Tipsheet: Hibbett +0.7% | F.Locker +4.7% | Gap -3.0% | Alibaba’s Squad | Lowe’s Uses Facebook
Gap Q3 Comp Sales -3.0% “Gap Global: negative 8 percent…Banana Republic Global: negative 8 percent…Old Navy Global: positive 3 percent.” Press release
…Gap Shares Flop After Chain Says It Will Close More Stores Than Expected at Fortune. “Given that challenging traffic trends have continued, we are investing meaningfully in marketing across our portfolio brands during the holiday season,” outgoing Chief Financial Officer Sabrina Simmons said on an earnings call.” Read more
Hibbett Sports Q3 Comp Sales +0.7% “At the end of the quarter, we opened our first store in California and are excited about the growth opportunity for this state in the future,” Rosenthal continued.” Press release
Foot Locker Beats Profit Expectations While Sales Match at Fox Business. “Same-store sales grew 4.7%, in line with the FactSet consensus.” Read more
Restoration Hardware’s new incarnation seeks to restore retailer’s luster by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. “After nearly a year and a half of construction at University Village, upscale furnishings retailer Restoration Hardware on Friday is opening RH Seattle, the eighth expansive, multilevel store the company says represents its current identity and future direction.” Read more
Jeff Bezos Invests Billions to Make Amazon a Top E-Commerce Player in India by Newley Purnell at Wall Street Journal. “Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates that by the end of this year Amazon will control about 28% of India’s total e-commerce gross merchandise volume. That is still well behind market leader Flipkart’s 43% share. But if you take away the sales of Flipkart’s separate fashion website, Amazon’s sales have been higher in recent months, says a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Sachin Salgaonkar.” Read more (subscription)
How Alibaba Turns Wealthy Shopaholics Into a Marketing Squad by Selina Wang at Bloomberg. “…Meng’s lavish spending habits earned her an invite to Alibaba Passport, or APASS. An exclusive rewards program, APASS is a mashup of Facebook, Amazon Prime and the American Express Black Card. Its 100,000 members get the usual perks—deals, trips, personal service—but are also encouraged to join online communities of shopaholics who blog and talk up Alibaba.” Read more
TreeHouse, an eco-friendly home improvement alternative, to sell products online Read more
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Lowe’s Is Using Facebook Live to Unveil Its Black Friday Deals This Weekend by Christopher Heine at Adweek. “(Lowe’s) will reveal 11 Black Friday deals during a 20-minute segment on Facebook Live on Saturday. Lowe’s didn’t disclose a budget spend, but it’s been running video ads on the social platform for the last two weeks to push the livestream event, which is called “Mystery Box Bonanza.” Read more
Amazon offers exclusive shopping deals to people who order through its AI voice assistant Alexa by Arjun Kharpal. Read more
Bon-Ton sees same store sales plummet 4.9% in third quarter by Melanie Lawder at Milwaukee Business Journal. Read more
Amazon.com’s Marketplace Concept Spreads to Other Retailers by Laura Stevens at Wall Street Journal. “(Crate & Barrel) is adding items to its online assortment, such as kitchen tools and other small appliances, that it won’t handle or ship…More than 250 retailers have added this type of capability in the past couple of years.” Read more (subscription)
Best Buy’s continues to outperform even while Samsung recall dents holiday momentum by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Best Buy executives said the issue, along with some other product recalls in appliances, had a $60 million impact in the third quarter and will lead to $200 million less in sales than expected in the fourth quarter. The company now expects comparable sales in the November-to-January quarter to range from down 1 percent to up 1 percent.” Read more
The Buckle Q3 Comp Sales -15.3% Press release
Walmart Canada snatches more gains from traditional grocers, but the Juggernaut is slowing by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “In Canada, a “cost analytics program continues in helping drive down cost of goods allowing us to invest in price,” Brett Biggs…told a conference call Thursday.” Read more
Stage Stores Q3 Comp Sales -8.2% Press release
NRF Welcomes Defeat of Labor Department’s Speech-Chilling ‘Persuader’ Rule Press release
Sprint wants majority stake in Kroger’s i-wireless by Bowdeya Tweh at Cincinnati Enquirer. Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
This bizarre toy is the hottest item of the holiday season
Table service, touch-screen order kiosks coming to all U.S. McDonald’s
Nielsen Forecasts Digital Shopping Will Drive Retail Holiday Sales In 2016
Carhartt’s New Ad Chronicles the 127-Year Evolution of the Working Man
Fast Retailing CEO Not Interested in J. Crew, Other Acquisitions (WSJ Subs.)
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