“Wal-Mart realigns small-store format management, adjusting ‘on the fly’” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “(Mike Moore) said the team is lean with five senior vice presidents that report to him with specific duties. The team, which had its first meeting this week, are: Larry Mahoney – logistics; Marc Lieberman – vice president of small formats; Brian Hooper – real estate; David Norman – operations over the West; and Glenda Fleming – operations over the East…Moore said this week he received at least 24 requests from suppliers for meetings about Wal-Mart’s small formats. He assured the crowd it’s not that different but there is a small team of veteran managers looking out for Neighborhood Markets that in that past hierarchy system sometimes got overshadowed or overlooked because the supercenters make the most money.” Read more

 

“Target’s new CEO makes Canadian turnaround his priority” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “Brian Cornell said in an interview on Wednesday he will travel to Canada from Target’s head office in Minneapolis on a “regular” basis to oversee the turnaround efforts. He has “put on pause” the company’s earlier plan to appoint a non-executive chairperson with domestic experience to oversee the troubled Canadian operations.” Read more

 

“Target Corp CEO says every Canadian store ‘has to improve’ as bare shelves continue to plague retailer” by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “Inventory lapses were evident in a mid-town Toronto Target store on Wednesday. While some racks were fully stocked with neatly folded clothing, there were gaping shelf holes in the home storage, décor and shoe departments.” Read more / See the pics

 

“How the Weather Channel Persuaded Walmart to Hand Over Their Sales Data” by Clair Suddath at Bloomberg. “The company persuaded advertisers such as Wal-Mart Stores to hand over their sales data for every product they sold, in every store, in every aisle, all over the country. “I mean that literally,” says Vikram Somaya, general manager of WeatherFX. “We said, ‘Give us your data.’ Traditionally, that’s not been met with a whole lot of resounding cheer, right?” But the stores did it.” Read more

 

“Target’s Bill Ramsey downplays the potential of Apple Pay” by Abby Callard at Internet Retailer. “For consumers, the payment experience can be fraught with emotion, he said: “Emotions create less than logical behavior.” Anxiety is one emotion the Target team talks about a lot, he said. Consumers work hard for their money and deciding what to spend it on and how much to spend can bring up anxiety. If all the new technology does is mimic a current payment method—such as using a cell phone app that keeps a credit and debit card on file—it’s not really an improvement, Ramsey said.” Read more

 

***A message from Relax Sacks – Get Ready For the Most Comfortable Chair on the Planet! Consumers love the comfort of our ‘big and fun’ bean bag chairs (up to 7.5 feet in size!).  Incredibly soft micro-suede covers and uniquely comfortable shredded foam filling make the Relax Sacks experience one your customers won’t want to miss!  Great for living rooms, basements, kids rooms, dorm rooms, etc. Bring some fun and excitement to your stores and drive impulse sales in the process. www.relaxsacks.com.  Email info@shiftmarketinggroup.net for more information

 

“Sam’s Club’s Racquel Harris & Walmart’s Sharon Orlopp Discuss Leadership” by Jamie Smith at The City Wire. “Harris worked at Kraft Foods before her role at Sam’s Club where she had the opportunity to learn from other female leaders about how to break down barriers and demonstrate empathy.  For Orlopp, the answer was the “power of storytelling” and the ability to connect to people at all levels.” Read more

 

“Aldi unveils $700m assault on Western Australia and South Australia” by Sue Mitchell at Sydney Morning Herald. “Retailer Aldi has outlined plans to invest another $700 million building two distribution centres and as many as 130 stores in Western Australia and South Australia.” Read more

 

“J.C.Penney Turnaround Plan Fails to Excite” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “Investor confidence in J.C. Penney’s turnaround slumped Wednesday as the retailer put the kibosh on the idea that store closings are necessary…Penney’s stock fell $1, or 11 percent, to close at $8.19.” Read more

 

“Help wanted – Publix is looking for a crisis PR agency — just in case it gets hacked” by Sarah Halzack at The Washington Post. “The company is seeking a consultant who could potentially help with all forms of communications about a breach, including communication with customers, employees, credit card companies and banks. Brous said Publix is being proactive about lining up these services because “it takes time to build a relationship with a PR firm.” By preemptively refining a plan of action, Publix hopes to be better equipped to weather a breach if one occurs.” Read more

 

Happening Today: Q4 2014 Family Dollar Earnings Conference Call @ 5:00 PM EST  Webcast

 

Supreme Court: “Arguments Go Poorly For Amazon Workers Seeking Pay For Search Time” by Daniel Fisher at Forbes. “I’m in the situation probably I’d say go with the Labor Department,” Breyer said. “They are the ones who are in charge of this. And they are saying you lose.” Read more

 

“Wind Could be the End of Delivery Drones” by Lauren Walker at Newsweek. “Drones have become synonymous with modern life…But as their use in delivery services verges on becoming a reality, drones are running into a big problem: wind…Of the 10 missions to Juist so far, two were postponed. What can this 20 percent cancellation rate due to wind mean for widespread use of delivery drones?” Read more

 

“8 Apps That Save You Money On Your Groceries (No Savings Catcher?)” by Sarah Perez at Techcrunch.  See the list

 

“Patient criminal hides on Family Dollar shelf for nearly two hours” by Drew Karedes at KHOU 11 – Houston. “I’d say that was a pretty big sacrifice on his part,” said Sgt. Haney. After the employees left the store around 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, the man on the shelf made his move. Police say he probably wasn’t expecting that the security alarm would immediately go off. It was activated by a motion sensor. The criminal is seen on video exiting out the back door empty handed.” See the video / Read more

 

Heard on the Costco Q4 Earnings Call

(E-com sales $3 Bil, Living Social promotion, 35 new stores/year, Relo NJ store in 2 weeks…)

 

Richard Galanti – CFO 

 

For all of fiscal ‘14 we opened 30 new locations, 17 new in the U.S., three each in Canada, Australia, two each in Japan and Korea, and one each in the U.K., Mexico and Spain, that being our first unit opening in Spain.

 

We ended fiscal ‘14 with 663 locations operating worldwide.

 

For the current fiscal year fiscal ’15, our plans are to open 31 new warehouses and also relocate four existing locations, 19 of the planned 31 new locations will be in the United States, with remaining in international markets.

 

During the first four months of fiscal 2015 basically September through this coming calendar year-end, we planned to open eight of our fiscal ‘15 locations, six in the U.S. and one each in Australia and Mexico, as well we will complete one warehouse relo in Wayne, New Jersey. This will occur in two weeks from tomorrow on the 23rd.

 

Most U.S. regions were in the 4% to 5% comp sales range with Midwest and Southeast being even stronger.

 

Both food and sundries and hardlines comps were both in the mid-single digits range.

 

Both softlines and fresh foods comps were in the high-single digits range for the fourth quarter.

 

Japan and Australia being impacted by cannibalization were the weakest performers, while Canada and Taiwan were the strongest in terms of comp sales increases.

 

In terms of membership, we continue to enjoy strong renewal rates…91% in the U.S. and Canada, and little over 87% worldwide.

 

In early September…for eight days, we ran a nationwide membership promotion for new members on Living Social with the purchase of a full price $55 membership. The new member received a $20 Costco Cash card, coupons for three free items.

 

In terms of Costco online, we’re currently operated in four countries, U.S., Canada, U.K. and Mexico. We’d expect to be in at least one, probably two additional countries by the end of calendar ‘15…This one worked well and we’ll keep you posted.

 

For the fiscal year, total e-commerce sales came in just under $3 billion.

 

Sales in e-commerce were up in the high teens for both the fourth quarter and the fiscal year and comp sales in e-commerce were up in the 18% to 19% range for both the fourth quarter and the fiscal year.

 

Cabo San Lucas Mexico: We plan to be back up and operating by early November.

 

Midwest: Certainly it’s a newer region relatively speaking. We are getting — we seem to have I think hitting our sweet spots in some of those cities.

 

On opening a store in France: If I was a betting person, absolutely in the few years but not in the next year, year and half.

 

On long term store goals: I think we like to get up to 35 a year in the next five years, maybe a little more.

 

In the greater LA where we’ve got 40 or 50 units, many, many units, we feel that over the next 10 years we could open another 10 or 15, but they are all very pinpointed locations based on where other locations, other Costco locations are.

 

The list of price increases is not a big list around here.

 

(E-commerce is) 3% piece of our business. The good news, it’s growing and it is more profitable. E-commerce is definitely quite a bit more profitable than the rest of the company.

 

Read the full transcript (via Seeking Alpha)

 

 

***

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.

 

 

“Curbside Powers Same-Day Pickup at Target, Raises $8 Million” by Liz Gannes at Recode. “That’s the premise of Curbside, a startup that’s officially launching today with significant funding and a beta test with 10 San Francisco Bay Area Target stores…Under Curbside’s current business model, retailers pay Curbside a customer acquisition fee. Customers pay neither a pickup fee nor a markup on their items.” Read more

 

“Target launches two new apps, updates others” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “The changes include revamped iPhone and iPad apps that have been rebuilt from top to bottom..In total, Target is updating or launching eight new products. “Virtually all of our mobile experiences will be entirely new,” said Jason Goldberger, senior vice president of Target.com and mobile…Target has been criticized for being a bit behind the digital curve with a website that sometimes has hiccups and being slower to roll out new initiatives such as buy online, pick up in store capabilities than some of its biggest competitors.” Read more

 

“Shop.org Forecasts Online Sales to Grow Between 8 – 11% This Holiday Season” at NRF. “The National Retail Federation announced today it expects sales in November and December (excluding autos, gas and restaurant sales) to increase a healthy 4.1 percent to $616.9 billion, higher than 2013’s actual 3.1 percent increase.” Read the release

 

“iPAD is the #1 Brand Among Kids 6-12 (Candy & Snacks are #2-7)” See the Top 25 list

 

***A message from Dig It® Handwear.  Revolutionary garden glove protection for manicured female hands!  Patented line of high-quality gardening gloves provides unique “pillow-top” protection for female gardeners.  Nationally distributed in Canada…Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary is an investor…now being offered to US Retailers for the first time.  View the line at www.digithandwear.com.  Peggable gloves merchandise easily – see the off-shelf display. Contact info@shiftmarketinggroup.net to get started.

 

“Critics evaluate Wal-Mart’s focus on sustainable food systems” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “At Monday’s meeting Wal-Mart recognized a partnership agreement with six large suppliers: General Mills, Kellogg, Pepsi, Monsanto, Cargill, and Coca Cola. Together this group pledged to reduce 8 million metric tons of greenhouse gases by employing more sustainable practices on 8 million acres farmed over the next three years.” Read more

 

…Adding more information to Sam’s Club bar codes by Stephanie Strom at NY Times. “To reduce food waste, Walmart says it has begun developing more ways to use a “whole crop” in its private-label food production and to reduce spoilage. It is also adding more information to bar codes in its Sam’s Club stores. “We want to reduce the confusion that’s out there about what consumers should be eating in terms of their own health and what they should be buying in terms of what’s good for the planet,” Ms. McLaughlin said.” Read more

 

“The iron grip of Wayfair’s founders” by Steven Syre at Boston Globe. “But here’s where the story of Wayfair and its founders really becomes something rare: They’ve managed to retain absolute control over a venture now valued at more than $3 billion. Founders of tech businesses usually see their ownership diluted over time by venture capital firms and public stockholders who provide the money necessary to build a big company.” Read more

 

“The Container Store Shares Tumble To Record Low As Same Store Sales Slide” by Samantha Sharf at Forbes. “Same store sales, however, were down 0.4%. At same time that current stores are undergoing a slowdown the company is touting new stores. In a statement CEO Kip Tindell ignored the same store sales decline but said, “We are very excited about our new store growth, with three more openings ahead of us this year.” Read more

 

JC Penney to Close 62+ Stores? by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Sozzi said he predicts Penney’s will use the event to announce “mass store closures,” which would ultimately bring its store count from 1,062 as of August, to under 1,000. But with sales and earnings moving in the right direction, he said, the closings won’t be seen as a sign of weakness.” Read more

 

“Amazon Expands Seller Holiday Deals Program Worldwide” “The seller holiday deals program, introduced for the first time last year, is now expanding to be available worldwide on local Amazon sites in the U.S., the EU, China, Japan, India and Canada.” Read the release

 

***

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.

 

 

 

 

CNN: Could this ‘chemist’ be the next boss of Walmart? by Poppy Harlow & Sheena McKenzie. “Could the 64th most powerful woman in the world (Rosalind Brewer), according to Forbes, one day have the top job at Walmart? “Oh boy, that is a good question,” she says, laughing a little nervously. “If ever I was afforded the opportunity, surely I would step up to the challenge.” Read more / See the video

 

“Walmart’s global e-commerce chief pokes at Amazon in rival’s backyard” by Blair Hanley Frank at GeekWire. “Is anybody selling the Fire phone?” he (Neil Ashe) said in response to a question on stage at today’s GeekWire Summit in Seattle, drawing a handful of laughs and a healthy crop of boos. “I guess, the more important question would be is anybody buying the Fire phone?” Read more

 

“Target’s Response To My Calling Out Their Girls’ Clothing Problem” by Stephanie Giese at HuffPo. “It seems that my last blog post, A Target Intervention on Behalf of My Daughters, has struck a nerve. To my surprise, it got a lot of national attention…I have been in touch with the Target Corporate Headquarters and I am so excited to report that they have read all of the comments that moms are leaving in response to that post! I am beyond thrilled to announce that I am going to start working with Target towards change, starting in my own house.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart & other retailers tune in weather forecasts to spur sales” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Wal-Mart spokewoman Molly Blakeman said one use this summer by the retailer involved featured ads online, mobile devices and social media sites for patio furniture and grills. She said the retailer continues to use the collected weather data paired with its sales data and merchandise across the company’s entire big box format.” Read more

 

“Wayfair shares soar on first day of public trading” by Taryn Luna at The Boston Globe. “Investors embraced shares of Wayfair Inc. in their first day of public trading, driving the stock of the Boston online furniture and home goods retailer up more than 30 percent Thursday…“It’s a super-exciting milestone for the company,” said Niraj Shah, chief executive of Wayfair, who was joined by 90 company employees to ring the bell and open the markets in New York. “Online sales are doing really well, and people are realizing that the home goods market, furniture and décor, can be a really good category.” Read more

 

“As Wayfair Goes Public, Big Marketing Spending Raises Big Questions” by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “CEO Niraj Shah said he doesn’t believe the company will need to continue increasing marketing spending as revenue grows, meaning that the percent of revenue being spent on those costs should decrease over time…“What we’ve been saying is we’re trying to build a really big business, and to do that with a big base of loyal customers that come back more and more often,” he said.” Read more

 

“UPS, FedEx Want Retailers to Get Real on Holiday Shipping” by Laura Stevens, Suzanne Kapner & Shelly Banjo at WSJ. “Their challenge is convincing retailers to change their ways. UPS is trying to persuade e-commerce companies to hold their big sales in mid-December instead of in the countdown to Dec. 25. It also wants them to stagger special offers geographically—so a GoPro camera might be on sale one day in Texas and a different day in Florida.” Read more (Subscription required)

 

“Target opens its first liquor store in Minnesota since 1970s” by John Ewoldt at Star-Tribune. “Target Corp. announced in June it would soon open its first liquor shop in Minnesota in more than 40 years. And it opened the store quietly on Wednesday. For much of the afternoon, more employees than customers gathered around the cash terminals.” Read more

 

…See the Pics (10% off 6 or more bottles of wine) at Minn./St. Paul Bus. Journal.   See the 11 pics

 

“Rite-Aid: September Front-End Comp Sales +2.3%” “Same store sales for the 30-week period ended Sept. 27, 2014 increased 3.8 percent over the prior-year period. Front-end same store sales increased 0.8 percent while pharmacy same store sales increased 5.2 percent.” Read the release

 

“Yes, a lower calorie Pepsi you can only buy on Amazon” by David A. Arnott at Albany Bus. Review. “At the moment, launching new drinks through Amazon may seem like a mere novelty that gives them attention they wouldn’t get otherwise…But if companies keep their expectations low, launching with online sales-only could be an excellent way of gauging initial interest and drumming up demand for a product before shipping to physical stores.” Read more

 

“Billionaire Buffett Says Tesco Investment Was ‘A Huge Mistake’” by Paul Jarvis at Bloomberg. ““I made a mistake on that one,” Buffett, 84, said in an interview with CNBC today. “That was a huge mistake by me.” Read more

 

“Amazon Ad Sales VP Lisa Utzschneider: Still ‘Day One’ for Video Ads” at Ad Age. See the video

 

“Northern Colorado Costco opens to public” by Pat Ferrier at The Coloradoan. “Bryson joined 247 other shoppers who stood in the cold morning air waiting for the 155,000-square-foot store to open its doors at 8 a.m. Many were California transplants…Debbie Brown dragged her husband, Mike, to the opening “kicking and screaming,” he said. Both were among the 6,000 attending the VIP reception Wednesday.” Read more/Pics/Video

 

***

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.