Thursday Tipsheet: Target Pulls ‘Green Monstah’ Shirt | Home Depot Knows Mobile | Why Macy’s Dumped Trump
Walmart opens 21st store in India after a hiatus of about four years at The Economic Times. “Walmart India recently announced plans to add 50 more cash and carry stores over four to five years, saying it continues to focus on B2B segment in the country.” Read more
Target Names Former Clorox, Safeway CEOs to Board of Directors by Shannon Pettypiece at Bloomberg. “Donald Knauss, 64, served as CEO of Clorox from 2006 to 2014 and was previously chief operating officer for Coca-Cola North America. Robert Edwards, 60, stepped down as head of Safeway in April.” Read more
Home Depot weighs benefits of mobile against pull of stores by Brielle Jaekel at Mobile Marketer. “While we do not have a hundred percent connection across channel I can say that we are just under ten percent of understanding how our customers interact across channels,” said David Albracht, director of ecommerce product management at The Home Depot. “Ten percent does not sound like a whole lot, but with 1.5 billion visits this year that starts to make a lot of sense.” Read more
Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC May Not Launch Until Next Year by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “The company will begin a public pilot of its app in Columbus, Ohio, in a few weeks and will not rush a wider rollout if the product is not ready, he said. “This is a long game,” Mooney said. “Certainly going faster is always better — that’s not necessarily a debatable point. But we’re going to do it right.” Read more
Target pulls ‘Green Monstah’ shirt criticized by Peabody business by Greg Ryan at Boston Business Journal. “Joshua Thomas said Target was yanking the shirt in deference to Sully’s. “Target has an appreciation for design, including the design rights of others, so we’re making the decision to discontinue the shirt,” he said.” Read more
Bankrupt A&P seeks to slash severance so it can pay creditors by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “If approved, the brutal severance slashing would result in employees with 40 years of dedicated employment at the once-thriving grocer seeing their severance cut to $3,000 from $12,000, according to a workers’ union rep.” Read more
Wayfair stock surges after better-than-expected quarter by David Harris at Boston Business Journal. “The company also said that the number of active customers in its retail business was up 56 percent to 4 million as of June 30.” Read more See the earnings release
Fans spot UFC Fighter Ronda Rousey at Texas Walmart by Julie Garcia at Corpus Christi Caller Times. “Local fans spotted her and even got to snap some pictures with the UFC fighter… “Apparently, she went to Walmart to get a hunting license. I imagine she’s down here for a hunting trip,” Cantu said.” See the pic / Read more
Wegmans to stop selling products with microbeads via Rochester Homepage. “The supermarket says for the past two years it has been working with manufacturing to remove products that contain microbeads. Wegmans will be microbead-free before the end of year and sooner, if possible.” Read more
Why we dropped Trump’s menswear line: Macy’s CEO by Matthew J Belvedere at CNBC. “If Hillary Clinton had a handbag collection we won’t carry that either,” CEO Terry Lundgren said.” See the video / Read more
As Macy’s eyes China, some see need for more focus at home by Nandita Bose & Sruthi Ramakrishnan at Reuters. “Sterne Agee CRT Research analysts wrote in a note that China and other strategies, including the plans for discount stores and to sell beauty products, muddy a clear strategy…”What was once a clean retail story has become far more complex (and controversial) with negative comps and an assortment of unproven sales drivers,” they wrote.” Read more
Dillard’s, Inc. Reports Second Quarter Results Read the release
P&G Tripped Up by Its Assumptions About Diapers in China by Serena Ng & Laurie Burkitt at WSJ. “Consumer-focused companies are now shifting gears to go after China’s bigger spenders.Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is remodeling its China stores and stocking shelves with more imported food items like U.S.-grown pecans and Ocean Spray Craisins…. “Consumers are changing so quickly here,” said Reinhold Jakobi, who oversees Nestlé’s food and beverage business in Greater China. “It’s not enough to just serve the low end.” Read more (Subscription)
Americans Are Having the Most Babies in These 20 Cities by Victoria Stilwell & Wei Lu at Bloomberg. See the top 20
UK: Cute, cranky dog in a cast is Amazon’s new pitchman for Prime delivery by Patrick Kulp at Mashable. “In a new one-minute spot, a Maltese puppy hobbles along a park path in a leg cast, gazing longingly at the able-bodied canines literally running circles around him.” See the spot / Read more
Ellen DeGeneres and Bergdorf Goodman Getting Together for Fashion Pop-up by Bridget Foley at WWD. “She’ll tape two shows at an as-yet-unconfirmed Gotham location, and her ED by Ellen collection will open at one of the world’s great bastions of luxury, Bergdorf Goodman.” Read more
Tipsheet Extra
Cramer on Macy’s: Is retail even worth it anymore?
2015’s Best and Worst Cities for Pet Lovers
Ryan Cos. plucked an ex-Target employee as its new director of interior design
Retailers crack Inc. 5000
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Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet is created early every weekday morning and read by retail merchants and executives worldwide. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail. See our website at www.eyeonretail.net