Today’s Headlines: Publix Fights Wmart | Tractor Supply +16% | Obama Loves Costco
“The Wal-Mart Slayer: How Publix’s People-First Culture Is Winning The Grocer War” by Brian Solomon at Forbes. “Family-run Publix is both the largest employee-owned company and the most profitable grocer in America. Those two facts are linked, and they might be the formula for fending off Bentonville’s retail behemoth.” Read more
“Target’s Online Video Campaign to Turn College Kids into Lifelong Paying Customers” by Brad Tuttle at Time. “The stakes are higher for retailers trying to connect specifically to the back-to-college crowd. These retailers aren’t just trying to sell some merchandise in the short term. They’re hoping to create bonds that’ll keep these consumers as fans of the brand for decades to come.” Read more
“Cruising The Aisles For The Next Grocery Deal” by John Dobosz at Forbes. “With Harris Teeter now paired with Kroger, another Tar Heel State supermarket chain looks like it could be in play: Ingles Markets, which operates 204 stores–about the same size as Harris Teeter–in the Southeast. Others that might attract suitors include Weis Markets and Village in the Northeast, and Roundy’s, a popular regional chain in Minnesota and Wisconsin.” Read more
“No-frills foodstore Aldi is expanding” by Patt Johnson at Des Moines Register. “Overall, Aldi is looking to add up to 80 stores per year in the United States, including a new market, California…“Over the last five years we’ve developed our product offerings. Aldi used to be viewed as a stock-up store where you’d buy a lot of canned goods that were mostly brands you didn’t recognize,” he said. “It’s changed a lot. In the last 10 years we’ve doubled our product range from 700 items to 1,400.” Read more
“Target builds mobile momentum via in-store promotions, video” by Lauren Johnson at Mobile Commerce Daily. “Target rolled out in-store signage last weekend to promote its iPhone and Android app. The calls-to-action are placed throughout the store, including in checkout lanes and on aisle end caps. The first set of store signage features a photo of a smartphone and encourages consumers who are looking for help in-store to download the app.” Read more
“Tractor Supply 2nd-Quarter Profit Rises 16%” by Anna Prior at WSJ. “The company also raised the low end of its same-store sales forecast for the year, now expecting growth of 4% to 5% compared with prior expectations for an increase of 3% to 5%.” Read more
“Presidential Praise for Costco and the Container Store” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “Here the President’s direct quote: “We’ll need our businesses, the best in the world, to pressure Congress to invest in our future, and set an example by providing decent wages and salaries to their own employees. And I’ll highlight the ones that do just that – companies like Costco, which pays good wages and offers good benefits; or the Container Store, which prides itself on training its workers and on employee satisfaction.” Read more
“OfficeMax CFO departs to take same post at Supervalu” by Dhanya Skariachan at Reuters. “”We believe the departure of Mr. Besanko could create some confusion and distraction for OfficeMax at a time when the company is undergoing a planning process for the pending merger with Office Depot and is in the midst of its busiest selling season,” Citi analyst Kate McShane wrote in a note to clients.” Read more
“Walmart and Whole Foods at Top of ‘EPA’s Green Power’ list” by Christina DesMarais at Green Biz. “More than 1,400 groups, including Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, government entities as well as colleges and universities, have joined the EPA’s Green Power partnership.” Read more
“Are Kmart’s Playfully ‘Offensive’ Ads Losing their Punch?” by Mark Miller at Brand Channel. “Its latest campaign, aimed at a younger demographic, according to InvestorPlace, features a culturally-diverse bunch of kids telling “Yo Mama” jokes to one another, though the jokes all are about how cool the clothes are and how awesome “yo mama” must be for buying them at Kmart: “Yo mama get that hoodie at Kmart?” “Yeah, dawg.” “Well, yo mama must have cavities, ‘cuz that hoodie is sweeeeeeeet!” And so on.” See the ad
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