Tuesday Tipsheet: Wmart Grocery Pickup Day 1 | Cabo Costco Closed Until Nov? | Ebay/PayPal Split

 

“Day 1 of Walmart’s New Pickup Grocery Format in Bentonville” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “The City Wire registered online to try the new grocery buying experience. The registration was easy, requiring only an email address and password, home address and phone number – very similar to the registration for the Savings Catcher program or a typical online purchase…The City Wire purposely ordered fresh produce to see the quality the pickers would deliver. Two Gala Apples were in the order, the color was nice, but one of them had a small blemish that would not have met the buyer’s approval had they seen the product.” Read more

 

“Costco Looted in Cabo Could be Closed Until November” by Angel Gonzalez at Seattle Times. “Costco has been able to reach 80 percent of the 235 people working at that store and “fortunately we haven’t recorded any human loss,” according to the statement. The warehouse will be operating again “in a few months,” a statement from the company’s Mexico unit said.” Read more

 

USA Today: “Walmart blames Tracy Morgan for not wearing seatbelt” by Maria Puente. “In court papers on Monday the company asserted, among other defenses, that Morgan’s injuries “were caused, in whole or in part, by plaintiffs’ failure to properly wear an appropriate available seatbelt restraint device,” according to The Hollywood Reporter and TMZ. Therefore, the company says, the plaintiffs aren’t entitled to damages because they “failed to mitigate their losses.” Read more

 

“Another card system hack at Supervalu, Albertsons” at San Jose Mercury News. “Card data of Supervalu and Albertsons shoppers may be at risk in another hack, the two supermarket companies said Monday.” Read more

 

“EBay and PayPal to split into two separately traded companies” by David Faber at CNBC. “CEO John Donahoe will step down as CEO of eBay once the split takes effect in 2015.” Read more

 

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“Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom Joins Walmart’s Board of Directors” “Systrom became the 15th member of the Board and will also serve as a member of the company’s Technology and eCommerce Committee and its Compensation, Nominating and Governance Committee.” Read the release

 

“Family Dollar kicks off price-matching initiative Tuesday” by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Bus. Journal. “With this new program, our customers will no longer have to search all over town for the best deal. Simply bring in any local competitor’s printed advertisement, and we’ll match it item for item; plain and simple,” says Jason Reiser, chief merchandising officer.” Read more

 

“Hibbett Announces Promotion of Jared Briskin to Senior Vice President and Chief Merchant” Read the release

 

“Interview with Costco’s Annette Alvarez-Peters (Assistant General Manager Alcohol)” at Shanken News Daily. “Large-format beers and ciders are doing well. Vodka and whiskies also continue to do well. Our top spirits sellers are (Costco private label) Kirkland Signature American vodka ($13.99 a 1.75-liter), and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey ($29.99-$43.99 a 1.75-liter). High-end spirits, notably Johnnie Walker, are also doing well.” Read more

 

“Saks Fifth Avenue to Open New Store in Puerto Rico” Read the release

 

“October 10th: Field & Stream to Open Stores in NY/OH/PA/NY” Altoona, PA  Horseheads, NY  Miamisburg, OH  Rochester, NY

 

“Sears store dealers denounce changes that leave them ‘doomed to financial ruin’ “ by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “David Halsey didn’t envision spending his retirement years working as a sales associate at Canadian Tire. But it’s where the former Sears Hometown store dealer has ended up after walking away from his unprofitable Lindsay, Ont. store a year and a half ago. “At 67 I’m working for $11 an hour,” Mr. Halsey chuckles.” Read more

 

“State patrol: Woman caught driving with Costco bear ‘passenger’ in HOV lane” by Jamie Skorheim at My Northwest. “As she rolls that window down, she sees it is a bear sitting in the front passenger seat,” says Francis. The 19-year-old driver from Everett told authorities the bear wasn’t in the front seat to appear as a passenger…”She had a grand total of an $818 citation for speeding, no insurance and the HOV violation,” says Francis.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail.

Monday Tipsheet: Bezos Worth $29.9 Bil | Amazon Groc. Delivery to NYC | Ads Can Push Too Hard

 

Forbes Richest 400 Americans (Walton’s take 6, 7, 8, 9 – Bezos #15) at Forbes.  See the full list

 

“Amazon’s Grocery Delivery Business Coming to New York City” by Jason Del Ray at Recode. “Amazon is preparing to start its Fresh grocery delivery business in New York City as early as next month, according to two people who have been briefed on the plans…In New York City, Amazon will be competing against FreshDirect, a 15-year-old business that is said to do around $400 million to $500 million in annual sales, according to multiple grocery industry executives.” Read more

 

“New Walmart in east Tampa to help turn food desert into oasis” by Susan Thurston at Tampa Bay Times. “This has been a food desert for a long time,” (Mayor) Buckhorn said. “The folks in east Tampa have had to rely on convenience stores and get charged exorbitant prices for food that’s not particularly healthy. … Now there will be healthy alternatives available.” Read more

 

“Why Stores Still Rule Retail” by Laura Heller at Forbes. “E-commerce sales are just were just 6.4 percent of total retail sales for the second quarter of this year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, up from just 5.8 percent the same period 2013.” Read more

 

ND Walmart: $17.40/hour for starters at Yahoo.  “The Walmart in Williston, ND is one of the highest paying stores in the company.” See the video

 

“Canada warehouse retailer XS Cargo to close its 50 stores” by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “In its filing, the retailer’s trustee PWC made a pointed reference to Target’s entry into Canada, which appears to have pushed XS Cargo to a breaking point as it lowered prices to compete head-on with Walmart Canada.” Read more

 

“Does Walmart’s “Savings Catcher” Actually Work?” by Chris Morran at Consumerist. “When it was all said and done, the service found $4.83 in savings, but left $1.02 unaccounted for. And this was just for a relatively small transaction of $36…Based on just this one test, it seems like Savings Catcher might be something worth trying.” Read more

 

“How Ads Can Push Too Hard” by Matt Richtell at NY Times. “The worst performer was the ad that called the soap the “only choice” for green consumers. That result ran counter to the expectations of a panel of 59 marketing executives and managers who had been asked beforehand to predict which slogan would work best. Nearly half projected that the “only choice” slogan would be most effective. The study subjects reported that the off-putting slogan — with language that was not quite bullying but certainly imperative — threatened their sense of “freedom in expressing their identity,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart tests Pickup-Grocery prototype store” by Cyd King at NWA (Subscription). “If Wal-Mart Stores Inc. President and CEO Doug McMillon wants to treat his wife, Shelley, to a home-cooked steak dinner and bottle of wine, he can place an order online for his groceries, drive to a new Wal-Mart store prototype and pick them up without ever having to get out of his car.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail.

Friday Tipsheet: Target #1 in Shipping Speed | Wmart Last in Pharmacy | Amazon Workers Smoke in ‘Cage’

 

Target Surprise: Ranked #1 in Shipping Speed by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “I had to dig a little deeper to make sure that was really accurate,” said Kevon Hills, StellaService’s vice president of research. But it was. The study by the New York-based research firm found that Target shaved three days off its delivery time. Target’s packages reached StellaService analysts in 1.8 days last month, at least a day quicker than many other retailers who made the top 25.” Read more

 

“Postal Service aims for grocery delivery beyond Amazon” by Jay Greene at Seattle Times. “For the past several weeks, the agency has been testing delivering prepackaged grocery items purchased from the Web giant to customers in San Francisco. According to a filing, the Postal Service is now seeking approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission to add new cities to the test.” Read more

 

Walmart SVP of Change Management, Celia Swanson, Speaks at Luncheon by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Swanson shared that one of the first things the new Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon did after his promotion was to create a video on the importance of corporate culture. He also made the traditional Saturday morning meeting optional for the first time in the company’s history…“To his credit he made the meeting optional, but then put the pressure on himself to make the meetings so great that everyone would want to attend,” she added.” Read more

 

“Amazon’s Grand Plan to Avoid Holiday Delivery Snafus Again” by Brad Stone at Businessweek. “Amazon has built 38 new fulfillment centers in North America over the last year and a half and an additional 15 “sortation centers,” a new category of smaller warehouse where packages from the fulfillment centers are sorted by ZIP codes. The sortation centers allow Amazon to ship packages directly to customers…Overall Amazon now has 158 fulfillment centers around the world, ChannelAdvisor estimates, and more than 100 million square feet of fulfillment capacity.” Read more / See the location maps

 

“Tractor Supply plans new pet concept stores” by Eric Snyder at Nashville Bus. Journal. “Nashville Post reports that the concept is known as HomeTown Pet, and will be run independently from Tractor Supply. Concept stores are to open in Franklin and Fairview by mid-November.” Read more

 

J.D. Power: Pharmacy Customer Satisfaction Rankings (Mass: Sam’s – best, Walmart – worst)  “Among brick and mortar pharmacies, Good Neighbor Pharmacy (884) ranks highest in the chain drug store segment; Sam’s Club (865) ranks highest in the mass merchandiser segment; and Publix (886) ranks highest in the supermarket segment.” See the rankings

 

HuffPo: “These Amazon Warehouse Workers Smoke In Cages” by Dave Jamieson. “Amazon’s new fulfillment center in Baltimore includes 30-foot-long outdoor cages that allow workers to step outside while still being confined. Black fencing runs from the floor to ceiling, “making it impossible for anyone inside it to pass objects to anyone standing in the parking lot.” Read more / See the pics

 

“Sears Canada CEO Douglas Campbell resigns after one year in the job” by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “Mr. Campbell is the second chief executive to leave the embattled department store chain in just over a year, and by all accounts, he was an equally competent one.” Read more

 

“Target Announces Exclusive Collection with Faribault” at A Bullseye View. “The assortment of limited-edition bags, throws, scarves for men and women and tech accessories will be available on Target.com starting Nov. 2 and come in an array of exclusive stripes and plaids.” Read more

 

“DHL beats Amazon, Google to first scheduled drone delivery” by Mark Scott at NY Times via Seattle Times. “The flight — expected to take as long as 30 minutes, depending on weather conditions — would be the first time a drone without the aid of even a land-based pilot has been authorized for regular use in Europe, the company said…Like Amazon, which is running tests in Canada, and Google, which is conducting tests in Australia, DHL is hoping its monthlong trial will prove that the technology — dubbed parcelcopter — can replace some of the traditional ways of delivering parcels to remote locations.” Read more

 

“Jeff Bezos’s actions are true to his beliefs, says Amazon India VP Amit Agarwal” by Rashmi Menon at Economic Times. “We recently launched the pet supplies category. The first day, we had people from remote places in India buying guinea pig food. I would never have guessed that. I would have guessed a dog collar or dog food but guinea pig food! There were purchases for bird food and even food for lizards.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail.

Thursday Tipsheet: Ron Johnson’s New Venture | Amazon’s Secret Lab Gets $55 Mil | EEOC Sues D.Gen

 

“Amazon Will Pump $55 Million into Secretive Silicon Valley Lab” by Deepa Seetharaman & Noel Randewich at Reuters. “Amazon is testing a simple wi-fi device that could be placed in the kitchen or a closet, allowing customers to order products like detergent by pressing a button, one of the people said. Lab126 is also interested in wearable devices, the other person said. Both sources stressed that such devices may never come to market.” Read more

 

Report: Ron Johnson to Start a High-End, On-Demand Delivery Service for Gadgets by Susan Berfield at Bloomberg. “A report claims Johnson is starting a retail business that bypasses stores altogether: “[A] high-end, on-demand delivery service for gadgets.” Apparently he has recruited some former Apple executives to help him with the plan. Johnson has yet to confirm the rumors officially, and I couldn’t reach him. Anonymous sources familiar with the project told Jessica Lessin, the editor-in-chief of the Information, that Johnson could introduce the service as early as next year.” Read more

 

CNBC: Ex-JCP CEO Ron Johnson’s new bet “The Information Editor-in-Chief Jessica Lessin discusses former JC Penney CEO Ron Johnson’s efforts to create a delivery startup.” See the video

 

“Bezos-Backed Pro.com Raises Another $14 Million to Help Renovate Your Home” by Brad Stone at Bloomberg. “Customers want to understand price before they even pick up the phone,” says Matt Williams, Pro’s CEO. Williams worked at Amazon for 10 years, starting as one of Bezos’s famous personal assistant “shadows,” who follow Amazon’s founder into every meeting, taking notes and following up on action items. He also worked on the team that started Amazon Marketplace, in which merchants pay fees to hawk their wares on the site.” Read more

 

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WSJ: “Home Depot Was Hacked by Previously Unseen ‘Mozart’ Malware” by Shelly Banjo & Danny Yadron. “Home Depot confirmed the report and said there were specific attributes of the malware that indicated it was customized to the retailer. For instance, it used file names that blended in with legitimate filenames and are unique to Home Depot’s technology, the company said.” Read more

 

“Dollar General Sued by EEOC for Disability Discrimination” “According to the EEOC’s suit, the employee, who has insulin-dependent diabetes, was working the cash register at Dollar General when she started to experience symptoms of a hypoglycemic episode. Customers were in line, so the former employee grabbed an orange juice from Dollar General’s cooler and consumed it to stabilize her blood sugar. She paid for the orange juice after the customers left…Dollar General fired the employee for violating its grazing policy, which prohibits employees from consuming merchandise before payment.” Read the EEOC release

 

“Smart & Final grocery chain goes public” by Chan Li at LA Times “Smart & Final Stores Inc., the warehouse-style grocery chain with a deep history in Los Angeles, raised about $161 million Wednesday through the public sale of nearly 13.5 million shares…Smart & Final controls about 250 grocery and food stores in six states including California, Arizona and Oregon. The shops operate under the names Smart & Final, Smart & Final Extra! and Cash & Carry Smart Foodserve.” Read more

 

“Amazon expands Twitter deal, with a wish list” by Ben Miller at Puget Sound Bus. Journal. “According to Amazon, its customers using Twitter can type #AmazonWishList to have something automatically added to their Amazon Wish List, and then they continue tweeting.” Read more

 

“Reactions to Walmart’s New Green Dot Banking Service” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Jackson worries that if a user has a problem with their card that the average checker at Wal-Mart won’t be able to handle that complaint without holding up the line. “We talked to convenience stores in the past about why some of them don’t sell pre-paid phones and we were told that when they did and the consumer had a problem that they brought it back into the store upset and store workers had no way to fix the problem. The last thing retailers want is to have upset consumers in their stores when there is no way they can solve the issue,” Jackson said.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail.

Wednesday Tipsheet: Wmart Offers Checking Accounts | Self-Checkout Breach Culprits | Amazon 15% Cheaper

 

NY Times: “Finding a Door Into Banking, Walmart Prepares to Offer Checking Accounts” by Hiroko Tabuchi & Jessica Silver-Greenberg. “Walmart is teaming up with Green Dot, known for its prepaid payment cards, to supply checking accounts to almost anyone over 18 who passes an ID check…Daniel Eckert, senior vice president at Walmart, said on Tuesday that the accounts would be available nationwide by the end of October. The accounts are intended to be low-cost alternatives to traditional bank checking accounts, with no fees for overdrafts or bounced checks and no minimum account balance.” Read more

 

WSJ: “Fraudulent Transactions Surface in Wake of Home Depot Breach” by Robin Sidel. “Air Academy Federal Credit Union has caught roughly $20,000 worth of attempted fraudulent transactions tied to cards that were exposed from the Home Depot breach, said Brad Barnes, chief financial officer at the credit union in Colorado Springs, Colo. “It’s not huge, but for a three-week period it’s a big start,” he said. The credit union has beefed up staffing in its fraud department, particularly on weekends when criminals often try to use counterfeit cards.” Read more

 

Deloitte: Expect 4% – 4.5% Holiday Sales Increase by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “That represents a modest improvement over last year’s 2.8 percent gain to $944 billion.” Read more

 

“Self-checkout terminals eyed as possible culprit in Home Depot breach” by Richard Byrne Reilly at Venture Beat. “Security experts told VentureBeat that self-checkout terminals typically run Windows XP, use store-bought MS 56 or 128 bit encryption, and are easier to crack than POS terminals. While POS terminals are typically operated by cashiers, self-checkout, as the term applies, generally has no physical oversight.” Read more

 

Study: Shopping on Amazon up to 15% cheaper than buying from stores by Tricia Duryee at Geek Wire. “The study, conducted by William Blair, an investment bank, analyzed 4,000 items across 40 retailers to evaluate the competitive landscape. On average, it said Amazon’s prices are 5.9 percent lower at the 40 retailers when you are a non-Prime customer in a state charging online sales tax. The Amazon pricing advantage increases to 8.3 percent when shipping fees go away (in the case of orders exceeding $35 or Amazon Prime eligible items); and the price savings can go as high as 15 percent for Prime customers in states that do not collect sales tax.” Read more

 

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“In Germany, Amazon Keeps Unions at Bay” by Sarah Sloat at WSJ “German unions are accustomed to wielding formidable influence. Union officials sit on supervisory boards at blue-chip companies. They have a track record of wearing down foreign employers. Not so at Amazon.com Inc. For the 16 years the online retailer has done business in Germany, it has shunned the nation’s consensus-driven labor model. It ignores trade unions and largely dictates contract terms at its nine German distribution centers, where it employs about 9,000.” Read more (Subscription)

 

“GroupM Takes 49% Stake in Target’s Media Agency” by Alexander Bruell at Ad Age. “For Haworth, the alignment means “full access” to GroupM’s digital technology and trading tools, as well as a “global expansion platform” for the shop and its clients.” Read more

 

“Kroger: 20% of shoppers plan and prepare for grocery shopping by going online beforehand” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com “Kroger keeps studying online shopping because 60 percent of all consumers consider trips to the grocery store their least favorite chore…”When you step into the future, grocery shopping may not always mean going to the store,” (Matt) Thompson told a packed auditorium at the D² Cincinnati digital marketing conference at the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati in Downtown.” Read more

 

UK: 78% of online shoppers will turn to Amazon if their preferred brand’s website is poor at The Drum. “Only 22 per cent would go to a retail outlet. Highlighting consumer willingness to purchase directly from their preferred brands’ transactional sites, the research found that nearly half of all shoppers (49 per cent) expect to pay less when buying directly from a brand.” Read more

 

“Kmart Introduces ‘Trending Toy Ticker’ “ “The ticker will continually update with the top-selling toys as the season progresses, for parents who want the latest update on the most buzz-generating toys.” Read the release

 

“Best Buy pairs up with designers to dress up smartphones” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Best Buy Co. Inc. on Wednesday will announce three new collaborations with well-known designers — Nanette Lepore, Anna Sui, and Isaac Mizrahi New York — on exclusive lines of colorful, floral, and striped cases for smartphones, tablets and laptops. The tech accessories will be available for preorder on its website and will hit stores Oct. 5.” Read more / See the video

 

“Home Depot’s Carol Tome Sells $516,919 of Company Stock” at Insider Trading.  Read more

 

“Bed, Bath & Beyond Q2 Comp Sales +3.4%” Read the release

 

“AT&T starts bundling Amazon Prime with HBO and broadband” by Todd Bishop at Geek Wire. “AT&T is now offering Amazon Prime subscriptions as part of a bundle that includes broadband access, U-verse TV and an HBO subscription. The $39/month package, designed to appeal to would-be cord-cutters, was spotted by a reader at DSLReports.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail.

Tuesday Tipsheet: H.Depot Tests DIY Auto | Target’s 3.9% Cheaper | Costco Karate Chop

 

Home Depot’s Carol Tome at Atlanta Rotary Club:  Do-it-Yourself Automotive is Next Big Opportunity by Maria  Saporta at Atlanta Bus. Chronicle. “In response to a question about what was the next area of opportunity for the company, Tomé said the company currently had “Do-It-Yourself Automotive” in pilot “right now” in some of its stores. “And they make lots of money,” she said as she exited the stage. “Stay tuned.” After her talk, Tomé said Home Depot has pilots in about 50 stores in select markets across the country. “We really like what we are seeing,” she said. “It’s replacing your windshield wipers and spark plugs. It’s a natural extension of what we do. I like what I see.” Read more

 

“Target Canada winning price battle with Wal-Mart” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “In a comparison of 33 national brands in the grocery, health and beauty aisles, the prices at Target Canada were 3.9 per cent lower than those at Wal-Mart Canada, says the study, which was conducted last month by consultancy Kantar Retail of Boston.” Read more

 

…The bulk of the items in the basket — 67% — were priced within 3% of each other at Financial Post. Read more

 

Massachusetts:  “Walgreens Offers Walk-Up Pet Care in Parking Lots” by Donna Goodison at Boston Herald. “A Florida veterinary company is partnering with Walgreens to offer lower-cost, walk-up clinics for dogs and cats in the parking lots of about 50 of the drugstore chain’s Massachusetts stores….“There’s usually a long line so we advise people to get there early,” Borgman said. “It’s no exam fees. What customers say over and over again is this was fast, convenient, easy.” Read more

 

“Amazon to collect Minnesota sales tax starting Oct. 1 (Warehouse to follow?)” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Retail analysts said the most likely reason is that Amazon is quietly building a distribution center from which to roll out same-day delivery in the Twin Cities. “They could have one right now being built, and we wouldn’t know about it, as crazy as that sounds,” said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. “But that could be hard to keep quiet.” Read more

 

“Home Depot’s security architect had a temper over earlier dismissal” by Howard Solomon at IT World Canada. “…The latest proof is a report that the former IT security architect of recently-breached Home Depot, Rickey Joe Mitchell wreaked some havoc on his employer at the time, an energy company, who he’d learned was about to fire him…About a month after this happened in 2012, Mitchell was hired by Home Depot.” Read more

 

Sam’s Club CEO: ‘No comment’ on ‘Did Target Contact You’ Question at CNN.  See the video

 

HuffPo: “A Target Intervention on Behalf of My Daughters” by Stephanie Giese. “You’ll always be my first choice. But you have a problem…You are making our daughters’ clothes wrong. I’m sure you already know this, but your size 5T shorts are actually smaller than many size 2T shorts made by other brands. Why are you offering my kindergartener clothes that are sized for children less than half her age?” Read more

 

“RadioShack turns to a major vendor for help” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “AT&T didn’t return a call asking whether it is in talks with RadioShack.” Read more

 

“Walmart Texts Prompt Killer to Turn Himself In” by Gavin Off & Mark Washburn at Charlotte Observer. “He began receiving text messages and voice mails from Walmart telling an Anita Townshed that her prescription was ready…Gibson later received an envelope with a Walmart advertisement in it but no return name or address. He felt someone was monitoring his calls, he said…If it hadn’t been for the messages and the letter from Walmart, Marquez said Gibson told her, he wouldn’t have said anything.” Read more

 

“Man won’t show Costco Wholesale staff receipt, suffers broken leg from karate chop, sues for $670,000” by Aimee Green at Oregon Live (Survey). “Walls had just bought $102.66 worth of goods from the 4849 N.E. 138th Ave. Costco location, and as he was leaving the store an employee grabbed and held onto his shopping cart and told him he couldn’t leave, according to the suit. Words were exchanged, and when the employee wouldn’t let go, Walls grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him away from his shopping cart, the suit states. That’s when another employee used “a martial arts type strike with his leg” that the employee had learned while training with the U.S. Armed Forces, the suit states.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail.

 

Monday Tipsheet: Wmart PAC Probed | Kroger PL = $20 Bil | ‘Savings Catcher’ Critique

 

“Labor Groups Seek Probe of Wal-Mart’s PAC” by Shelly Banjo at WSJ (Subscription). “Labor and advocacy groups are seeking an investigation into whether Wal-Mart violated federal election laws by soliciting employees for donations to its political-action committee in exchange for charitable contributions to a fund that helps Wal-Mart employees in need…Wal-Mart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said the company is confident its matching program is lawful and that the FEC will find the complaint lacks merit.” Read more

 

…HuffPo’s Take: “Walmart’s Plan To Encourage Political Donations Violates Election Law, Groups Claim” by Jillian Berman. “Walmart’s program is particularly controversial for two reasons, according to Holman. For one, it offers a 2-for-1 match instead of a 1-for-1 match…Also, Walmart doesn’t give workers a choice of charities for the company to send the matching funds…“Walmart came up with the entirely new scheme,” said Holman, who has written several studies on campaign finance. “This type of matching fund program goes way beyond anything the FEC has ever approved before.” Read more

 

“Kroger Private Label Business Approaches $20 Billion Annually” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com. “Just two years after its introduction, the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain predicts its Simple Truth natural brand will become a $1 billion-a-year business…Kroger executives say its private label business now accounts for one quarter of all its sales excluding gasoline and pharmacy receipts – approaching $20 billion annually.” Read more

 

Fox 13 Tampa Bay: “How Walmart’s ‘Saving Catcher’ app drops the ball” by Chris Chmura. “Here’s the rub: our dollar-for-dollar price matches worked perfectly…We spent $15.36 in all, and we expected a credit of $7.03. Savings Catcher calculated $4.22. We had to contact Walmart headquarters to sort out the discrepancy. Through multiple phone calls, we discovered BOGOs are Savings Catcher’s Achilles heel. As it turns out, Savings Catcher calculates BOGO savings differently from the store…” See the video / Read more

 

NY Post: Auction of a majority stake in Sears Canada failed to attract any acceptable bids by James Covert. “Indeed, a flopped auction of the 62-year-old Canadian chain early this month was a key reason that the corporate parent of Sears and Kmart was forced last week to take out a $400 million loan as it prepares for the crucial holiday season, sources said.” Read more

 

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“Home Depot Emails Customers to Inform Them of Credit Card Hack” at Mashable. “Home Depot told Mashable that the emails “started going out on Friday as part of the standard notification process,” but that they are being sent out “in batches to ensure they flow smoothly.” Which explains why some customers only received it on Sunday.” Read more

 

“Whole Foods CIO Invests to Satisfy Shopper Data Cravings” by Steven Norton at WSJ. “Mr. Buechel said capturing consistent, accurate and in-depth information “is not an easy task, but one we take very seriously.” He declined to go into specifics, but added that “it’s an area we also think technology will help streamline and automate the process going forward.” Read more

 

“Tesco Starts Accounting Probe of Inflated Profit Forecast” by Gabi Thesing at Bloomberg. “The shares plunged as much as 12 percent to their lowest in more than a decade after Tesco said that some income was booked before being earned and costs were recognized later than incurred. The result was that the company’s 1.1 billion-pound ($1.8 billion) projection for first-half operating profit was about 250 million pounds too high.” Read more

 

USA Today: “Grab these tech gadgets at the dollar store” by Marc Saltzman. “Yours truly spent some time rummaging through various dollar stores — including Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General, 99¢ Depot and Dollarama (in Canada) — and the following are a few of the best tech bargoons.” See the Top 7 List

 

“German union calls strikes again at Amazon warehouses” at Reuters. “Verdi said in a statement it had called out workers to strike at distribution centers in Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Graben and Rheinberg.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail.

Friday Tipsheet: Wmart Looted in Mexico | 50 Most Powerful Women | 1000’s at New Cabela’s

 

“Fortune’s Most Powerful Women 2014 (Rosalind Brewer #15, Ann-Marie Campbell #38)”  See the Top 50 List

 

“Walmart & Others Looted in Los Cabos, Mexico After Hurricane” at WNEM-5. “The problem is no longer the hurricane,” resident David Garcia said in a radio interview. “Everything started with the looting. Not even eight hours had passed since the hurricane before people started destroying stores.”…Inside a waterlogged Wal-Mart superstore, there was nothing but puddles, trash, empty shelves and graffiti on the wall: “Long live crime!” Read more

 

Home Depot Hacked After Months of Security Warnings” by Ben Elgin, Michael Riley & Dune Lawrence at Businessweek. “For a retailer with 2,266 stores and $79 billion in annual revenue, buying software to protect against hackers is a good idea. Using the software is a better one. In the year before cybercriminals penetrated payment systems of Home Depot stores in the U.S. and Canada, the retailer suffered at least two smaller hacks, according to internal company e-mails and reports.” Read more

 

“Home Depot: Breach cost $62M, exposed 56M cards” by Phil W. Hudson at Atlanta Bus. Chronicle. “The malware had not been seen previously in other attacks, according to Home Depot’s security partners.” Read more

 

“Target Handpicks Brand Partners for Sustainable ‘Made to Matter’ Push” at Ad Age. “I wanted to make sure I blew away Neil’s presentation,” interjected Eric Ryan, co-founder of Method, another early participant. Mr. Grimmer laughed. “That didn’t happen,” he said. But both succeeded in getting their products into the effort. Target’s “Made to Matter” partnership portfolio now includes sixteen different brands, giving the retailer an exclusive pipeline of over 100 products in return for end cap displays, colossal scale and the benefit of the marketing behind the program.” Read more

 

“Amazon Prime May Have 50 Million Members, Analyst Says” by Jason Del Rey at Recode. ” A survey of more than 4,000 Amazon customers conducted by RBC Capital this month found that 37 percent were current Prime members. And RBC says that percentage leads to its new estimates.” Read more

 

“Thousands Line Up for Cabela’s Grand Opening in Portland Area” at KOIN 6. “Cabela’s opened its 64th store in Tualatin Thursday morning, as thousands poured into the outdoor fishing and hunting store. Some had been waiting in line for days.” See the 27 Pics

 

“Family Dollar: Levine was prepared to accept HQ move to TN” by Ely Portillo at Charlotte Observer. “Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine was willing to accept the company’s headquarters moving to Tennessee last year in order to secure an acquisition by rival Dollar General, the company said in securities filings Wednesday.” Read more

 

” ‘This is the end’ for Sears: Credit Suisse” by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Let’s face facts. Sears is generating negative operating cash flow of between $1 billion and $2 billion [closer to upper end, it looks like] in 2014,” Balter wrote. “Unless it sells off real assets while somehow maintaining the cash flow from those assets, this story is not likely to have a happy ending, and that ending continues to depend on suppliers.” Read more / See the video

 

“Costco Canada switches to MasterCard from AmEx (U.S. Next?)” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “The end to a 15-year partnership between Costco Canada and New York-based AmEx suggests a rift between the two companies that have worked closely together, raising questions about whether they will continue to team up for the longer term in the chain’s core U.S. market.” Read more

 

“Amazon Beats Google With $4.6 Million Bid for “.Buy” Domain” by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “Amazon won with a bid of $4.58 million for the address, part of the Internet governing body ICANN’s initiative to create alternatives to .com.” Read more

 

“Best Buy recycles 1 billion pounds of electronics (five Eiffel Towers worth)” by John Reinan at Star-Tribune. “Calling Best Buy’s program “the biggest and, we believe, the best consumer electronics recycling program on the planet,” Joly joked that he wouldn’t mind seeing Best Buy customers recycle a TV every year.” Read more

 

“Hasbro offers ‘3D Me’ events at Walmart/Sam’s” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Dianna Gee, spokeswoman with Sam’s Club, said the retailer recently worked with 3DMe in some of its grand openings through a partnership formed with the Sam’s Club Road Show Events team. She said a recent opening of Sam’s Club in Moline, Ill., provided shoppers with the opportunity to impose their face on their favorite Major League Baseball player figurine.” See the video / Read more

 

“Rite-Aid Q2 Comp Sales +4.1% (Front End +1.1%)” The company is also narrowing guidance for sales and same store sales. Sales are expected to be between $26.0 billion and $26.3 billion and same store sales to range from an increase of 3.00 percent to an increase of 4.00 percent over Fiscal 2014.” Read the release

 

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About Eye-on-Retail Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created bright and early every morning and delivered between 7-8 am CT. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail.