Wednesday Tipsheet: Target’s Mulligan Doesn’t Want Job | Costco Bans Receipt Smiley

/in

 

“Target’s interim CEO does not want job permanently” by Jim Finkle at Reuters via Chicago Tribune. “Target Corp interim Chief Executive John Mulligan said he has no interest in becoming the company’s chief executive, though that will not undermine his ability to help the company recover from its massive data breach and missteps in Canada.”  Read more

 

“A Q&A with Target’s Interim CEO John Mulligan” at A Bullseye View.  “This isn’t about me; it’s about the entire leadership team, and we all agree that we cannot pause. As an interim CEO, I am not simply keeping the ship afloat. We need to accelerate our growth and that means we all have to move faster and empower the people around us to do the same.”  Read more

 

“Costco store bans smiley faces on customer receipts (but then reverses itself)” by Kristen Hampton at WBTV-3 (Charlotte).  “Blake Hartwick went to the Tyvola Road store in Charlotte with his 3 year old daughter and the usual smiley face was not on the receipt.  Blake says his daughter asked the man at the door to draw one, “He looked at us and said I’m sorry I can’t draw a smiley face on the back of your receipt.”  Blake says two Costco employees told him a new corporate policy banned the practice. “I was stunned,” Blake said.”  See the video / Read more

 

“Whole Foods Q2 Comp Sales +4.5% (+6.9% LY)”  “Average weekly sales per store were $742,000, translating to record sales per gross square foot of $1,000. Operating income was $231 million, or 7.0% of sales, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $318 million, or 9.6% of sales.”  Read the release

 

“Retail’s game of musical chairs is likely not over” by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC.  “The skill sets needed to be a good merchant are often different than the skill sets needed to be a CEO,” he said. “Merchants tend to be right-brain people, and good [CEOs], particularly nowadays, tend to be someone a little more left-brained. … You don’t find [that] combination of skills that often.” Read more

 

“Apple Jumps to Second Place in Online Retail (Costco Appears in Top 15 for First Time)” by Shelly Banjo at WSJ. “Making its first appearance in the top 15 largest online retailers was warehouse club operator Costco.  The wholesale club chain, which increased its Internet sales by 48% to $3.1 billion last year, surpassed electronics retailer Best Buy…Online sales represented close to 3% of Costco’s $103 billion in revenue last year.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart acquires Adchemy” at The City Wire.  ““Walmart isn’t a retailer in Silicon Valley, we’re building an Internet technology company inside the world’s largest retailer. We are 2,100 strong and growing,” King noted in his May 6 blog entry.  Adchemy is WalmartLabs twelfth acquisition since Labs’ creation, and one of the largest to date in terms of people.”  Read more

 

Alibaba IPO: “eBay, Amazon and Google should be scared” at Mercury News.  “With its entry into the U.S. stock market, Alibaba — often described as a combination of eBay, Amazon and Google — will have a valuation estimated at $150 billion to upward of $200 billion, giving it an immediate market value greater than Facebook and Amazon.”  Read more

 

“Tesco Challenges Aldi by Taking Page from Amazon Playbook” by Gabby Thesing at Bloomberg.  “Clarke is modelling Tesco on the tech giants, building a digital one-stop shop centered around its Hudl tablet that includes everything from movies to banking. A smart phone will join the stable later this year. The aim? Lock in customers by incentivizing them with loyalty points to buy everything from mortgages to grapes.”  Read more

 

“Home Depot Still King of Radio” at Radio Ink.  “The Home Depot is averaging over 64,000 spots per week on radio, according to Media Monitors. At that consistent level, they are by far radio’s biggest advertiser, and have been for seven straight weeks now.” Read more

 

“Sears chief: Store closings will continue” by Alexia Elejade-Ruiz at Chicago Tribune.  “Citing examples of companies that have successfully undergone transformations despite seemingly damning financials, Sears Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert told shareholders Tuesday that “sometimes you need to go backwards to go forwards.”  Read more

 

Follow @retaileyeretail

Tuesday Tipsheet: Target: Wmart’s Simon Next CEO?; Canada on Notice | Wgreen +7.6%

/in

 

“Walmart’s Bill Simon Mentioned as Potential New Target CEO” by Janet Moore & Jennifer Bjorhus at Star-Tribune.  “Some of the more surprising candidates mentioned to head the $73 billion Minneapolis retailer include retiring Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally and former Target CEO Robert Ulrich. But when Wall Street analysts got right down to it, much of the focus centered on retail execs currently in the game, including Glenn Murphy, chairman and CEO of Gap Inc.; Bill Simon, head of Wal-Mart Inc.’s U.S. division; and Greg Sandfort of Tractor Supply Co.”  Read more

 

“Target Canada Could be next on the Chopping Block” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail.  “Some company watchers say Target will have to consider shutting its operations here entirely within the next year or two if their performance doesn’t improve significantly.  “It is conceivable that they will close Canada,” Faye Landes, retail analyst at Cowen and Co. in New York, said in an interview. “I assume with a new CEO, everything will be on the table.”  Read more

 

“Target CEO Search May Take up to 12 Months – Gives Interim CEO John Mulligan a Chance to Audition” by John Vomhof Jr. at Minn./St. Paul Bus. Journal.  “These people aren’t walking the streets. These are passive candidates,” he said. “it’s a tedious process of reaching out quietly and confidentially to top senior-level executives who have the ability to take on this assignment,”. It takes time. Nobody’s unemployed. Nobody’s walking the street, looking for a job.”  Read more

 

“Walmart’s Web Sales Grow Faster than at Amazon (Finally!)” by Shelly Banjo at WSJ.  “Global Internet sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rose by 30% to $10 billion during the year ended Jan. 31, surpassing Amazon.com Inc.’s 20% sales growth during the year ended Dec. 31, according to data from trade publication Internet Retailer.  Amazon still dwarfs Wal-Mart’s Web sales in scale.”  Read more

 

“Deloitte Study:  88% have found several store brands that are just as good as national brands”  “Traditional thinking that targets consumers at multiple price points with good, better or best offerings often misses the mark,” added Conroy. “Given the bifurcation of consumers between higher and lower income levels, brands should instead address different shoppers’ ability and willingness to spend by moving to an OK, better and excellent brand portfolio.”  Read the release

 

“Tweet And Shop: Twitter Teams Up With Amazon” by Levi Sumagaysay at Mercury News.  “Under a new partnership between the two companies, users can follow links to something they want to buy online, tweet a response indicating they’d like to buy it, and later find that item in their Amazon shopping cart ready for purchase.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart acquires Simplexity’s WARP out of Bankruptcy” at The City Wire. “We’ve seen more and more customers choosing where they purchase new smartphones based on where they’ll get the best value for their trade-ins. Now, when they come to Walmart they’ll not only get low prices on the newest phones and exclusive offerings, but they’ll also receive a much quicker process for getting their new phone activated,” Karenann Terrell, chief information officer at Walmart, noted in a corporate blog on Monday.”  Read more

 

“Walgreen’s Same-Store Sales +7.6% in April”  “For the combined March/April period that includes the Easter holiday season impact, comparable store front-end sales increased by 2.1 percent, while customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 0.9 percent and basket size increased 3.0 percent.”  Read more

 

“Office Depot to close 400 U.S. stores” at Reuters.  “Office Depot said it would close at least 400 stores in the United States as shoppers shift their office supply purchases to e-retailers, mass market chains and drugstores.  Office Depot, which also reported a quarterly net loss, said it expects to close 150 stores this year.”  Read more

 

“OfficeMax Q1 Sales Off 3%”  “Total reported sales for the first quarter of 2014 were $4.4 billion compared to $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2013, and were 3% lower than combined pro forma sales of $4.5 billion in the first quarter of the prior year.”  Read the release

 

Follow @retaileyeretail

Monday Tipsheet: Google/Amazon Same-Day in LA | Snobby Staff | P.Rico Has the Most

/in

 

“Google and Amazon launch same-day delivery in L.A. area” by Tiffany Hsu at LA Times (Survey to Open).  “Google is using third-party delivery agents trained through an in-person program the company calls “Courier University” that teaches agents how to greet customers at the door and how to use the mobile shopping app. The couriers will wear Google Shopping Express uniforms and, for the most part, drive Google-branded vehicles.”  Read more 

 

“In battle with Amazon, traditional retailers innovate, turn to Iterate” by Andy Vuong at Iterate.  “Iterate Studio, the brainchild of Denver serial entrepreneur Jon Nordmark, aims to level the playing field. The recently launched startup connects retailers with an army of tech firms that develop and test new features and services, such as website behavioral tracking.  About 20 retailers, including Yankee Candle and Sur La Table, have already signed up.”  Read more

 

“Puerto Rico Has the Most Walmart and Walgreen Stores Per Square Mile” at Latin American Herald Tribune. “The U.S. commonwealth has 118 Walgreens stores and 56 Walmart establishments, including Sam’s Club warehouses and the Amigo supermarket chain, which the Bentonville, Arkansas-based multinational acquired a decade ago.”  Read more

 

“America’s 10 Most Popular Stores (Target #6, Walmart #1)” by Thomas C. Frohlich at Huff Po via 24/7 Wall Street.  “According to data provided by Placed, a consumer habits data service provider that monitors behavior of more than 150,000 American consumers at 150 million locations daily, the most popular brands are primarily in the fast-food, discount retail and pharmacy segments.”  Read more

 

“Order From This Fast Growing Retailer and Your Package Will Take 2-3 Weeks to Arrive” by Serena Ng at WSJ. “The mom-focused discount site Zulily Inc. has been taking an average of two to three weeks to get merchandise to customers…The slow shipping times are the result of a bare-bones distribution system that is enabling four-year-old Zulily to turn a profit in an industry where some of its peers have struggled. But the lag has been a source of customer frustration and complaints.”  Read more

 

“Home Depot Disputes ‘Code Crackers’ Recommendations” at KTIC Radio.  “Catherine Woodling, a spokeswoman for Home Depot said the information in James’ blog about the do-it-yourself store is not accurate. She said that if you’re looking for the best buy in the store, customers should look for the “New Low Price” tags, which remain at that price for 90 days.”  Read more

 

“Study: Snobby Staff May Make Average Shopper Buy To Feel Accepted” at CBS New York.  “As 1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria reported, the study soon to be released in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that around a snooty worker, the very uncomfortable average shopper will tend to buy something so that they feel like they fit in.”  Read more

 

“Hardware stores create their own Angie’s List” by John Ewoldt at Star-Tribune.  “Consumers can endorse a business on porch.com, but it’s not clear how it will be monitored,” he said. “Do we know if the ballot box is being stuffed?”  The lack of negative reviews also concerns Krughoff. Consumers need a ratio between positive and negative reviews. “If people can endorse a business but not criticize it, that’s not a fair picture,” he said.  Ehrlichman says that Porch.com isn’t in the business of recommendations. “We let the neighbors do it,” he said.”  Read more

 

“Dove Study:  80% of women feel anxious about the way they look and only 4% would describe themselves as beautiful”  “Girls replicate their mothers’ behaviors about beauty, confidence and self-esteem. A striking 72% of girls feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful.”  Read the release

 

Follow @retaileyeretail

Friday Tipsheet: Amazon Expands Same-Day (Cuts L.Vegas) | Target Cuts Photog | Rite-Aid/Publix/Ingles Comps

/in

 

“Amazon Expands Same-Day Delivery to 12 Cities”  “City & order cut-off time:  Baltimore: 11:00 a.m.; Boston: 11:00 a.m.;  Chicago:  7 a.m.; Dallas: 12:15 p.m.;  Indianapolis: 11:30 a.m.; Los Angeles: 12:15 p.m.;  New York City (and parts of New Jersey): 8:00 a.m.; Philadelphia: 8:30 a.m.; Phoenix: 12:15 p.m.; San Francisco:12:15 p.m.; Seattle: 12:15 p.m.; Washington, D.C.: 11:00 a.m.”  Read more

 

“Amazon adds search filters for same-day delivery service” by Jay Greene at Seattle Times.  “Prime subscribers will need to pay $5.99 for the service; non-Prime members will pay at least $9.98 for rapid delivery…The online retail giant introduced its “Get It Today” search filter in Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, as well as Seattle. Amazon said the filter will be available in eight other cities where same-day deilvery is available “soon.”  Read more

 

Consumer Reports:  “What to buy at Costco and what to skip”  “Skip:  Toilet paper. Though it’s quite soft, Kirkland Signature toilet paper offers only so-so strength and tearing ease, making it an also ran in our toilet paper Ratings. Though it costs twice as much, White Cloud 3-Ply Ultra, a Walmart exclusive, combines superb strength and softness.”  Read more

 

“There’s a funny story behind Porch.com’s huge new deal with Lowe’s” by Teresa Novellino at Upstart Bus. Journal.  “The director of business development at Lowe’s, who had read about Porch.com in a small, niche trade publication for remodelers, reached out to the under-the-radar Seattle startup in a most unusual way. She applied for a job.  “It was the only way she had of connecting with us—we were in stealth mode,” Ehrlichman told me. “She couldn’t reach us any other way.”  Read more

 

“As Target upgrades credit cards, it may stand alone” by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC.  “But there’s another reason Riley doesn’t expect other retailers to follow Target’s lead: The fact that there is so much change under way involving new technologies in the payment category.  “In fact, if they do, I think it’s a little bit premature,” he said.”  Read more

 

“Publix:  Q1 Same-Store Sales +4%”  “Publix’s sales for the first quarter of 2014 were $7.8 billion, a 4.1 percent increase from last year’s $7.5 billion.”  Read the release

 

“Rite-Aid: April Same-Store Sales +5%”  “April front-end same store sales increased 4.7 percent, with 4.6 percent of the increase attributable to a shift in the timing of Easter.”  Read the release

 

“Ingles:  Q2 Same-Store Sales +2.5%”  “Comparable store sales excluding gasoline and extra Easter 2013 sales, increased 2.5% over the comparable quarters. The number of customer transactions (excluding gasoline) increased 0.5%.”  Read more

 

“Las Vegas Loses Amazon Same-Day Delivery” by Greg Bensinger at WSJ.  “While Amazon is expanding same-day delivery, it is ending the service in Las Vegas, an original site for the service and where Amazon operates a shipping warehouse just north of the city. A spokeswoman said that the company is always testing new services and delivery areas, but declined to discuss why Las Vegas is losing its same-day delivery.”  Read more

 

Canada:  “Loblaw plans to battle Amazon and Wal-Mart with online food operation” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail.  “By later this year, grocer Loblaw Cos. Ltd. will launch a test e-commerce site that will include fresh food, with a “click and collect” operation that will allow consumers to order groceries from its website and then pick them up at the stores after employees have packed the goods. The company anticipates an aggressive roll-out if the pilot works out.”  Read more

 

“Target bosses distance themselves from Celebrity Photog Terry Richardson” at Star Pulse.  “Bosses at U.S. retailer Target have joined editors at Vogue magazine in distancing themselves from celebrity photographer Terry Richardson following his recent sex scandal…Target spokesman Joshua Thomas says in a statement, “We worked with Terry on a campaign for one of our limited-edition collaborations. We have no plans to work with him in the future.”  Read more

 

“Google same-day shoppers order candy, baby food and climbing gear” by Heather Somerville at San Jose Mercury News.  “Most common purchase by city: San Jose: mayonnaise; Sunnyvale: baby food; Palo Alto: Nutella; Mountain View: climbing gear;  Menlo Park: candy;  San Mateo: coffee; Most popular days for orders: Sunday and Monday.”  Read more

 

“H-E-B exec spills beans on possible new plants and an online-grocery service” by Sanford Nowlin at San Antonio Bus. Journal. “McCullough says H-E-B also expects to announce an online-sales operation this year…He declined to discuss specifics about the online operation, however.  “It will be a world-class offering you’ll be very excited about,” McCullough adds.” Read more

 

Follow @retaileyeretail

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Thursday Tipsheet: Wmart: Groc. pick-up in Bville | F.Dollar “got off course” | Barclays Webcasts

/in

 

“Wal-Mart to Build Online Grocery Pick-Up Center in Bentonville” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Wal-Mart is wasting no time in deploying its latest grocery format — a stand alone pick-up center where shoppers can drive up and retrieve their online orders and never leave their car…The retailer reviewed plans for the first concept depot with Bentonville city officials on Tuesday (April 29.) The proposed development goes to the city planning commission on May 6.”  Read more

 

“Family Dollar focused on regaining customer base after straying ‘off course’ “ by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Bus. Journal. “Levine expressed confidence Wednesday that Family Dollar is on the right path during a presentation at Barclays Retail and Consumer Discretionary Conference in New York City.  “We’re going back to what we know. We’re going back to our core values. We’re going back to what our customers expect from us,” Levine said…“We got off course. We lost our core focus on providing value and convenience,” Levine said.”  Read more

 

“How Wal-Mart May Give Detergent Overdosing — And Sales — A Boost” by Paul Ziobro at WSJ.  “Wal-Mart has announced an initiative to cut the amount of water in each dose of liquid laundry detergent it sells by 25% by 2018…The mandate from the world’s largest retailer essentially marks the start of another shift in a direction that could boost sales in the $7 billion U.S. laundry category.”  Read more

 

“Costco vs. Sam’s:  Price Showdown in Indy” at RTV 6 ABC – Indianapolis.  “The grand total was $262.05 for Costco; $274.31 cents for Sam’s Club.  But it’s important to point out that Costco charges $10 more a year than Sam’s Club for a basic membership.  Another thing to consider — the price you pay will not only depend on whether you shop at Costco or Sam’s, but in which part of town you shop.”  See the shopping list

 

“What does Wal-Mart not sell? ‘Anything is Fair Game’ “ at AP via Dallas News.  “What other services could be on the horizon for the retail behemoth? Brian Sozzi, an equities strategist who follows Wal-Mart, believes the retailer will continue to focus on adding services.  The possibilities are endless. Shoppers can order caskets online from Wal-Mart and they can even buy life insurance in 217 Wal-Mart stores. But they’ll have to go elsewhere to arrange funeral services…“Anything is fair game,” says Wal-Mart’s Barnett.”  Read more

 

“Carrefour Implements Electronic Shelf Labels” at Retail Touch Points.  “Multinational supermarket chain Carrefour has equipped more than 55,000 Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) from Pricer into its Carrefour Villeneuve la Garenne store.”  Read more

 

2014 Barclays Retail & Consumer Discretionary Conference – Webcasts:

Walgreens 

Family Dollar

Kroger

SuperValu

 

“Walgreens Paperless Coupons Awarded Best Integrated Mobile Experience”  “Walgreens Paperless Coupons offering has set the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said David-Michel Davies, Executive Director of The Webby Awards. “This award is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators.”  Read the release

 

“5 Secrets to Attracting Millennials at Retail”  “1. Millennials are willing to share their information with retailers, which makes them great candidates for loyalty programs. But the loyalty programs must be simple, beneficial, and save them money…5. Millennials don’t do all of their shopping online.”  Read the release

 

Follow @retaileyeretail