Tipsheet: Visa Pays Shoppers to Skip Wmart | CVS Cuts 600 | Ad Age Target Iview | Trader Joe’s Wants Smiles
CVS Health to cut about 600 jobs over next two months at Fox Business. “…mostly at its corporate offices in Rhode Island, Illinois and Arizona over the next two months, citing an increasingly competitive environment.” Read more
Visa ups ante in battle with Walmart, offers Manitobans $10 to shop elsewhere by Barbara Shecter at Financial Post. “We hope this eases the inconvenience for Visa cardholders in Manitoba who cannot use their card everywhere they may want to,” Visa Canada spokesperson Carla Hindman said in an interview. Alex Roberton, a spokesman for Walmart Canada, told CBC News: “We don’t comment on how other organizations want to promote their brand.” Read more
At Trader Joe’s, Good Cheer May Hide Complaints by Noam Scheiber at NY Times via Boston Globe. “According to an unfair labor practices charge filed Thursday with a National Labor Relations Board regional office, Thomas Nagle, a longtime employee of the Trader Joe’s store on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was repeatedly reprimanded because managers judged his smile and demeanor to be insufficiently “genuine.” Read more
Sam’s Club Goes High-End in China at Bloomberg. “Over the past two years, the retailer has repositioned the 14 Sam’s Clubs in the country to offer more expensive products…Walmart sees big potential in China: Its Sam’s Club in Shenzhen, a fast-growing urban center in the southeast, is the chain’s best-performing outlet globally…“Sam’s Club’s potential in China is greater than anywhere,” says Walmart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon.” Read more
Amazon Prods Its Sellers to Free Up Warehouse Space by Laura Stevens at Wall Street Journal. “Amazon.com Inc. has a holiday message for the millions of merchants who rely on it to fill their online orders: Don’t clutter its warehouses with stuffed Easter bunnies, Fourth of July banners or other out-of-season goods…“We’re trying to incentivize sellers to wait to send us the Easter-themed cookie cutter sets,” said Cynthia Williams, vice president of Fulfillment by Amazon.” Read more (subscription)
What Putting Kids in Charge Did for Target by Adrianne Pasquarelli at Ad Age. “At the Ad Age Brand Summit in Los Angeles this week, Mr. White talked about how the company’s first-ever kid-created campaign strengthened the Target brand, its results and how the company plans to top the effort in 2017.” :48 video with Mr. White
J. Crew to Discontinue Bridal Business in Chain’s Latest Misfire by Lindsey Rupp at Bloomberg. “The retailer plans to “focus on what women like to wear to someone else’s wedding, versus what they would wear to their own”. Read more
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Lowe’s Delivers Augmented Reality: Now Available on Aisle 3 Press release
New French-language rules for outdoor signage coming to Quebec at CBC News. “Changes to Quebec’s sign laws that were announced in May will go into effect Nov. 24, the provincial government announced Wednesday…Existing signs and trade-marked businesses such as Costco and BestBuy will have three years to add French descriptors to their outdoor signage.” Read more
Fashion brand Fossil will close some stores, reorganize its business by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “The company has hired a consulting firm to help it reorganize and improve its operations, Kartsotis said. “We grew from a $1 billion [a year] business to $3 billion very quickly. We don’t have the most elegant processes.” Read more
Big Brands Are Already Targeting Their Competitors With Apple Search Ads by Lauren Johnson at Adweek. “Walmart’s Jet.com is zeroing in on folks looking for online grocery service Peapod, and food-delivery service Eat24 is serving its ads alongside queries for “Pizza Hut.” Amazon is homing in on searches for CVS’ pharmacy-refill app, and ads for Boxed, an app that lets consumers buy packaged goods at wholesale prices, appear when people type in “Sam’s Club.” Read more
Publix expands Starbucks pilot program to Charlotte stores by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Business Journal. Read more
Online discount store Hollar raises $30 million and moves headquarters to Commerce by Paresh Dave at LA Times. “Chief Executive David Yeom said Hollar exceeded $1 million in monthly sales within its first six months, but he declined to disclose current usage or sales figures…it is moving into a 200,000-square-foot facility once used by 99 Cents Only Stores, Yeom said. 99 Cents Only Stores maintains headquarters elsewhere in Commerce.” Read more
Fred’s October Comp Sales -3.4% Press release
Kroger exec on Roundy’s: ‘We’re shining up a slightly tarnished star’ by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier.”We’re very good at managing high-quality companies and bringing together the best of both worlds,” McMullen told analysts…“One of the things we don’t know is whether we can do a fixer-upper. It is a lot of work.” Read more
Tractor Supply Names Pepsi SVP to Board Press release
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz: How the ‘Amazon effect’ and the U.S. presidential campaign are impacting retail by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “There’s no doubt over the next five years or so we are going to see a dramatic level of retailers not be able to sustain their level of core business as a traditional bricks and mortar retailer and their omni channel approach is not going to be sustainable to maintain the cost of their infrastructure and as a result of that there’s going to be a tremendous amount of changes with regard to the retail landscape.” Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Citi predicts possible 5% drop for S&P 500 if Trump wins, warns on recession
Sneak peek inside L.L. Bean’s first Cincinnati store
Michael Bloomberg Donates $18M for His Crusade Against Sugary Sodas
Neiman Marcus Is Selling Frozen Collard Greens For $66 Plus Shipping
Kroger Hints at More M&A in the Grocery Aisle
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