Tipsheet: Costco +7.3% | C.Tire Buys Supplier | Walmart Go Back!
Costco April Comp Sales (ex. gas/foreign exchange) +7.3% “…net sales of $10.81 billion for the retail month of April, the four weeks ended May 6, 2018, an increase of 13.1 percent from $9.56 billion last year.” Press release
10 teams win federal approval to push the limits with drones, but Amazon’s left out by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. 10 sites chosen/Read more
Burberry sues Target for allegedly counterfeiting its check pattern by Dan DeBaun at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “Although Target’s copycat scarves are of inferior quality, they are superficially indistinguishable from genuine Burberry scarves,” the complaint reads.” Read more
Canadian Tire signs deal to buy Helly Hansen for $985 million plus debt at Montreal Gazette. “The retailer said outdoor and workwear are core products in its stores and it has had a long history with Helly Hansen as one of its largest customers.” Read more
Sears will install tires bought on Amazon by Gina Hall at Chicago Business Journal. “As of Wednesday, customers can ship tires to 47 Sears Auto Centers in eight cities, including Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. It will roll out the service to all 400 of its auto centers nationwide in the next few weeks. In addition, Sears will market its DieHard brand tires on Amazon for the first time.” Read more
Macy’s expands rewards program to include all customers by Erin Caproni at Cincinnati Business Courier. Read more
Lampert pushes back against the idea that he always intended Sears to be a real estate play by Brigid Sweeney at Crain’s Chicago Business. “The company has paid $700 million over the last 16 months and $5 billion in the last decade to a fund that covers some 400,000 Sears retirees. “Money doesn’t grow on trees and obviously (that $700 million) wasn’t generated out of cash flow,” Lampert said, adding that Amazon, Home Depot and Lowe’s do not have such burdens.” Read more (Tiered subs.)
H&M tries new strategies to reverse sales slump by Anne Stych at New York Business Journal. Read more
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EBay to sell its stake in Flipkart, relaunch its own India business at CNBC. “CEO Devin Wenig said in a tweet that eBay will focus on bringing imported inventory to India and opening up the worlds’ market to Indian merchants.” Read more
Walmart Go Back! Some Indian trader, farmer groups decry Flipkart deal at Reuters. “While Thursday’s protest was small and unlikely to affect the deal, such sentiments pose a challenge for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it prepares to fight an election next year.” Read more
World’s largest mall on course for approval in Miami by Gary Nelson at CBS Miami. “Developers say the retail shops, indoor pool and beach, waterslides and ski slopes would hire 14,000 people.” Video/Read more
Amazon, Walmart & Kohl’s are the most frequently used retailers for online apparel shoppers by James Melton at Internet Retailer. “Asked where they purchased apparel items online over the preceding 12 months, 24.3% of respondents cited websites operated by Amazon…Walmart cited by 13% of respondents….Kohl’s was the third-most cited retailer at 10.3%.” Read more
Apple Planned to Build a $1 Billion Green Data Center in Ireland. Then 3 Years of Delays Killed It by Natasha Bach at Fortune. “Apple will nevertheless proceed with a second planned data center in Denmark, and noted that the decision not to move forward with the one in Ireland would not have an impact on future projects in the country.” Read more
SuperValu Completes Sale and Leaseback of Seven Distribution Centers Press release
Nearly half of consumers say they are unable to make a purchase at the moment they identify a need or fall in love with a product by Jamus Driscoll at Internet Retailer. “For years, the retail industry has been talking about allowing consumers to shop anytime, anywhere…But, today, the reality is that most have failed to deliver on this vision.” Read more
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