts…this Wednesday?

• At noon ET that day, Walmart+ members will gain early access to online deals; the general public can start shopping three hours later. On Friday, those deals will be available in stores.
• Walmart's Deals Holiday Kickoff sale ran ahead of Amazon's Prime Day last month.

In hirings: Last week, United Natural Foods appointed Andre Persaud retail president and CEO, and his tenure starts today. The 30-year retail vet and former chief retail officer at Rite Aid will head the company’s two retail operations.

• Persaud’s experience also includes leadership roles at Wakefern Foods/ShopRite, Burlington, Walmart Canada, and most recently as a senior advisor for Alvarez & Marsal Consumer and Retail Group.
• UNFI has delivered lackluster earnings of late, and removed Persaud’s predecessor last month.

In earnings: On Wednesday, Instacart will issue its first earnings report since going public in September. Shares are trading lower than their initial $30 IPO price, at $27.30 as of Monday morning’s opening.

• Instacart had previously laid off workers and cut back on expenses.
• In Q2, revenue grew 15% to $716 million, but that was down from a 40% increase a year earlier.