Tipsheet: WSJ Aldi Close-Up | WM Wants Layaway Protection | F.Line -4.5% | Target Expands Restock
Finish Line Q2 comp sales -4.5% “Our second quarter results were shaped by a very promotional marketplace for athletic footwear,” said Sam Sato, Chief Executive Officer of Finish Line.” Press release
WISH is worth more than Sears, Macy’s and JC Penney… combined by Gene Marks at Washington Post via San Diego Tribune. “How about a $1 wristwatch or an $8 sweater? Or better yet, how about paying just the shipping costs-and almost nothing more-for a necklace, a plastic toy or lipstick? All of this is yours if you don’t mind waiting two-to-four weeks. The low prices are due to where the products are coming from: direct from Chinese manufacturers with no middleman.” Read more
…The Wish shopping app is paying more than $30 million to put its logo on Lakers jerseys by Jason Del Rey at Recode. Read more
Wal-Mart seeks price protection on layaway items by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “The retailer is asking suppliers to cover the cost on all inventory when there is a price drop such as year-end closeouts or holiday promotions. For example, if a customer buys a television for $800 and puts that item in layaway ahead of Christmas, but the manufacturer lowers the cost to $725 to help clear inventory by year-end, Wal-Mart will expect the supplier to cover the $75 price differential per item in the retailer’s inventory, which includes layaway.” Read more
Target expands Restock household supply service to 8 additional cities by Catherine Roberts at Star Tribune. “Target is extending its next-day delivery of household essentials to eight more major markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta. In mid-October, when Target Restock expands to the San Francisco metro, the service will reach more than 70 million people in 11 major markets, or about one-fifth of the U.S. population, the company said Thursday. The service launched in the spring in Minneapolis. Dallas and Denver were added over the summer. Also added Thursday were Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis and the Washington, D.C./Baltimore areas.” Read more (tiered subs.)
CVS to cap prescriptions to seven-day supply amid battling opioid epidemic by Leonard Greene at NY Daily News. “The drug store chain will also reach out to doctors about prescriptions that seem to be excessive, and put a cap on daily dosages.” Read more
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This is Amazon’s newest food deal by Jade Scipionia at Fox Business. “The company announced Friday that it has a new partnership with New York-based startup Olo to help streamline food ordering as the retailer continues to build its Amazon Restaurants brand, an exclusive food delivery platform for its Prime members. Olo is one of the leading digital food ordering services used by over 180 national brands.” Read more
Frank Blake will be inducted into Junior Achievement’s Atlanta Business Hall of Fame on Feb. 24, 2018 by Maria Saporta at Atlanta Business Chronicle Subscription required
How Aldi Plans to Conquer America: Limit Choice by Zeke Turner at Wall Street Journal. “Even in Germany, not much is known about how Aldi operates. It does little media advertising, doesn’t publish financial statements, and its top executives don’t give interviews. The Wall Street Journal figured out Aldi’s idiosyncratic playbook through internal documents, the company’s rare public filings, and interviews with past and present managers.” Read more (subs.)
Office Depot hires new Chief Legal Officer by Emon Reiser at South Florida Business Journal. “David Bleisch will be the new chief legal officer at Office Depot. He’s the second c-suite executive the retailer has recently hired from ADT Corp.” Read more
Walmart partners with smart lock maker August to test in-home delivery of packages and groceries by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “…it will begin testing a new service that will allow customers with August smart home devices, like the August doorbell and security cameras, to have their packages delivered inside their home instead of left on the doorstep…it will soon start this test in the Silicon Valley area with select customers who have opted into to try the new service.” Read more
L.L.Bean Made a Clever Newspaper Ad That You Can Only Read Outdoors by Tim Nudd at Adweek. “The brand’s new tagline, “Be an Outsider,” appears in large lettering below, along with an additional entreaty: “No, seriously. Take this outside.”…The ad was made with something called photochromic ink, which is colorless indoors but turns different colors when exposed to ultraviolet light, usually from the sun or a black light.” Read more
Nestlé Makes Billions Bottling Water It Pays Nearly Nothing For by Caroline Winter at Bloomberg. “The Michigan operation is only one small part of Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company. But it illuminates how Nestlé has come to dominate a controversial industry, spring by spring, often going into economically depressed municipalities with the promise of jobs and new infrastructure in exchange for tax breaks and access to a resource that’s scarce for millions.” Read more (registration required)
Amazon has a low-key start-up, Amazon Live, focused on ways to make purchases through interactive videos at CNBC. “The company announced a hiring blitz in New York on Thursday. One job posting was for a user experience designer for “Amazon Live,” a start-up that “leverages interactive streaming video to create new shopping experiences for customers,” according to the job posting.” Read more
CDC Issues New Mosquito Warning by Ian Johnston at Independent. “In a paper published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, it revealed maps showing areas where the habitat was suitable for two particular species of mosquito, Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus to survive. A study found 71 per cent of counties in the 48 contiguous states were suitable for aegypti and 75 per cent could support albopictus.” Read more
Pinterest opens up more than 5,000 interests for advertiser targeting through its Taste Graph by Matthew Lynley at TechCrunch. Read more
Retail shouldn’t ditch the store because millennials love it at CNBC. “Seventy-one percent of millennials are visiting multiple stores in search of bargains, compared with 57 percent of baby boomers, according to First Insight.” Read more
Amazon to Create 2,000 Jobs in New Manhattan Office by Natalie Wong at Bloomberg. Read more
Report: Wal-Mart U.S. e-commerce posted impressive sales growth numbers through the first half of this year with gross merchandise value (GMV) of U.S. sales rising 69% in the first quarter and 67% in the second quarter over the prior-year periods by Kim Souza at The City Wire. Read more
Tiffany names Roger Farah as Chairman Press release
Trix cereal is bringing back artificial colors because customers complained at CNBC. “…customers have complained, with one reportedly calling the new product “basically a salad,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Another said she liked the way the artificial colors and high-fructose corn syrup look and taste, the report said.” Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
T-Mobile, Sprint close to agreeing deal terms – sources
Experian Site Can Give Anyone Your Credit Freeze PIN
Bill Murray’s Golf Company Adds Cubs Owner, Celebs as Investors
Mastermind Toys eyes Quebec expansion as Toys ‘R’ Us flounders
Gatorade banned and fined $300k for bad-mouthing water
Amazon adds a few new Star Trek skills to AI assistant’s repertoire
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