Friday Tipsheet: Amazon’s Club Store Attack | Ivy League Disses Wmart | W.Foods Wants 1000+

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“Amazon Launches ‘Pantry’ to Take on Costco/Sam’s/BJ’s” by Alistair Barr at USA Today. “Amazon has the clubs in their cross hairs,” said Keith Anderson, who leads RetailNet Group’s Digital Advisory practice.”This will be a potential issue for Costco.” Warehouse club members tend to be higher income households with kids — the type of shoppers that have huge lifetime value to retailers.  The demographics of an Amazon shopper are similar to the club store shopper and Amazon wants to appeal to that audience, one of the people familiar with the effort explained.”  Read more

 

“Meet Boxed – The New ‘Online Costco’ “ by Christopher Mims at Quartz.   (From the 11/22/13 archives but newly relevant.) “Boxed has been generating revenue from the day it launched, and while it offers free shipping on orders above $75, it has kept costs low by carrying only a limited range—currently about 600 items…It can now ship to everywhere in the lower 48 states of the US. Shipping is free on orders of $75 or more, and they are delivered overnight to Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, and within two days to everywhere else.”  Read more

 

“Costco Takes Wait-and-See Approach to E-Commerce (The Clocks Ticking!)” by Eliot Zwiebach at Supermarket News.  “Richard Galanti:  ‘We enjoy watching the landscape as others are getting into those types of businesses…’Getting overnight delivery or same-day delivery is great, but ultimately you’ve got to pay for it.’…’My sense is probably that Amazon is taking market share more from supermarkets where people shop two-and-a-half times to three times a week.’  Read more

 

“Would Ivy League Students Like a Convenient Walmart to Shop at?  No Way!” by Akane Otani at USA Today. “Harvard Square has a nice, bohemian, historic feel that would be ruined by a big Walmart,” he said. “The convenience and low prices might be nice, but I don’t think the cost to the Harvard community would be worth it.”  Beyond considering the impact a Walmart might have on local businesses, Jessica Solis, a sophomore at Brown, said she would not welcome a Walmart on campus because “its presence would really detract from the homey, domestic feel that Brown offers.”  Read more

 

“Target Confirms Strong Holiday Sales in Electronics” by Thomas Lee at Star-Tribune.  “Target said the reports confirm what the company has seen thus far.  “We’ve seen tremendous guest reaction to the season’s latest electronics and gaming products,” said spokeswoman Katie Boylan. “In fact, Black Friday sales in electronics significantly increased over last year, and we are seeing demand in this area of the store remain high in December.”  Read more

 

“Whole Foods Cranks up New Store Growth; Now Eyes More Than 1,000 Stores” by Brian Gaar at Austin-American Statesman via Seattle Times.  “The company operates nearly 370 stores, and officials plan to open up 33 to 38 more stores in the current fiscal year…One reason for the growth — aside from improving economic conditions — is the company learned it can successfully operate stores in smaller markets…Company officials have said Whole Foods could reasonably reach 1,000 stores, but Sud said they now think that’s a conservative estimate, implying it could grow to even more.”  Read more

 

“Geek Sued by Best Buy Fights Back” by Steve Alexander at Star-Tribune.  “In a telephone interview, Parsons, 41, of Sheffield Lake, Ohio, disagreed with the suit’s premise.  His two websites “may not be legal by the way the law is written, but I’m not confusing their customers. My website colors and layout are totally different from Geek Squad’s. If anyone asks if I’m the Geek Squad, I say no, I’m the Affordable Geek Squad. I never claimed to be the Geek Squad.”  Read more

 

“Restoration Hardware co-CEO Departs; Shares Plunge 12%” by Laurie Kulikowski at Dallas News.  “Shares of Restoration Hardware plunged more than 12% in after-hours trading after the high-end home furnishings retailer announced the surprise departure of co-CEO Carlos Alberini as third-quarter comp sales missed expectations.  Alberini, 58, who has been in Restoration Hardware’s C-suite since 2010, has accepted an offer to become chairman and CEO of Lucky Brand.”  Read more

 

“Radio Shack:  The Lost Shack” by Warren Shoulberg at The Robin Report.  “The big news is that Radio Shack has opened five, high-profile remodeled stores featuring its “Let’s Play” strategy that sports a cleaner, pared-down assortment dolled up with electronic merchandising wizardry like video screens and audio plug-in stations. There are now five such stores.  The bad news is that this leaves 4,306 Radio Shack stores in the country that need to be remodeled.”  Read more

 

“Inside CVS HQ with CMO Rob Price” by Jennifer Rooney at Forbes.  See the Video

 

“Now Everyday is Black Friday” by Tiffany Hsu at LA Times.  “Analysts also said that the swing into big-ticket retail — a 1.8% month-to-month increase at auto and parts dealers, a 1.2% boost at furniture stores — makes shoppers less inclined to spend extra money on toys and apparel. The clothing and accessories category slumped 0.2% last month.”  Read more

 

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Thursday Tipsheet: Costco Tepid Online | H.Depot Wants Same-Day Ship | Call Highlights

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Costco’s Q1 Earnings Call:  Quick Summary:  Plan 30 New Stores in ’14; Ramping up Int’l; Online not a Major Focus.

Heard on the Call:

Richard Galanti – CFO

* We opened 13 locations during the first quarter of fiscal 2014.  Since the end of the Q1, we have opened in Q2 two new locations, one in Illinois and one in Canada, in Ontario. That gives us 15 new openings thus far in fiscal 2014.

* We have a current plan of 30 new locations in ’14, 16 – U.S., 4 – Australia, including the two we recently opened, 3-Canada, 2 each in Korea, Japan, and Spain – and of course those would be our first two units in Spain – and one additional location in Mexico.

* Food and sundries, candy, deli, and refrigerated were the relative standouts. Hardlines was probably the most challenging category.

* Majors came in negative for the quarter, challenging of course in televisions and in cameras. And better-performing departments within the hardlines were office and automotive, but slightly negative overall for the department.

* Within the low double digit softlines positive comps, small electrics, apparel, and jewelry were the relative standouts. And within fresh foods, comps in the mid singles. Better performing departments included produce, meat, and deli.

* Costco Online, we’re now in four countries, U.S., Canada, U.K., and most recently Mexico.

* Q1 ecommerce sales were up 24%…And ecommerce still is a relatively small part of our company, running about 2.5% of our total sales.

* We have no plans currently to deliver to homes anything other than through ecommerce, which tends to be nonfood items, and very limited foodstuffs, and surely not fresh foods.

Newer Merchandising Initiatives:

* Certainly we’ve talked about apparel now for a year, year and a half, and having still double digit increases year over year, two years out.

* Cosmetics, we’ve got a couple of units in the L.A. market where we’re testing some expanded cosmetics. We still would like to get more brands to sell us, but we’re pretty scrappy.

* The ticket programs, whether it’s for movies or for ski vacations or local restaurants, those continue to grow.

Read the Full Costco Transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

Costco’s Q1 Conference Call Webcast  Listen Here via Seeking Alpha

 

“Costco slowly shifting sights to international shores” by Angel Gonzalez at Seattle Times.  “Five years ago between 75 percent and 80 percent of the company’s new stores were in the U.S., Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said in an earnings call with analysts Wednesday. Over the next three or four years, U.S. openings will account for as low as 40 percent, he added.”  Read more

 

Home Depot’s 2013 Investor & Analyst Conference: Quick Summary:  Pursuing Same-Day Delivery Options; Expect Comp Sales of 5% in 2014; 8 New Stores in 2014; Mobile is 35% of Online Traffic.

Heard on the Call:

Frank Blake – CEO

* Kevin refers to the smartphone as a store in a pocket and like the physical store, the virtual store requires constant upgrading and improvement, only with the virtual store the pace is a lot faster.

* The pro for the first time has actually outperformed the consumer from a net promoter score. So we’re slightly above 73.

Marvin Ellison

* We’ve also taken steps to expand our focus on making an emotional connection within the four walls of our stores (handing out coffee & doughnuts, meet Santa, etc.)

* Company Call Out:  DAP Smartbond (showed 1 minute Pro video)

* Pro is 3% of our customers or approximately 35% of our sales.

Craig Menear

* We must provide simple solutions with the products that we put our shelves.

* Company Call Out (Strategic Partners):  BEHR & Paint, TTI & Tools, Custom building products and tiles and materials and CREE and LED.

* Brand Call Out:  3M’s Command Product (related to Micro-Space planning in-store), Symmons Faucets

* We are a branded house and we intend to remain a branded house to satisfy our customer preferences. Our private label products fill in inline structures and give customers alternatives.

* Channel optimization:  Next year we’ll continue to enhance this experience and actually shift more business in this category to homedepot.com away from the stores and this will free up space in-store allowing additional sales with other products.

Kevin Hoffman

* Just a few years ago, we had only 4% of our traffic coming from mobile phones and tablets; this year, it will approach 35%; and in some days in events, it’s even higher.

Mark Holifield

* One of the primary intents of our new network is to provide same day shipping and fast ground delivery usually within two days to parcel freight. Perhaps this is a good time to [drone] on a bit about next day or even same day delivery.

* We’re not yet able to take an order online and drop that order to the optimal store for delivery direct to the customer. We’re investing in state-of-the-art systems that would allow us to do in the future.

Carol Tome

* Total company sales growth (in 2014) will be approximately 5%.

* We are targeting eight new store openings in 2014, most of which will take place in Mexico.

* The services business is performing really well. Currently, it’s roughly 4% of total sales.

* Many retailers said they had a pretty soft Black Friday and they were disappointed with their sales results and that certainly wasn’t the case here at The Home Depot.

Read the Full Transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

Home Depot 2013 Investor Conference Webcast and Executive PowerPoint Presentations  Listen/Read Here

 

“Home Depot Looks to Offer Same-Day Shipping” by Shelly Banjo at WSJ.  “The moves are aimed at boosting online sales, including a same-day delivery service aimed at customers and professional contractors who might be in the midst of a home improvement product and want lumber, tiles or screws in a matter of hours.  “It’s a big investment,” Chief Financial Officer Carol Tome said during the retailer’s investor conference on Wednesday.”  Read more

 

Home Depot CEO Frank Blake Interviewed Yesterday on CNBC/Cramer  See the Video

 

“Target blows past Walmart as most-browsed retailer on mobile” by Chantal Tode at Mobile Commerce Daily. “The findings underscore the success of Target’s efforts to build its mobile strategy, with 39 percent of smartphone shoppers and 45 percent of tablet shoppers browsing Target’s app and site, up from 22 percent and 28 percent last year.”  Read more

 

“ShopperTrak:  Brick & Mortar Sales Decreased 2.9% from 12/2 – 12/8”  “With the shortened Christmas shopping season now in full swing, shoppers can’t procrastinate like they did last year. As we approach the holiday, we expect that shopper activity will increase each week.”  Read more

 

“Glassdoor’s 2014 Top 50 Places to Work”  Costco #16, H-E-B #27.  See the Full Rankings

 

“Outlet Malls:  Bait & Switch” at Sacramento Bee via Dallas News.  “When you buy something at an outlet mall, do you know what you’re getting?  If you think it’s a top-quality, brand-name product at a deep discount, think again.  Ten years ago, that may have been true. But most brands now sell lesser-quality merchandise made just for their outlets.”  Read more

 

“Dick’s Tests Three New NHL ‘Stores Within Stores’ “ by Teresa Lindeman at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  “Just before Thanksgiving, three Dick’s stores — including one in Cranberry, one near Chicago and one in West Nyack, N.Y. — launched in-store departments meant to offer a taste of that flagship NHL experience.”  Read more

 

“AmazonFresh starts same-day grocery delivery in S.F.” by Andrew Ross at SF Gate.  “Minimum requirements: More than $35 worth of groceries. Order by 10 a.m. to get it by 6 p.m., or by 10 p.m. to get it eight hours later (in 12 out of 51 zip codes). Most of the goods will originate at Amazon’s recently opened warehouse in Tracy, 60 miles from San Francisco.”  Read more

 

“Home Depot Sold 2.6 Million Christmas Trees Last Year; Online Sales Surge” by Katarina Gustafsson and Mathew Boyle at Businessweek.  “Though online sales make up no more than 3 percent of the $1 billion U.S. holiday tree market, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, more retailers are starting to peddle them on the Web. Home Depot, the biggest seller of Christmas trees in the U.S., began offering them online last year and says it has expanded its lineup for this season”  Read more

 

“Walmart CMO Stephen Quinn Named Chair of Association of National Advertisers’ Alliance for Family Entertainment” at Sacramento Bee.  “Quinn assumes the leadership of a coalition of national marketers that has achieved considerable success in the past 15 years developing and supporting quality programming about modern American family life across all content distribution platforms.”  Read more

 

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Wednesday Tipsheet: Costco Comp +3% | Target’s Groceries: Inconvenient | H.Depot Hits Goal 1 Yr Early

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“Costco’s Same-Store Sales +3% in Q1 2014”  “Comparable sales for the twelve-week period, excluding negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, were 5%”  Read the Company Release

 

“Costco’s Q1 Earnings Call @ 8am PT this Morning”  Listen to the Webcast

 

“Costco Earnings Per Share of $.96 Misses Street Estimate by $.06” at Market Watch.  Read more

 

“Home Depot on Track to hit 2015 Goals…One Year Ahead of Schedule!”  “In June of 2012, the Company announced a long term operating margin target of 12 percent and a 24 percent return on invested capital target by the end of fiscal 2015. The Company anticipates reaching these targets at the end of fiscal 2014, one year earlier than planned.”  Read more

 

“Happening Today @ 9 am ET:  Home Depot’s 2013 Investor Conference”  Listen to Live Webcast

 

“Walmart Names Cheesewright New Int’l CEO; Could be Top Contender in McMillon Succession Plan” by Katie Little at CNBC.  “If Wal-Mart history repeats itself, (David) Cheesewright could be a top contender in the succession plan to succeed McMillon. Both McMillon and Duke were in charge of the company’s international segment before being picked to head (Walmart)…Joe Feldman, a senior retail analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said the move puts Cheesewright in the running to eventually replace McMillon, along with Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon, whom Feldman said was “near the top of the list.”  Read more

 

“Target’s PFresh:  Very Inconvenient” by Thomas Lee at Star-Tribune.  “It’s like Target is saying ‘we are going to call you on your bluff,’ Koo said. “You may have intended to buy food but you really want to buy clothes.”  Excluding SuperTargets, regular Target stores usually have only one entrance, lest you sneak in through a side door closer to PFresh.  Target’s strategy is clever but does not come without sacrifices.”  Read more

 

“Walmart’s Relentless Christmas Countdown Continues”  “On Friday, Dec. 13 at 8:00 a.m., the retailer will drop prices on popular toys, electronics, apparel, table games and other products…on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 8:00 a.m., Walmart’s largest shipment of the PlayStation® 4 will arrive at stores across the country…According to ShopperTrak’s predictions, four of the 10 busiest shopping days will occur between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, with Super Saturday (Dec. 21) being the second most-popular shopping day after Black Friday.”  Read more

 

“Where Can Target Expand Now After Canada Disappointment?”  at Trefis.  “Although Target has not laid down any firm plans for global expansion apart from Canada, we believe it is only a matter of time before it decides to enter Brazil and Mexico. Their close proximity to the U.S. and strong retail markets make them the most lucrative options for the retailer.”  Read more

 

“Worker Wins 2-Minute All-You-Can Grab Shopping Spree at Costco;  Began Hitting the Gym in Nov. to Get Ready” by Rachel Feintzeig at WSJ. “On Thursday, Alan Comley will get the holiday gift he never knew he always wanted: two minutes at a Texas Costco…Mr. Comley has been training to ensure he is in peak physical condition for his Costco run, first by running drills around his apartment complex, practicing sprints and quick stops…he began hitting the gym, running 2 miles on the treadmill and doing bench presses and biceps curls with 40-pound dumbbells in each arm. He has tapped a friend, a 6’5″ former college basketball player, to help him grab the 80-inch plasma TV, laptop and sound system on his list.”  Read more

 

“Market Force Study:  Dick’s Sporting Goods #1 for Sports Apparel; Nordstrom #1 Fashion Retailer”  “Nordstrom is North America’s overall favorite fashion retailer for the second consecutive time, according to a new study of more than 6,800 consumers conducted by Market Force Information…Kohl’s is the most visited for casual clothing, business attire and children’s clothing, while Dick’s Sporting Goods won out for sports apparel.”  Read more / See the charts

 

“Office Depot picks Florida over Illinois for new headquarters; IL could lose 1,600 Jobs” at Chicago Tribune.  “The companies asked for tax breaks from both states. Illinois lawmakers adjourned last week before making a decision…It said its current Florida headquarters has “ample space to accommodate associates who will relocate from Illinois.” The company also didn’t provide a timeline for transition.”  Read more

 

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Tuesday Tipsheet: Nader Slams D.Gen | B.Buy Sues ‘Geek’ | Costco Q1 Preview | No Bananas in Dallas

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Costco Releases Q1 ’14 Earnings Tomorrow.  Preview:

“Rise In Membership Will Lead To Growth; Online Business Most Viable Growth Engine” at Seeking Alpha. “Costco’s online sales account for only 2% of its overall revenues, suggesting that there is a huge room for improvement…About 80%-90% of its products offered online do not overlap with the stores’ inventory, which enables the retailer to prevent cannibalization of its store sales to some extent.”  Read more

 

“Costco:  Do Not Buy This Stock” at Seeking Alpha.  “Costco presently trades at the largest P/E ratio of the discount stores which include large-cap retailers like Wal-Mart and Target but also Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar Stores. Costco demands a P/E multiple of 22.02 which is significantly above the average peer group P/E ratio of 16.27.”  Read more

 

“You Are Where You Shop:  GOP = Walmart & Costco; Dem = Whole Foods & Trader Joe’s; Ind = Grocery Stores” by Reid Wilson at Washington Post.  “People who consume energy drinks are more likely to have shopped at a big box store than anywhere else. An energy drink consumer is 22 percent more likely to shop at a big box, and slightly less likely than the average adult to shop at a specialty or traditional grocery store.”  Read more

 

“Target Ads Since The 1960s (Be Gifty – Be Thrify circa 1972); Cue The Nostalgia” by Ellie Krupnick at HuffPo.  “Those of us who worship at the hallowed gates of Target lust after the store’s trendy clothes and cute home decor. But Target has been around long before the designer collaboration days — in fact, Target was founded in 1962 as a discount version of the store Dayton’s.”  See the Ads

 

“Nader Slams Dollar General:  Decries ‘Shameful’ Treatment of Workers (But He Likes Costco!)” at The Tennessean.  “Ralph Nader also sent letters to the CEOs at two of Dollar General’s major competitors – Family Dollar and Dollar Tree.  Dollar General responded to Nader’s letter Monday night in a statement: “We, like other retailers, will be watching with keen interest and are hopeful for a thoughtful debate in Congress over the issue of where to set the federally mandated minimum wage.”  Read more

 

Lowe’s Insiders Sell $4 Million + in  Shares:

“Gregory Bridgeford Sells Over $3.5 Million in Lowe’s Stock” at American Banking News.  “Gregory Bridgeford sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.71, for a total transaction of $3,736,800.00.”  Read more

 

“Lowe’s Director Peter Browning Sells Nearly a Half a Million $ in Lowe’s Stock” at Zolmax News.  “Director Peter Browning sold 9,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.92, for a total transaction of $457,986.12.”  Read more

 

“Inside the RadioShack Pop-Up Celebration in Times Square” by Stephanie Maida at Guest of a Guest.  “Cue the DJ!”  See the pictures

 

“Gander Mountain: Pedal to the Floor with New Stores – Announces 1st Store in Missouri” by Kavita Kumar at St. Louis Post Dispatch.  “Jason Long, a St. Louis area retail consultant with Shift Marketing Group, said there was room for another “bullet and hook” store in the region.  Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops each have one store in St. Louis and are quite popular. Other retailers such as Sports Authority and Dick’s Sporting Goods dabble in this area, too, but don’t have as much breadth, he added.”  Read more

 

“Banana Shortage in Dallas” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News.  “Produce deliveries in general have been delayed by the ice storm, but I’ve been hearing complaints since right before the storm that we’ve had a banana shortage around town.  Bananas are very perishable and have to be shipped several times a week, said Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston. “All bananas come from Central America by boat to a port and then sent by truck to a distribution center. The last stop is the store.”  Read more

 

“Best Buy sues Ohio man for using ‘geeksquad’ in websites” by Steve Alexander at Star-Tribune.  “The suit alleges that Parsons has registered the Internet addresses affordablegeeksquad.com and cheap geeksquad.com for his computer services businesses, and also alleges that his use of the Geek Squad trademark “has caused, and will continue to cause, irreparable harm” to Best Buy. The suit seeks $200,000 in damages plus attorneys’ fees.”  Read more

 

Quotable:

John Donahue, eBay CEO, responding to Amazon Drone mania, “We’re not focusing on long-term fantasies, we’re focusing on things we can do today.”  Read more

 

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Monday Tipsheet: Wmart #1 for ‘Webrooming’ | GM Likes Costco | Target’s ‘Awesome Shop’

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“Walmart #1 Beneficiary of ‘Webrooming’ “ by Michelle Groenke at UPI.  “Webrooming” — researching a product online before going to the store to make the actual purchase — appears to be the shopping trend to watch this season…The survey found 26 percent of webrooming shoppers head to Walmart to make their purchase, followed by Best Buy (11 percent) and Target (11 percent).  “…two-thirds (67 percent) of those webroomers who typically do their investigating at Walmart online say they usually go on to make their in-store purchases at a Walmart brick and mortar store,” Harris Interactive said.” Read more

 

“Target’s Launches ‘Awesome Shop’ to Spotlight Pinterest hits” by John Vomhoff Jr. at Minn./St. Paul Bus. Journal.  (Target) has launched Target Awesome Shop, a new website that curates and ranks the Target products that are most frequently pinned by Pinterest users. And it only includes products that have at least a four-star guest review or no reviews at all.”  Read more

 

Costco & General Motors Promotion Delivers; 51% of Those Who Signed Up Bought a Vehicle! by Arlena Sawyers at Automotive News.  “Almost half of the Costco members who bought vehicles under the program so far became first-time owners of the GM brand they purchased…Customers who registered for the program: 19,426.  Customers who followed through with a vehicle purchase: 51%.  Buyers who had planned to buy a non-GM vehicle: 45%.  Read more

 

“Home Depot Beats Lowe’s in ‘Cost per Visitor’ “ by Nicole Seghetti at Motley Fool.  “A recent analysis by Placed and Kantar Media uncovered which retailers had the best Black Friday weekend based on one key metric, “cost per visitor share.” This metric gives insight as to how well television advertising helped drive in-store customer traffic…Home Depot boasted the lower cost per visitor share of the two rivals. Home Depot and Lowe’s spent $2.9 million and $4.0 million, respectively, per visitor share.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart agrees to contribute $25 million to settle gas can explosion lawsuits” by Lisa Myers at NBC.  “In depositions, Wal-Mart officials insisted that the manufacturer — not Wal-Mart — was responsible for the safety of the product. A former gas can buyer for Wal-Mart, Jacques DesHommes, said when questioned in 2010 for a lawsuit that even after being sued over alleged gas can explosions, the company did not conduct any tests or investigate whether explosions were actually occurring.” Read more / See the video

 

“Canada Safeway Fights B.C. Canada Ban on Pharmacy Incentives” by Jenny Lee at Vancouver Sun.  “The College’s new incentive prohibition bylaw, which took effect Dec. 2, prohibits pharmacies from being involved in incentives that induce a patient to use a particular pharmacy or pharmacist.  Prohibited incentives include money, gifts, discounts, rebates, refunds, customer loyalty schemes, coupons, goods or rewards.”  Read more

 

Walmart Pumps up ‘Green Monday’  “Green Monday refers to the second Monday of December, which is becoming a leading traffic and sales day for online shopping. According to comScore, Green Monday was the third-highest online shopping day of the 2012 holiday shopping season. Green Monday on Walmart.com will offer more than 300 online specials…”  Read more

 

“Sears Reports Dreary Q3 Results”  “The comparable store sales decrease of 2.0% was comprised of a 1.5% decrease in Hometown and a 3.4% decrease in Outlet.”  Read more 

 

“Meet the man trying to shake up luxury retail in Canada” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail.  “This will be the second-largest Saks in the world,” Baker proclaims with a wave of his hand. “Ground zero for luxury goods in Canada.” And with a nod to Holt Renfrew & Co., the country’s dominant luxury player—whose flagship stands guard a block to the west—he adds: “Did I say it will be double the size of Holt’s?”  Read more

 

“Harris Teeter-Kroger merger could close by Feb. 1” by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Bus. Journal.  “That date marks the end of fiscal 2013 for the Cincinnati-based grocery chain — and its target date to close the merger. Kroger said Thursday during its quarterly earnings call that the merger is proceeding as planned.”  Read more

 

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Friday Tipsheet: Wmart: ‘Sound of Music’ Ads, WashPo Hit, China Dilemma | H-E-B’s New HQ | Kroger: 40 in a Row

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“Walmart Ads for NBC’s “Sound of Music” Sounded Just Like the Show” by Brian Steinberg at Variety.  “The ads will use oft-sung tunes such as “My Favorite Things,” “So Long, Farewell,” and “Do-Re-Mi” – all featuring the Brooks clan using products from Walmart. In one ad, the family will be shown cooking in the kitchen while a bag full of groceries purchased at Walmart is on display. The last spot of the evening will feature the parents trying to get the kids to sleep as they all use electronic devices available for purchase at Walmart. “So Long, Farewell,” will play as the scene unfolds.”  Read more

 

“Kroger Reports 40th Consecutive Quarter of Positive Same-Store Sales – But Misses Street Estimates” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincy Enquirer.  “Kroger reported that third-quarter sales rose 3.2 percent to $22.5 billion, shy of analysts’ projections of $22.7 billion. Kroger officials noted that falling fuel prices – down 8 percent in the quarter – depressed overall sales. They said that excluding fuel, sales rose 4.7 percent.”  Read more

 

“Kroger’s 2013 Q3 Earnings Call Transcript”  Read it here

 

“Dollar General: Consumable Sales Up, Margins Down” by Ben Fox Rubin at WSJ.  ” Consumables sales continued to increase at a higher rate than non-consumables, with the most significant growth due to strong sales of tobacco products, perishables, and candy and snacks, the company said. Consumable goods sales rose 12%, while seasonal goods and home- products sales were both up 7.3%. Apparel said rose 2.4%.”  Read more

 

“Dollar General’s 2013 Q3 Earnings Call Transcript”  Read it here

 

“5 Surprises at the New Big City Walmart in DC” by Charles Fishman at Fast Company.  “The Missouri Avenue store was jammed at midday. The novelty of a new Walmart always brings in crowds (the Washington Post reported that 100 people were lined up waiting to get into the store before it opened, a la an Apple Store opening).  Three parts of the store, in particular, had so many customers and carts you could hardly pass: grocery, kids clothes, and health and beauty.”  Read more / See the 3D Video Tour

 

“Washington Post on new DC Walmart:  Associates had to stand, were separated from VIPs, and were last to eat” by Clinton Yates.  “A good hour after everyone else was allowed to pick at the platters with shrimp cocktail and curry chicken salad with raisins among them, the DJ played Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” as guests filed out. The associates lined up. They were finally allowed to eat. Last and by themselves.  I guess it was their privilege.”  Read more

 

“Walgreen’s November Same-Store Front End Sales +1.9%” at MarketWatch.  “Walgreens had November sales of $6.07 billion, an increase of 4.1 percent from $5.83 billion for the same month in fiscal 2013.  Total front-end sales increased 3.2 percent compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.9 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 0.8 percent while basket size increased 1.1 percent.”  Read more

 

“Rite-Aid Same-Store Sales Up 2.8% in November”  “Same store sales for the 13-week period ended Nov. 30, 2013 increased 2.3 percent over the prior-year period. Front-end same store sales decreased 0.2.”  Read more

 

“Walmart’s Expansion Dilemma in China” by Tony Jim at China Perspective.  “It is believed that Walmart switched its focus to small cities because of its abating advantages in tier-1 and tier-2 cities.  In larger cities, Walmart is no longer viewed as an upscale, foreign brand as it was when it started doing business in China in the late 1990s and early 2000s…But it is argued that Walmart missed the booming time of commercial real estate in the big cities, while this market in small cities is very limited.”  Read more

 

“H-E-B’s New HQ Clears Planning Commission:  Plan to Close Then Reopen Entire Block in San Antonio” by Iris Dimmick at Rivard Report.  See the Master Renderings / Drawings

 

“Want to Work on Amazon’s Drone Squad?  They’re  Hiring!” by Mike Isaac at All Things D.  “Let’s meet (the team), per a source who helpfully pointed a few out to me recently…According to Buchmueller’s LinkedIn page, the group is hiring.”  Read more

 

“Asian American Households Spend 19% More than Average Households; Prefer Costco to Walmart” by Anh Do at LA Times.  “Asian Americans lead in online buying, with 77% making an Internet purchase in the last year, compared with 61% of the general population.  By 2017, Asian Americans are expected to surpass $1 trillion in consumer buying power.”  Read more

 

“Amazon Expands ‘Frustration-Free’ Packaging Push”  “Amazon today announced that its Frustration-Free Packaging initiative, a multi-year effort to liberate products from hermetically sealed clamshell cases and plastic-coated steel-wire ties, now offers over 200,000 items, up from 19 when the initiative was launched five years ago.”  Read more

 

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Thursday Tipsheet: Comp Sls: Costco +2%, D.Gen +4.4% | Wmart’s ‘Drone Missiles’ | Target Causing Disinflation in Can.?

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“Costco Miss:  November Same-Store Sales Up 2% vs. expected 3.3%” at Reuters.  “Excluding the negative impact of foreign exchange and falling gasoline prices, same-store sales rose 4 percent.  For the twelve-week first quarter ended Nov. 24, the company reported net sales of $24.47 billion, an increase of five percent.”  Read more

 

“Costco’s Earnings Release”  Read here

 

“Dollar General Q3:  Same-Store Sales Up 4.4%”  “Net sales increased 10.5 percent to $4.38 billion in the 2013 third quarter compared to $3.96 billion in the 2012 third quarter. Same-store sales increased 4.4 percent, with increases in both customer traffic and average transaction value…with the most significant growth due to strong sales of tobacco products, perishables and candy and snacks.”  Read more

 

“Kroger expected to report $277M profit” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincy Enquirer.  “That would represent a 12.6 percent decline from the same period a year ago when the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain reported a $317 million profit.  Wall Street analysts also forecast Kroger will report sales rose 4.1 percent to $22.7 billion, up from $21.8 billion a year ago, according to Bloomberg.” Read more

 

“Kroger sees customers’ favorite charities as the key to loyalty” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincy Enquirer.  “In a new twist on giving, the nation’s largest supermarket chain also aims to bag more customers and bigger sales receipts. It’s rolling out a nationwide program that lets loyalty card holders select charities to which Kroger will donate, based on dollars they spend in stores.”  Read more

 

“Costco’s Website Loads the Quickest: 3 Times Faster than Walmart” by Jon Love at Internet Retailer.  “Apple Inc.’s e-commerce site posted the fastest Internet Explorer response time and Costco posted the fastest time in Firefox tests in November, says Compuware.”  Read more

 

“@WalmartNewsroom Has Fun with Amazon Drone Story” via Twitchy.   “Walmart’s tweet included a link to a fake news story titled ‘Walmart to Install Surface-to-Air Missiles on Store Rooftops to Shoot Down Amazon Drones’.  Read more / See the Tweet

 

“Target:  Shhh…We Finished our ‘Buy Online – Pick-Up in Store’ Roll Out (3 weeks early!)” by Thomas Lee at Star-Tribune.  “Target did not make a big splash, which makes it easier for them to first get the hang of it ,” Koo said. “It’s a real good thing to ease into it rather than make a big blowout statement.”  Even now, the service remains rather low key. Koo said a store she recently visited was only filling 10 to 15 orders a day.”  Read more

 

“Home Depot Stores Busy in Memphis: Ice Melt Sold Out as Customers Prepare for Ice Storm” by Jessica Gertler at WREG 3 Memphis.  “The icy threat has hundreds of people flocking to stores to stock up on supplies.  Some hardware stores have already sold out of salt to make ice melt.  The Home Depot in Midtown was packed Wednesday.  Make sure you have plenty of batteries and flashlights,” said customer Robert Brown at the check out line.”  See the Video / Read more

 

“Aldi Partners with Celebrity Chef to Open Pop-Up Restaurant – But it’s Only Open for One Day” at Retail Gazette.  “Aldi has partnered with celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli to open a pop-up restaurant in London for one day only…A four course meal will be created and cooked by Michelni starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli using Aldi food.”  Read more

 

 ” ‘Target Effect’ Causing Disinflation in Canada? by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail.  “The central bank left its key overnight interest unchanged at 1 per cent Wednesday, citing a heightened risk of even lower inflation. The bank blamed excess supply in the economy and heightened competition in the retail sector, which it said are proving to be “more persistent than anticipated.”  Read more

 

“San Francisco company serves as match marker for pop-ups & retailers” by Nellie Bowles at SF Gate.  “What is the main street for? It’s no longer the butcher, baker and candlestick maker – there’s a new set of shops, and what does that look like?” Keenan, 31, said recently in SoMa. “It looks like rotating pop-up shops.”  He argues that the way people think about retail space is antiquated. It takes a long time to fill vacancies, can require thousands of dollars in legal fees, and typical leases – 10 to 20 years – aren’t practical for a lot of retailers.”  Read more

 

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Wed. Tipsheet: Wmart’s $57 Mil in TV Ads | BJ’s Wants Hess | Quebec Clamps Costco | Tome Congrats

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“Happening Today:  Walmart Opens Two New Supercenters in DC (Finally!)”

See the in-store video via WUSA 9 News

See the in-store pics via WTOP

 

“Walmart Spends $57 Million on TV in November (Double Target’s Spend)” at Placed via Seeking Alpha.  “Walmart invested more than twice as much in TV advertising as any of its rivals – but earned an enormous share of retail visitor traffic in return.  Target had the second best ratio of the retailers analyzed at $2.4 million per share point.  Sears spent $13.7 million per visitor share point, more than 8X the rate that Walmart achieved.”  See the chart

 

“BJ’s Wants 1,300 Hess Gas Stations” by Ryan Dezember at WSJ.  “The private-equity owners of BJ’s have enlisted bankers and inquired about the gas-station chain, which they envision pairing with its wholesale clubs, according to people familiar with the matter. CVC Capital Partners Ltd. and Leonard Green & Partners LP paid about $2.8 billion in 2011 for BJ’s, which operates about 200 wholesale clubs in 15 eastern states. More than half of the stores feature gas stations.”  Read more

 

“Walmart: 1 billion page views Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday”  “Cyber Week continues as Walmart.com will offer 200 online specials every day through Friday, Dec. 6. Throughout this holiday season, Walmart.com is also offering free shipping on all orders of $35 or more – nearly 99 percent of Walmart.com items are eligible.”  Read more

 

“UPS:  We Can Launch Delivery Drones Too!” by Ben Popper at The Verge.  “Sources familiar with the company’s plans say it has been testing and evaluating different approaches to drone delivery. Asked for a comment, a company spokesman said that, “The commercial use of drones is an interesting technology and we’ll continue to evaluate it.”  Read more

 

“Want to serve on Walmart’s Board of Directors?  Reconsider” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “High profile exec Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, has been a board member for Wal-Mart Stores since 2012, and during that time she has been dogged by protestors at numerous events when she was scheduled to speak about Yahoo.  A noisy protest on Nov. 19 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, was the most brazen interruption Mayer has faced during her board tenure at Wal-Mart.”  Read more

 

“How Mariano’s plans to conquer the Chicago grocery business” by Brigid Sweeney at Chicago Crain’s.  “All told, Mariano’s will boast 29 locations in the Chicago market by the end of 2014 and employ roughly 10,000 people. But that’s only the half of it. Robert Mariano, chairman, president and CEO of Roundy’s, told investors yesterday that metro Chicago can sustain as many as 50 Mariano’s markets.”  Read more

 

“Top 10 Cities for Online Holiday Sales” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News.  “IBM reports that Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day in history with a 20.6 percent increase in online sales.  Mobile sales increased 55.4 percent from a year ago as retailers improved access to their online stores and shoppers became more nimble with their smartphones and tablets.”  See the Top 10 Cities

 

Thursday Earnings Preview:

“Earnings for Dollar General Projected to Rise” at Forbes.  Read more

“Kroger’s Earnings Expected to Increase” at Forbes.  Read more

 

“Home Depot CFO Carol Tome named to ‘2014 All-America Executive Team’ “  Read the article / See the Illustrated pic 

 

“Walmart has the Back of 30 Execs in Bribery Probe” by Aruna Viswanatha at Reuters via Chicago Tribune.  “Wal-Mart Stores Inc is paying for lawyers to represent more than 30 of its executives involved in a foreign corruption investigation, according to people familiar with the matter, an unusually high number that shows the depth of the federal probe.”  Read more

 

“Quebec Gov’t to Costco & Walmart:  No Book Discounts for You” by Les Perreaux at Globe & Mail.  “Mr. Kotto admitted what the law can do is limited. He could not say how it might stop online retailer Amazon from selling cheap books in Quebec. “There’s not much we can do about the giants,” he said.”  Read more

 

“The Insanity Of Bitcoin, Explained in 3 minutes 23 seconds” by John Brownlee at Fast Company.  “There are some incredibly thorough write-ups about Bitcoin on the web, but if you want to learn about the world’s first all-digital currency, there are few ways more enjoyable than this beautifully animated three-minute short.”  See the Video

 

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