Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet 11/9/12

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Walmart “Guarantees” Customers its Best Black Friday Ever.  “This year, Walmart will be kicking off its in-store specials at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, followed by its big electronics event at 10 p.m. and a weekend full of savings starting at 5 a.m. on Friday, November 23.”  https://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2012/11/08/walmart-guarantees-customers-its-best-black-friday-ever

“Twitter Chat” with Walmart sustainability Exec Brooke Buchanan on Monday, Nov. 12th @5pm EST: “The chat will be led by Brooke Buchanan, Director, Communications & Sustainability at Walmart, and will include other Walmart associates. CSRwire’s Editorial Director, Aman Singh, and Nick Aster will help facilitate the chat, providing an opportunity for journalists, bloggers, industry analysts and other interested parties to get an in-depth look at Walmart’s sustainability strategy.”  https://www.triplepundit.com/2012/11/walmart-sustainability-chat/

Family Dollar to Present at the Morgan Stanley 2012 Global Consumer Conference on Tuesday, Nov. 13th @2:45pm EST: “Family Dollar Stores, Inc. announced today that the Company will make a presentation to the investment community at the Morgan Stanley 2012 Global Consumer Conference.  A webcast of this presentation can be accessed through the Company’s website at https://corporate.familydollar.com in the “Investors” section under “Presentations & Webcasts.”   https://corporate.familydollar.com/pages/investors.aspx

“Target to showcase CNET reviews as it courts gadget shoppers” by Jessica Wohl in Reuters:  “The partnership between the discount chain and CNET, a website popular with gadget enthusiasts and known for its consumer electronics reviews, kicks off this week after a small test this spring showed that Target’s shoppers appreciated getting third-party reviews in stores.”  https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/08/target-cnet-idUSL1E8M560F20121108

“Sears launches a free-shipping program” by Thad Rueter in Internet Retailer — Like Amazon Prime, the service offers two-day shipping for $79 annually.  “The shipping also applies to items purchased from Kmart and the Sears Marketplace, a sales forum hosted by Sears. For 99 cents extra per order, program members can receive faster shipping. Consumers can try out a membership for 90 days for free.”  https://www.internetretailer.com/2012/11/05/sears-launches-free-shipping-program

Walgreens CFO to Present at Credit Suisse 2012 Health Care Conference on Thursday, Nov. 15 @1:30pm EST:  “Wade Miquelon, chief financial officer and president, international, Walgreen Co. will present during the Credit Suisse 2012 Health Care Conference at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix.  Miquelon will discuss Walgreens strategies for becoming America’s first choice for health and daily living.  Miquelon’s presentation will be webcast live and can be heard by visiting https://investor.walgreens.com/events.cfm.     https://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&newsId=20121108006465&div=-1245645151

“Amazon unveils wine marketplace in some U.S. states” by Alistair Barr in Reuters:  “The service will be available to California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.  Amazon said more states will be added “soon.””  https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/08/us-amazon-wine-idUSBRE8A710Y20121108

“Staples lets Amazon use stores as package pickup points” by Allison Enright in Internet Retailer:  “A search today of Amazon.com for locker locations listed eight Staples stores with Amazon Lockers…The searches also returned 12 RadioShack locations in the San Francisco metro area as having Amazon Lockers.”  https://www.internetretailer.com/2012/11/08/staples-lets-amazon-use-stores-package-pick-points

“Rona’s weak results make Lowe’s deal less likely – analyst”  by Jonathan Ratner in Financial Post:  “…Unfortunately, the Canadian home improvement retailer’s earnings were so poor that the analyst was forced to reduce the probability that Lowe’s will pursue a transaction. Mr. Howlett now sees the odds of that happening at 33%, down from 60% previously.”  https://business.financialpost.com/2012/11/08/ronas-weak-results-make-lowes-deal-less-likely-analyst/

Wegmans to Open Italian Restaurant by Rachel Barnhart at WHAM 13 ABC (includes video clip):  “Wegmans plans to open its first-ever Italian restaurant in NY.”   https://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/wegmans/VtQTiVPyNUChqAiDj6vf-g.cspx?autoplay=1

 

 

Eye-on-Retail Thursday Tipsheet

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Eye-on-Retail

Retail Intel for the Vendor Community

11/8/12

“One on One with The Home Depot’s Carol Tome” from Womenetics.com:  Defining Success — “I like to refer to what Maya Angelou said about success: ‘Pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.’ And in terms of my legacy, I want them to say that I’ve put together an incredible team…”  https://www.womenetics.com/ROLE-MODELS/one-on-one-with-the-home-depots-carol-tome

“Walmart’s small stores take on local supermarkets” by Lisa Liddane with The Orange County Register: “The four Neighborhood Markets in Orange County represent about a seventh of Walmart’s total of 27 new small-format U.S. stores in fiscal year 2012. Next year, the company plans to open 80 more, according to Bill Simon, U.S. president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The company plans to have more than 500 Neighborhood Markets by fiscal year 2016.”  https://www.ocregister.com/articles/walmart-376846-stores-new.html

“Amazon Taunts Retailers, Netflix With $8-Per-Month Prime Plan” by Marcus Wohlson in Wired:  “Only a company as sprawling and powerful as Amazon could take a popular service, make it more expensive, and still reasonably expect that competitors will cringe at the move. Yet Netflix as well as retailers online and off all have reason to fret over Amazon’s recent decision to offer shoppers the option of paying $7.99 per month for Amazon Prime rather than a single $79 annual fee.”  https://www.wired.com/business/2012/11/amazon-monthly-prime-plan/

“Amazon Offers Global Selling Guide” by Julia Wilkinson in EcommerceBytes.com:  “The manual is a general outline of the various considerations sellers need to take into account when deciding to branch out by listing their inventory on Amazon’s international marketplaces, and the benefits of expanding their customer base to outside their home country.”  https://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m11/i07/s03

Barbara Thau in Forbes, “Dollar Chains Tap Smokes, Booze to Drive Sales, Fight Wal-Mart’s Small-Format Stores”: “Dollar stores have undergone an extreme makeover in recent years, emerging as the star performers of the retail sector amid a down economy. Now the nation’s biggest dollar chains are turning to so-called “sin items” to churn even more sales.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/barbarathau/2012/11/06/dollar-chains-tap-smokes-booze-to-drive-sales-fight-wal-marts-small-format-stores/

Lowe’s putting “quiet pressure” on Rona to sell in Canada?  —  “U.S. hardware chain Lowes aims to expand into Winnipeg”on CTV Winnipeg News:  “Earlier this year, Lowes failed in its bid to buy Canadian company Rona.  Cyrenne said acquiring Rona could be Lowes’ real motivation for setting up shop in a city like Winnipeg.”   https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/u-s-hardware-chain-lowes-aims-to-expand-into-winnipeg-1.1025365

“Rona Inc’s profit drops, says “progress interrupted”” by  Allison Martell in Reuters: “Lowe’s takeover proposal, which never made it to the formal offer stage, became a hot-button issue during this year’s provincial election in Quebec, where Rona has deep roots. Politicians from the incumbent Liberal Party and the election’s eventual winner, the Parti Quebecois, both opposed the plan.”  https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/us-rona-results-idUSBRE8A61JN20121107

NBC Today video footage from inside Home Depot’s Atlanta “war room” amid response to Sandy.  “About 350 people…take emergency orders, monitor news reports and social media and figure out how to stock stores in ravaged communities.” https://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49672676#49672676

“Walmart and Mattel open a digital pop-up toy store” by Hollie Shaw with Financial Post:  “Consumers walking by the promotion in the PATH underground commuter walkway are able to scan QR codes to buy popular Mattel items this season from Barbie, Hot Wheels, and more. It includes free shipping.”  https://business.financialpost.com/2012/11/05/walmart-and-mattel-open-a-digital-pop-up-toy-store/

“Whole Foods’ freshness starting to wilt” by Ken Shreve in msn Money:  “…since the start of the bull market in March 2009, the stock has surged 700%. This prompts a question: Has the big money already been made?  https://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=fd83b49e-8f43-4534-aec5-1ec7c6be3565

“Target to Close Four Underperforming Stores” by Jake Anderson in Twin Cities Business:  “Minneapolis-based Target Corporation, which is gearing up to open 125 stores in Canada and continues to add locations in the United States, said Wednesday that it is shuttering four underperforming U.S. stores.”  https://tcbmag.com/News/Recent-News/2012/November/Target-to-Close-Four-Underperforming-Stores