Tuesday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: H.Depot’s US Comp Jumps 11.4% | JCP Collapse -11.9% | Amazon Site Down

 

“Home Depot US Same-Store Sales Jump 11.4% in Q2”   “The Home Depot today reported sales of $22.5 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2013. On a like for like basis, comparable store sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 were positive 10.7 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 11.4 percent. Total sales increased 9.5 percent from the second quarter of fiscal 2012.”  Read Home Depot’s Earnings Release

 

“Home Depot Earnings Call Webcast: Listen Live Today at 9am ET”  Webcast Link

 

“Home Depot reaps benefits from U.S. housing rebound” at Reuters.  “A recovery in the U.S. housing market helped Home Depot Inc beat analysts’ quarterly profit and sales estimates on Tuesday, prompting the world’s largest home improvement chain to raise its outlook for the fiscal year.  Shares of Home Depot were up 3.3 percent at $77.70 in trading before the market opened.  The results, which came just weeks after data showed that U.S. home prices rose in May, gave more evidence that the housing market was healing after years of weakness.”  Read more

 

“J.C. Penney second-quarter same-store sales fall 11.9 percent” at Reuters.  “The higher level of markdowns and lower-than-expected sales deepened Penney’s net loss in the quarter to $586 million, or $2.66 per share, from $147 million, or 67 cents per share a year earlier. Overall sales fell 11.9 percent to $2.66 billion.”  Read more

 

“Sears’ New Internet Strategy: Late to the Party….Again” by Walter Loeb at Forbes.  “The list of goods for sale is long, it includes fashion and fashion accessories, home furnishing, building materials etc. However, similar to my horrible experience with the Ford Motor Company which does not back up their suppliers, Sears will not back up anything their third party vendors sell in the Marketplace.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart looks to trade gift cards for gadgets” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Wal-Mart said this week it will take unwanted iPhone, Galaxy S3 or other electronic gadgets in exchange for gift cards that can be spent in its stores or online. The big box giant joins Amazon, eBay and other retailers wanting consumers’ cast-off electronic gadgets, a mission that analysts said is two fold.”  Read more

 

“Amazon.com Struggles With Website Troubles” by Matt Egan at Fox Business.  “The issues come just days after The Washington Post, which is being acquired by Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos, revealed it was hacked into.  Amazon.com users began reporting an outage shortly before 3 p.m. ET on Monday and access to the website appeared to have been restored about 45 minutes later.”  Read more

 

“Cities Try to Curb Proliferation of Dollar Stores” by Edward Sifuentes at UT San Diego.  “Sue Doucette — who has invested thousands of dollars on a building at 1281 North Santa Fe Avenue that she plans to lease to a Family Dollar store — said the bargain shops meet a need in the community. At last week’s City Council meeting, Doucette urged the panel to support her project.  “I understand that you don’t want to be known as the city of dollar stores, but our property is on North Santa Fe,” Doucette said. “It’s a low-income area. There’s a need for that type of store. There’s nothing like that in that area.”  Read more

 

“The Humbling of Department Stores” at The Economist.  “It would be tempting to write off department stores altogether if some were not doing surprisingly well. Same-store sales at Nordstrom, a Seattle-based luxury retailer, have risen by 7.5% on average over the past three years. Those of Macy’s, which operates mainly in the tougher middle market, rose by 4.5%. Department stores started collecting data about their customers through loyalty-card schemes long before their rivals.”  Read more

 

“Amazon bubble building gets a cellular look” by Sanjay Bhatt at The Seattle Times.  “The new design gives the three intersecting spheres a more organic, cellular look instead of the angular panels of the original proposal.  It envisions the structural-steel skeleton following the geometry of a “Catalan sphere,” with each facet shaped like a rounded, elongated pentagon. A starlike frame in the center of each pentagonal facet would connect the corners. (Visualize the cross-section of an okra slice.)”  See & Read More

 

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Monday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: Trader Joe’s Sues Pirate | Target Canada’s Poor Grade | Tesco’s Tablet

 

The Week Ahead:  Retailers set to Release Earnings:

Tue:  Home Depot, Best Buy

Wed: Lowe’s, Target

Thur: Sears

Read more

 

“Trader Joe’s Sues Man for Reselling Products in Canada” by Patricia Yollin at San Fran Chronicle.  “Michael Hallatt has spent more than $350,000 at Trader Joe’s in less than two years. But the popular grocery chain doesn’t ever want to see him again.  “I’m their best customer,” he said with a mix of pride and indignation.  Every week, the former Bay Area resident drives his panel van across the border to buy a few thousand dollars worth of merchandise at Trader Joe’s stores in the States. He then turns around and resells the goods at his own shop in Canada for a profit.”  Read more

 

“Target’s Canadian effort receives a poor grade from shoppers” by Marina Strauss at Globe and Mail.  “The Forum survey indicates that customers in Canada expect a better store experience. It found only 27 per cent of respondents are “very satisfied” with Target, down from 32 per cent in April. In contrast, 62 per cent are very satisfied with Costco, the same as four months earlier; 40 per cent are very satisfied with Wal-Mart, up from 39 per cent.”  Read more

 

“Hanging Out at the E-Mall” by Jenna Wortham at NY Times via Seattle Times.  “Many entrepreneurs have their sights set on better replicating those experiences online, creating a category of e-commerce loosely known as social shopping. Venture capitalists are opening their pocketbooks for these new start-ups, and even some of the biggest players in e-commerce, like Amazon and eBay, have introduced their own social features.”  Read more

 

“Not All Retailers Reaping A Bounty From Ecommerce Efforts” by Paula Rosenblum at Forbes.  “Closeout retailer Tuesday Morning has shut down its shopping web site. On first blush this may seem like a befuddling decision.  It is cold comfort to shoppers but it’s actually understandable when looking at pure dollars and cents. In fact, the very same dollars-and-cents issues have deterred TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack and even fast-fashion retailer H&M (until recently) from selling outside the four walls of their stores. Why? Well it turns out getting merchandise available for sale online isn’t as cheap as you might think.”  Read more

 

“28% in UK would Wear Google Glass to Unlock In-store Promotions” by Shukti Sharma at Retail Digital.  “As demonstrated by the report findings, over a third of UK consumers would use Google Glass to plan their shopping routes and over a quarter (27%) would use the technology to search for available stock and product ideas to purchase while in-store – rising to 45% for 18-24 year olds. More than one in five consumers (22%) said they would like to be able to unlock additional offers and promotions, via digital screens such as billboards or store window displays, highlighting Google Glass’s ability to harness impulse buys through instant offers.”  Read more

 

“A year on the job with Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly” by Thomas Lee at Star Tribune.  “Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly is a man who often uses metaphors to make a larger point. He says corporate turnarounds are analogous to riding a bicycle. “If you start veer to the left, you steer the bicycle to the right,” he says. “And if you start to veer to the right, you steer it to the left. The most important thing is to keep moving.”  Read more

 

“Food Lion’s new CEO: “We just have to get better” “ by Ely Portillo at Charlotte Observer.  “David Livingston, an independent supermarket analyst, said Food Lion lacks a distinguishing trait to draw shoppers. “They’re just average price. They’re just right in the middle of the road with everyone else,” he said.  “I think they’re just going to fall in the trash can with all the other tired old banners that couldn’t figure it out,” said Livingston.  Newlands Campbell plans to prove the doubters wrong. When she talks about Food Lion’s issues, she fastidiously avoids the word “problem,” instead referring to “opportunities.”  Read more

 

“More and more dollar stores are popping up” by Elisabeth Parker at Tampa Bay Times.  “Dollar General, with 10,600 stores nationwide, is the largest dollar store chain, although it’s no longer technically a “dollar” store. Less than 25 percent of goods sold at Dollar General are a dollar or less. Family Dollar sells about 28 percent of its items for a dollar or less. Only Dollar Tree sells everything in the store for a dollar or less.”  Read more |

 

“Tesco take on Apple and Amazon with new iPad style tablet” by Michael Somerville at Retail Gazetter via @shoppercentric.  “Sources told the paper it would match Amazon’s Kindle Fire in terms of quality – which costs £130 – but details are still scarce on how much Tesco will charge for its tablet.  Tesco won’t be the first supermarket to launch its own tablet as Asda released its own £99 tablet in July 2011.”  Read more

 

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Friday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: AmazonFresh a Trojan Horse | Walmart’s DC Lockers | The Uneven Recovery

 

“AmazonFresh is Jeff Bezos’ Last Mile Quest for Total Retail Domination” by J.J. McCorvey at Fast Company.  “By expanding grocery delivery, Amazon hopes to transform monthly customers to weekly–or even thrice-weekly–customers. And that, in turn, will produce the kind of order volume that makes same-day delivery worth investing in. “Think of the synergy between Prime, same-day delivery, and Fresh,” says Furphy. “When all of those things start working in concert, it can be a very beautiful thing.”  Read more

 

“Walmart Q2 Earnings Call Transcript” at Seeking Alpha.  Read more

 

“Facebook to Test Its Own PayPal Competitor in Bid to Simplify Mobile Purchases” by Jason Del Ray & Mike Isaac at All Things D.  “The product, sources said, would allow any shopper who has previously provided Facebook with their credit card details to make purchases on partnering e-commerce mobile apps without entering billing information.  Facebook confirmed the test, which is expected to launch in the next month or so.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart expands site-to-store effort; tests lockers in D.C.” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said the company recently launched the locker test for site-to-store in the Washington, D.C. area.  “While this test is still in the early stages, the initial read on customer satisfaction and acceptance is very encouraging, with 90% of the customers who have used the service providing positive feedback,” Simon said during Thursday’s (Aug. 15) pre-recorded earnings call.”  Read more

 

“Is the consumer weak, or is it just bad retailing?” by Bob Pisani at CNBC.  “Berman made an interesting point: the consumer is not that weak, the traditional retailers are weak. Consumers are are buying cars, houses, and they are buying goods on the Internet from companies like Amazon.  And they are buying home improvement items from companies like Home Depot and Lowe’s, which will be out next week.  But not from traditional retailers.”  Read more

 

“Blue Cross Blue Shield opening retail stores: Obamacare for sale” by Michael Tomsic at Charlotte Observer.  “Soon you’ll be able to shop for books, shoes, video games – and health insurance – all in the same shopping center. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is opening retail stores in a handful of strip malls.”  Read more

 

“U.S. retailers say uneven recovery keeps consumers cautious” at Reuters.  “Everyone wants to talk about recovery – it’s like the unrecovery,” Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Bob Summers said following the Wal-Mart results. “The demographic that they cater to, not only has it not seen improvement, I would argue that things have gotten worse.”  Read more

 

“Nordstrom lowers outlook despite higher 2Q profit” at The Seattle Times.  “For the quarter, Nordstrom said sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.4 percent. But for its luxury department stores, the measure slipped 0.7 percent. It said the Southeast and Southwest delivered the strongest results…The company now expects sales at stores open at least a year to rise 2 to 3 percent, compared with its previous outlook of 3 to 5 percent.”  Read more

 

“YouTube’s Biggest Critic on How the Site Could Lose Creators” by Tim Peterson at Ad Age.  “Advertising Age: Is it fair to say that a key message in your VidCon keynote is that YouTube risks becoming a farm league for Netflix, Amazon, Yahoo and others to recruit video creators?  Jason Calacanis: YouTube is going to be number one in video for some time to come if they do nothing, however we will see at least three new competitor emerge from the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo.”  Read more

 

“One-hour supermarket delivery service launches in London” by Chloe Rigby at Internet Retailing.  “Following trials in North London, Pocket Shop has already delivered more than 3,500 items across the city with its promise of deliveries in as little as one hour. Charges are on a sliding scale depending on the time of delivery: one-hour delivery costs £6.50, two is £5.50 while three is £5.10.  Customers order their shopping online at PocketShop.com, choosing from products that available at stores near them. Once completed, their orders goes to the nearest of Pocket Shop’s team of 20 shoppers, who travel into the hotspot areas where Pocket Shop has pockets of customers.” Read more

 

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Have a great weekend!

Thursday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: Wmart Comp Sls Slip .3% | Lowe’s Execs Jet to Aust. | See Wmart Campus Store #3

 

“Wal-Mart U.S. same-store sales slip 0.3 percent” at Reuters.  “Wal-Mart Stores Inc posted disappointing quarterly U.S. sales on Thursday as shoppers pinched by higher payroll taxes and gas prices made fewer trips to its stores.  Same-store sales at Walmart U.S, the company’s biggest unit, fell 0.3 percent. Wall Street analysts were expecting a 1 percent gain, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.”  Read more

 

“Mini-Walmart opens on Georgia Tech campus” by Rebekka Schramm at CBS Atlanta.  “The store is located just across the interstate from Tech’s main campus. It occupies a 2,500 square feet space. That’s a fraction of the square footage of the average Walmart store.The Georgia Tech store is the third of its kind. The others are located at the University of Arkansas and Arizona State University.”  See the in-store video

 

“Lowe’s execs jet to Australia to stem joint venture bleeding” by Eli Greenblat at Sydney Morning Herald.  “Top executives from US hardware giant Lowe’s, believed to include its chairman and CEO Robert Niblock, have flown to Australia for meetings with its Masters hardware joint venture partner Woolworths as the start-up chain continues to lose millions of dollars and miss its earnings targets.  BusinessDay has learned that a board meeting of the Masters joint venture will be held in Melbourne tomorrow, with directors from Lowe’s and Woolworths touring a number of Masters stores in the south east suburbs including its store in Hawthorn East where the key meeting will take place.”  Read more

 

“Ace Hardware profits jump” at Chicago Business Journal.  “Oak Brook-based Ace Hardware Corp. said it earned $42.3 million in the second quarter, up from $14.9 million, a year earlier when it took a $19.9 million charge from the early extinguishment of debt. Revenue for the quarter rose 9.7 percent to $1.2 billion.  “Sales increased in virtually every department with significant growth at both wholesale and retail from our Discovery Edge, Level 3 merchandising re-sets and branding initiatives,” Ace President and Chief Executive John Venhuizen said in a statement.”  Read more

 

“Macy’s misses Wall Street estimates; shares tumble” at CNBC.  “Revenue at stores open a year, a key metric because it strips out the impact of newly opened and closed locations, slid 0.8 percent.  Macy’s, based in Cincinnati, now expects sales at stores open at least a year to climb between 2 percent and 2.9 percent, down from its previous guidance of a 3.5 percent increase.”  Read more

 

“Walmart Puts Pressure on DC Pols via Web & Tweet”  ““There is nothing to be gained by hurrying up here…” said D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson about moving the Large Retailer Accountability Act to the Mayor’s desk. We disagree. Residents who live in underserved neighborhoods or areas with high unemployment deserve clarity regarding the future of economic development projects in their city.”  Read more

 

“Rona posts loss, hurt by charges, tough markets” at Reuters.  “Canada’s largest home-improvement retailer and distributor, reported a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss on Wednesday, weighed down by restructuring costs and tough market conditions…Revenue fell 4.6 percent to C$1.25 billion, while comparable store sales dropped 1 percent. Store closures reduced revenue by C$35.1 million.”  Read more

 

“Learn the Secret Price Codes for Staples” by Melanie Pinola at Lifehacker.  “On all price tags there is a one-letter codes (A, I, C, F, R, P) that designates what pricing group the item is in.  Regular priced items:  A stands for active items, they are items that are at regular price or special weekly prices (red tags).  I stands for Inactive items, this is the first step down from Active, it almost never has a discount but signals that the item is either being replaced soon from the vendor with an updated product, is not going to be carried anymore.”  See all the price codes

 

“Shopping is a ‘loop of loneliness,’ study finds” by Ben Popken at CNBC.  “It turns out there are three types of materialists in this world—and for one of them, shopping is a “virtuous” cycle that actually decreases loneliness over time.  For the study, a sample of more than 2,500 consumers over six years were asked how much they agreed with statements, such as: “It sometimes bothers me quite a bit that I can’t afford to buy all the things I like,” and “I enjoy buying things that are not practical.” Study author Rik Pieters, a marketing professor at the Tilburg University in the Netherlands, then placed the shoppers in different materialist buckets and tested them for loneliness.”  Read more

 

“Why Teens are MIA in the Retail World” at by Kathryn Buschman Vasel at Fox Business.  “When it comes to either getting the latest gadget or the hottest fashion trend, tech wins with this generation, says Crawford. “Technology is priority No.1 with teens, they will spend the bulk of their money on one big item.”  Bentz agrees, saying that when it comes to being “cool” in this environment, it’s all about what’s in your hand. “Tech is the new fashion statement, it used to be having the A&F hoodie and wearing multiple tank tops, now it’s how much tech you have: do you have the latest iPhone, tablet, or Beats headphones.”  Read more

 

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Wednesday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: Amazon Groc. Delivery in NYC? | Walgreens & Brow Waxing | Aldi vs. Walmart

 

“Walgreens & drugstores expand into brow waxing, beer on tap” by Tom Murphy at AP via Seattle Times.  “At some Walgreen stores, there are health clinics staffed by nurse practitioners, cafes that sell barista-prepared coffee and Eyebrow Bars where professionals groom unruly facial hair.  Oh, and pharmacists fill prescriptions, too.  The nation’s major drugstore chains are moving beyond drugs and Kleenex.”  Read more

 

“Why Is Amazon Hiring for a Secret New Jersey Warehouse?” by Jason Del Ray at All Things D.  “Has Amazon taken a big step toward bringing its AmazonFresh grocery delivery business to the New York City area?…The educated guess was based on the knowledge that a developer partner of Amazon’s had purchased a 964,000-square-foot facility near New York City that had previously housed a grocery wholesaler and was equipped with refrigeration.”  Read more

 

“Albertsons checking out of self-checkout” at Idaho Statesman via Retail Customer Experience.  “The company is now getting rid of self-checkout at those three Boise stores and replacing them with “express lanes to provide a better, more personalized checkout experience,” said Dennis McCoy, communications and public affairs manager.”  Read more

 

“Why ALDI Is Giving Walmart A Run For Its Money”  by Chris DeRose and Noel Tichy.  “What’s most impressive is how effective ALDI’s system seems to be at developing its new talent, often fresh out of college. While ALDI screens new hires for college leadership roles, only life experience can prepare them for dealing with grown men and women who sometimes are twice their age. The smart ones, from what we gather, go into these leadership positions acknowledging that they don’t know it all and with a willingness to learn from the people they are managing.”  Read more

 

“Back-To-School Shopping Extends into Longer Season” by Gabrielle Karol at Fox Business.  “Industry analyst Marshal Cohen at NPD Group says this will play out as a shift in consumer behavior – not a cutback in spending.  “The back-to-school season is extending into a longer selling season,” says Cohen. “What you’re beginning to see for back-to-school is that what used to be a June, July and part of August season is now August, September and part of October.”Cohen says consumers are shopping more in-season, buying new items on an as-needed basis, as opposed to shopping for seasonal clothes ahead of time.  “Retailers steeped in tradition are saying, ‘We’re not doing as well as in the past,’ but they’re not adjusting for this shift,” he says.”  Read more

 

“More than Half of Digital Ads Never Seen by Consumers” by Tom Pepper at Econsultancy.  “New figures from comScore show that more than half of digital ads (54%) are never seen by consumers. It’s a colossal waste, and demonstrates the need for brands and marketers to reassess their digital marketing approach.”  Read more

 

“Retailers hope for a cool autumn” by Courney Reagan at CNBC.  “The biggest beneficiaries of a “normal” fall could be retailers like the Gap, Macy’s and Kohl’s, which are heavily dependent on apparel sales.  Off-mall department store Kohl’s might especially need a cool fall. Most of its sales come from stores in the Midwest and Northeast, regions that saw particularly unfavorable summer weather. Company executives may just use that weather line again when earnings are released on Thursday.”  Read more

 

“Dollar-store Model Expands in Europe” by Deborah Ball at WSJ.  “Poverty is returning to Europe,” says Jan Zijderveld, head of Europe for packaged-goods maker Unilever. “You see 120 million people in that low-income segment. We need to get our brands to consumers who are having a hard time making ends meet.”  As a result, the one-euro price, about $1.30, is emerging as an important tool in responding to the euro zone’s crisis. Manufacturers are shrinking existing products to fit into the price.”  Read more

 

“Former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli Candidate for Office Max / Office Depot Board “ at WSJ.  “An Office Depot spokesman…reiterated the board’s intention to hire a new CEO by September.  The retailers on Monday said they’d already vetted more than 100 candidates and have interviewed eight top prospects…Starboard’s other (Board) nominee is former Home Depot Inc. (HD) Chief Executive Robert L. Nardelli.”  Read more

 

“US retail sales up 0.2 percent in July” by Martin Cutsinger at AP via Seattle Times.   “”Core” retail sales, which exclude the volatile auto, gas and building supply categories, rose 0.5 percent in July. It was the biggest such gain since a similar increase in December.”  Read more

 

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Tuesday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: Dollar Gen. to Buy Fam. Dollar? | Wmart’s 3rd Campus Store | Sell-in Tips

 

“Will Dollar General Buy Family Dollar?” at Charlotte Observer.  “A deal for Dollar General buying Family Dollar would make “compelling strategic sense,” said a Credit Suisse analyst last week. Tennessee-based Dollar General could pay between $90 and $100 a share for Family Dollar, a significant premium to its $71.XX closing price on Friday. And a Citigroup analyst said last month that the chances of a Family Dollar buyout are 50-50.”  Read more

 

“Walmart to Open Third Campus Store Tomorrow in Atlanta” at The Shelby Report.  “Walmart will open its third “Walmart on Campus” store on Aug. 14 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.  The Campus concept is the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer’s smallest format and resembles a convenience store.  The approximately 2,500-s.f. Georgia Tech Campus store will be at 86 5th St. in Midtown’s Technology Square.”  Read more

 

“How to Get Your Product on Shelf with Major Retailers” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “With recent layoffs at Lowe’s and a push from other retailers for more local sourcing, Long said buyers are being saddled with more product items and work than before, so getting a meeting can be a quite a challenge.  These efforts like “buying days,” supplier fairs or crowd-sourcing with Wal-Mart are interesting ways potential suppliers can get exposure for their products, he added.”  Read more

 

“Use the Target Cartwheel app for extra in-store savings” by Nicole Kozma at CNET.  “When Target first launched its Cartwheel program with Facebook, I thought it was interesting, but clumsy. The service wasn’t integrated into the existing Target app, and it also wasn’t easy to find through Facebook. There was no standalone app, which meant that you had to type in a Web address every time you wanted to select deals or redeem savings in the store.  Now there’s a standalone app that lets you select up to 12 offers, and then easily get your discounts at the store.”  Read more

 

“Lowe’s: Will The Good Times Continue?” at Seeking Alpha.  “Lowe’s has been very proactive and has made great strides in trying to reach “creators” – the company’s term for customers who are seeking ideas for new home improvement projects. Lowe’s has spent a great deal of time in identifying the purchasing process, from idea creation to project completion. Initiatives such as online tools and monthly project-idea focused pamphlets seem to have had an impact on “creators.” Lowe’s aggressive marketing to this demographic has helped take the lead over Home Depot.”  Read more

 

“Pay per click marketing could be at an end for retailers if they co-operate with each other” by Paul Skeldon at Internet Retailing.  “According to Lukies, businesses are spending an increasing amount of money on advertising, whereas they could do better by looking at how, by working together, they could move from a pay-per-click marketing model towards a pay-per-purchase model. To do this, he says, retailers, banks and operators need to leverage their individual strengths around how they interact with consumers to offer a better model for retailers.  Read more

 

“Activist investor Bill Ackman resigns from JC Penney board” at CNBC.  “Ackman’s resignation appears to be part of a deal in which Ronald Tysoe has been elected to the board and another “highly qualified” new director will be added later.  Tysoe spent 16 years as Vice Chairman of Federated Department Stores. The company is now named Macy’s.”  Read more

 

“Ad Groups Warn Of Potential Ad-Tax Deduction Threat” by Ana Radelat at Ad Age.  “Dan Jaffe, top lobbyist for the Association of National Advertisers, said that there are proposals under consideration in both the House and Senate that would affect the ability of businesses to expense advertising fees for tax purposes. Mr. Jaffe said a prevalent idea is to allow a business to expense advertising costs — but not fully in the year the expense is incurred, but instead, over a number of years.”  Read more

 

“More than half of mobile shoppers abandon their carts at checkout as they don’t feel comfortable” at Internet Retailing.  “Despite mobile commerce delivering some 15% of online retailing globally, two thirds of mobile shoppers abandon their carts at checkout, a worrying study by Jumio has revealed.  According to the research, 51% abandon their cart because they don’t feel confident in actually making the purchase, while 47% give up because the checkout process is perceived as too long. 23% more give up because the purchase doesn’t go through, says the study.”  Read more

 

“Business Q&A: Dollar General executive Bob Ravener pays it forward” by Chambers Williams III at The Tennessean.  “How did you wind up at Dollar General?    I knew something about Dollar General, but not a lot. But the story line intrigued me a lot, including that KKR had brought in a new CEO, Rick Dreiling.  I said I would go talk with them, and all it took was one meeting with Rick and I knew this was the place I wanted to be. Rick just had that exuberance, that style, that leadership trait that I said to myself, “This is going to be successful.” Read more

 

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Monday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: H.Depot’s Privacy Concerns | Walmart & Pet Insurance | Sam’s Snowden Problem

 

 

“Rona restructuring hampered by weather and cautious consumers” by Marina Strauss at The Globe & Mail.  “Rona Inc. is sparring with major home improvement retail rivals in a battle that has seen U.S. heavyweight Home Depot Inc. emerge as a winner as they all grapple with cautious home renovation spending.  Under new leadership, Rona is now racing to close unprofitable outlets, shrink its work force, restock shelves and lower some prices.”  Read more

 

“Snowden’s Saga May Impact Flower Sales at Sam’s Club” by Ben Pollock at The City Wire.  “Ecuador renounced a trade pact with the U.S. in late June and U.S. lawmakers allowed the treaty to expire before taking their recess Aug. 2. Without the treaty, tariffs on certain Ecuadoran goods will rise, as high as 14.9% for broccoli and 6.8% for certain types of flowers…According to SamsClub.com, there are 442 different flowers for sale. Some 85% of the roses listed on the site is sourced from Ecuador. There were 62 different varieties of Ecuadoran roses on the site. Other roses offered were predominantly from Colombia.”  Read more

 

“Home Depot, Best Buy Data Collection Stirs Privacy Concerns” by Jennifer Kerr at AP via Star Tribune.  “It’s not just the government that might be keeping tabs on you. Many retailers are tracking you, too — or at least your merchandise returns…Consumer advocates are raising transparency issues about the practice of having companies collect information on consumers and create “return profiles” of customers at big-name stores such as Best Buy, J.C. Penney, Victoria’s Secret, Home Depot and Nike.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart Africa Unit Massmart Looks at Kenyan Acquisition” by Eric Ombok at Bloomberg.  “Massmart Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s biggest food and household-goods wholesaler, said it has met “several important players” in Kenya’s retail industry as the unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. seeks expansion abroad.  “Massmart’s interest in investing in Kenya is well known,” Chief Executive Officer Grant Pattison said in an e-mailed response to questions. “We don’t however, comment on acquisitions, potential, speculative or otherwise.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart’s backyard is a hotbed for startups” by Parija Kavilanz at CNN Money.  “”Silicon Valley is great for the tech world. [But] if your business deals with retail or consumer products or supply chain logistics, then this is the place to be,” said Ho.”  Read more

 

“Lowe’s Vine Account Has The Best Home Lifehacks Ever” by Michelle Manetti at Huff Po.  “That’s right, the company has created amazing (nearly) 6.5 second videos showing you how to do things like repurpose PVC pipes, keep extension cords tidy and remove a broken light bulb with a potato.  Apparently these were a part of a clever campaign and there hasn’t been a new one uploaded in a month. But we’re hoping this isn’t the end of them, because these tips are awesome. We rounded up five of our favorites:”  See the videos

 

“Orchard Supply Hardware on Pace toward Completing Sale to Lowe’s”  “In order to be considered under the bidding procedures approved by the Bankruptcy Court, any competing bidders would have needed to submit qualifying bids before 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, August 9, 2013. Orchard engaged in discussions with a number of potential buyers but did not receive any qualifying bids in advance of this deadline. Accordingly, the auction previously scheduled for August 14, 2013 will not be held. Orchard will now move forward to have the sale to Lowe’s approved by the Bankruptcy Court on August 20, 2013, and completed by the end of August.” Read more

 

“Tesco opens new shopping & leisure destination (UK)” by Gemma Balmford at Retail Focus.  “Watford Extra features a number of new concepts currently being trialled by Tesco, including a new-look general merchandise area focusing on Homeware, and Cook and Dine, a community space that customers can use free of charge for events such as yoga, baby gym and cookery classes, and a new F&F concession with a boutique look and feel.”  Read & See More 

 

“Tesco may merge supermarkets and hypermarkets in China” at Retail-Digital.  “British retailing giant Tesco is in talks with China Resources Enterprise or CRE to merge their supermarkets and hypermarkets in China. If the deal is sealed, it will see Tescos 131 stores and shopping malls in the country combine with CRE’s over three thousand stores.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart dips into pet health insurance” by Anna Adrianova at CNBC.  “The sector should also benefit as more companies add pet insurance to their portfolio of employee benefits, said Kristen Lynch, executive director of the pet health insurance association.Earlier this year, retail giant Wal-Mart Stores began offering pet insurance to its customers in select stores in Canada, Lynch said. Walmart Pet Health Insurance is offered and underwritten by Western Financial Insurance.”  Read more

 

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Friday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: Walmart Loves Beer | “Frugality Fatigue” | Best Buy’s Bad Website

 

“Wal-Mart versus Amazon: Price isn’t everything” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Wal-Mart, Walmart.com and Amazon were recently part of an annual pricing study that looked a full basket of goods – Wal-Mart’s supercenter offered the greatest value with a total price of $853.08. The identical products cost $924.74 at Walmart.com, some 8% more expensive than at the supercenter. Shoppers who purchased the same basket at Amazon would have paid $985.49, which was 7% more expensive than Walmart.com and 16% more costly than at the supercenter.”  Read more

 

“Retailers appeal to back-to-school shoppers online” by Tiffany Hsu at LA Times via Seattle Times  “Although shoppers are still price-conscious, some have what NPD analyst Marshal Cohen calls “frugality fatigue.”  “Instead of living on a tight budget every day, consumers are feeling a little more comfortable and confident,” Cohen said. “In a big change since the recession, parents are letting their kids have a say” in what they buy.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart’s New Goal: Sell All the Beer” by Susan Berfield at Businessweek.  “When Wal-Mart began buying a greater number of locally grown fruits and vegetables in 2010, it made sure its efforts got plenty of publicity. But when Walmart decided it wanted to double its alcohol sales by 2016, it didn’t exactly issue a press release.  Customers noticed, and those in the alcohol industry—or, as Walmart prefers, the adult beverage business—certainly took note of the change. “They’ve said they want to be the No. 1 beer seller in the world” Read more

 

“Best Buy Works to Get Its Website Up to Snuff” by Ann Zimmerman.  “The struggling e-commerce site is a particular problem given that online sales in general have been growing at three times the rate of bricks-and-mortar sales for years. Twenty-one percent of all electronic gadgets sales now occur online, a number expected to increase to 23% in 2013, according to Forrester Research.”  Read more

 

‘What Target’s Recent Acquisitions Are Really About” by Tamara Rutter at Motley Fool.  “Target’s not even one of the top 10 largest online retailers in the United States today, despite generating annual retail sales of $72 billion last year. Moreover, Target is currently the 18th largest online retailer in the U.S., according to InternetRetailer.com. However, integrating e-commerce sites such as Cooking.com, DermStore.com, and DermStore’s hairenvy.com and blush.com should help Target grab a larger chunk of online retail sales down the road.”  Read more

 

“Target downgraded, Canada cited as key to earnings” by Jonathan Ratner at Financial Post.  “Wal-Mart invested another $450-million into 37 new supercentres, Sobey’s acquired Safeway’s Canadian assets (213 supermarkets) in June, Loblaw bought Shoppers Drug Mart (1,200 locations) in July, and Costco stepped up its pricing efforts.”  Read more

 

“Less Than A Third Of Top CEOs Are On Social Media” by Susan Adams at Forbes.  “According to the study, only 32% of top CEOs have at least one account on a social network. Some 68% have no social presence at all.  Not surprisingly, CEOs are most active on LinkedIn. Some 27.9%, or 140 CEOs, have LinkedIn accounts. That’s up from 25.9%, or 130, a year ago. In fact LinkedIn is more popular with CEOs than with the general public.”  Read more

 

“Earnings preview: What to look for from Wal-Mart” by Courtney Reagan at CNBC.  “The world’s largest retailer reports earnings Thursday morning before the opening bell. Beyond the total profit and revenue results, the number to watch for in Wal-Mart’s earnings release is U.S. same-store sales. Analysts are looking for uninspiring growth of 0.7 percent in the U.S. and 1.1 percent overall, according to Thomson Reuters. The discount chain’s U.S. same-store sales in the first quarter dropped for the first time since summer 2011.”  Read more

 

“Canadian Tire Q2 profit rises to $155 million” at Montreal Gazette.  “Retail sales from both corporate and franchised stores totalled $3.56 billion, up 2.1 per cent from $3.48 billion.  The company’s retail segment accounted for most of Canadian Tire’s revenue but its financial services business accounted for $254.2 million of revenue, up 4.8 per cent from $242.5 million in the second quarter of 2012.”  Read more

 

“Ackman pushes J.C. Penney to speed up CEO search” at Reuters.  “Ackman, frustrated by the slow pace of the CEO search, also told fellow Penney board members that Allen Questrom, a former Penney CEO, would return as chairman if the department store operator chose a new CEO he liked.  “The CEO search process, which began in earnest three weeks ago, will be careful and deliberate to ensure we find the right long-term leader for J.C. Penney,” Thomas Engibous, Penney’s current chairman, said on Thursday evening.”  Read more

 

“Tesco pulls back in China with Vanguard deal” at Reuters.  “”Tesco has been struggling in China and has been losing money. Similar to Carrefour, they had issues in their home market which they had to resolve,” said one Hong Kong-based M&A banker.  “This may look win-win, but in reality, Tesco is saying ‘I can’t figure out China’,” he said.”  Read more