Walgreen Q1 Front-End Comp +1.5% “First quarter sales increased 6.7 percent compared with the prior-year quarter to a record $19.6 billion, with total sales in comparable stores increasing 5.7 percent…customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 2.7 percent, basket size increased 4.2 percent.” Read the release

Canada: Walmart stores busy, Target stores, not so much by Francine Kopun at Toronto Star. “A snapshot of 76 stores across Canada, conducted the weekend of Dec. 13-14, found that 30 out of 38 Walmart stores were busy or very busy. Among 38 Target stores, 15 locations were busy or very busy.” Read more

Judge clears way for Family Dollar merger vote on Tuesday by John Downey at Charlotte Business Journal. “The dissident shareholders have claimed that Family Dollar’s board of directors has failed to properly consider an offer by Dollar General Corp. to buy the company for $80 per share.” Read more

Alibaba’s Tmall Global Site Stumbles by Kathy Chu at WSJ. “A review of the site for The Wall Street Journal suggests about 70% of the stores are doing “almost no volume,” said Jacob Cooke, chief executive of Web Presence in China, a digital marketing agency…Costco..had a “good outcome” on Tmall Global after a launch in October, Alibaba said. For instance, the retailer sells more than 15,000 tubs of mixed nuts and about 6,000 bottles of Cetaphil moisturizing lotion monthly.” Read more (Subscription)

Home Depot’s Frank Blake to Receive NRF Gold Medal Award “The awards will be presented during a keynote session at Retail’s BIG Show – NRF’s 104th Annual Convention and Expo – on January 12.” Read more

Omni-Channel To Omni-Fail: How Target Went Wrong From Sale To Customer Service by Greg Sterling at Marketing Land. “A particularly egregious example of this comes in the form of a recent personal e-commerce experience with Target. It’s effectively a case study, a tale of Byzantine organization, perfunctory customer service and social media impotence – with failures at every point of customer contact.” Read more

Walgreen’s Bumps Home Depot from #1 Spot in Radio at Radio Ink. “Walgreen’s moved into the number one position on the Media Monitors weekly chart airing a total of 38,809 commercials on the radio last week. The Home Depot, which typically occupies the top spot, was pushed down to number four with 28,415.” Read more

Amazon’s top reviewers garner free stuff and death threats by Ben Miller at Puget Sound Business Journal. “Mandy Payne, who’s written more than 2,500 reviews, said she’s received death threats for some of her reviews in addition to the 30 boxes of free products she receives nearly every day.” Read more

Former Walgreen CFO signs severance agreement by Ellen Jean Hirst at Chicago Tribune. “Court documents show that Walgreen’s former CFO has signed a final severance agreement, bringing into question whether he will proceed with a defamation lawsuit against the company.” Read more

RadioShack CMO moves to At Home by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “The company said it has hired Jennifer Warren as chief marketing officer after she spent 20 months at Fort Worth-based RadioShack…“We’ve been hiring people who have run their functions in multiple-billion[-dollar] companies,” said Bird, who was hired in December 2012 to expand the chain. “We need people who’ve been there to get us there.” Read more

Scenes From Putin’s Economic Meltdown by Alec Luhn at Politico. “People were purchasing refrigerators, washing machines, cameras—anything that was less likely to lose its value as fast as the plummeting ruble. Cars in some dealerships were being sold at 30 percent to 50 percent above the recommended retail price, yet “people run and bring their last money,” one social network user wrote.” Read more

Happy Holidays! Eye-on-Retail will return after Christmas.

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. It’s created early AM and delivered around 8 AM EST daily. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Scenes From Putin’s Economic Meltdown