Thursday Tipsheet: Wmart ‘Humbled’, ‘Cut Muscle’ | Costco/Alibaba Took 1 Yr | Amazon Adds 80K
“Wal-Mart to add two online fulfillment centers, build fewer supercenters” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “The new centers will be located in Bethlehem, Penn., and Atlanta, and each will be approximately 1.2 million square feet…Spending on traditional brick and mortar stores has been trimmed by nearly $500 million this year to $11.5 billion. Next year Wal-Mart said it plans to spend between $10.4 billion and $11.4 billion, a reduction of another $600 million.” Read more
“Walmart U.S. CEO: “We have cut muscle instead of fat.” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “I have gotten some 3,000 emails around 260 a day from my teams in the field. I can sense new energy because they have a voice they want to share and I have learned tons,” Foran said. “It’s been an unvarnished appraisal, a diagnostic review of our business from Springfield to Dallas, Atlanta to Grand Rapids and Detroit this past Sunday.” Read more
“The Humbling of Wal-Mart: ‘There Is No Excuse for Us Not to Be Doing Better'” by Susan Berfield at Bloomberg. “McMillon said Wal-Mart still has problems keeping the right items in stock and helping customers get through checkout lines quickly. “We cannot let the competition beat us on price,” …Greg Foran, head of U.S. stores, also noted that in some places, Wal-Mart wasn’t offering the lowest prices.” Read more
“Walmart will accelerate investments in e-commerce and moderate global square footage growth” Read the release
“Walmart CEO Outlines Growth Strategy” Read the release
“Costco-Alibaba partnership was a year in the making, CFO says” by Rachel Lerman at Puget Sound Bus. Journal. “Costco is selling about 100 products on Alibaba’s TMall platform, Galanti said. It’s mostly food, health and beauty items. “Hopefully, if it works, we’ll continue to add products,” (Richard Galanti) said.” Read more
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“Best Buy bets on Intel pop-up stores to drive traffic” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “As it looks to bolster its reputation for technological expertise, Best Buy Co. Inc. has teamed up with Intel Corp. to showcase concepts such as augmented reality and 3-D printing that are not yet in the mass market.” Read more
“Sears Canada Names Boire Acting CEO” by Lauren-Coleman Lochner at Bloomberg “Boire spent the earlier part of his career in the consumer electronics business, working for Sony Electronics Inc. for 17 years in various roles and then moved to Best Buy Co. as general merchandise manager.” Read more
“Amazon Creating 80,000 Seasonal Jobs at Fulfillment Centers” “Amazon now has more than 50 fulfillment centers in the U.S. and will have more than 15 sortation centers by the end of 2014. The new network of sortation centers is fueling a range of innovations like Sunday delivery.” Read the release
“Buffett sells off ‘huge mistake’ Tesco” by Catherine Boyle at CNBC. “Berkshire, which used to own close to 5 percent…now holds less than 3 percent, according to a stock market filing on Thursday.” Read more
“Issaquah council OKs Costco headquarters expansion” at KOMO News. “The Issaquah City Council approved a 30-year agreement Monday with Costco that will allow the warehouse store chain to expand its headquarters as needed in the future.” Read more
“Retailers pass on Google Express” by Shalene Gupta at Fortune. “American Eagle Outfitters, Office Depot, and grocery store chain Lucky no longer want to hitch a ride…While Target is one of the retailers signed up for Google Express, it is not planning to expand into Google Express’s new cities…“Target has taken a test-and-learn approach with Google Express,” Eddie Baeb, a Target spokesperson.” Read more
“Westlake Ace Hardware will close its KC distribution center” at Kansas City Star. “Westlake Ace Hardware said it plans to close its Lenexa distribution center by July 31, 2015. The 265,000-square-foot facility, which also houses the company’s headquarters, is at 14000 Marshall Drive. Westlake said its executive operations will remain at the Lenexa location.” Read more
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