The general merchandise retail industry has a number of segments represented by the following companies:

               Company Name                        Merchandise Concept             
       Costco Wholesale Corporation       Membership warehouse
       Walmart Stores, Inc                         Discount general merchandise
       Nordstrom, Inc                                 Fashion department store

For a recent year, the following cost of goods sold and beginning and ending inventories are provided from corporate annual reports (in millions) for these three companies:
                                       Costco             Walmart         Nordstrom  
Cost of goods sold        $98,458             $365,086         $8,406
Inventories:
     Beginning of year     7,894                 44,858             1,531
     End of year               8,456                 45,141             1,733

A.  Determine the inventory turnover ratio for all three companies. (Round all calculations to one decimal place.)
B.  Determine the number of days’ sales in inventory for all three companies. (Use 365 days and round all calculations to one decimal place.)
C.  Interpret these results based on each company’s merchandising concept.