Wednesday Tipsheet: McMillon on CNBC | H.Depot Acquires | Kroger Turkey Fight

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This Morning:  Walmart’s Doug McMillon Appears on CNBC by Matthew Belvedere at CNBC. “This 2 percent to 3 percent growth range number just feels like it’s kind of perpetual,” he said on “Squawk Box” from the Business Roundtable meeting in Washington, D.C. “We’re kind of like we were last year year. And as I look ahead to next year, it feels like more of the same.” See the video / Read more

 

“Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Has Chosen an Heir Apparent” by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “There is a succession plan,” Bezos said in an onstage interview on Tuesday with Henry Blodget, CEO of Business Insider, in which Bezos is an investor. “There is someone who would take over.” Blodget, of course, asked Bezos to divulge who it is. Bezos didn’t budge, calling it a “secret,” before releasing his trademark bellowing laugh.” Read more

 

Target CMO Jeff Jones On Crisis As Catalyst (And The Real Story Behind ‘Alex From Target’) by Jennifer Rooney at Forbes.” See the video / Read more

 

“Home Depot to acquire HD Supply’s Hardware Solutions unit” at Atlanta Bus. Chronicle. “The Home Depot Inc. will buy HD Supply’s Hardware Solutions unit, formerly known as Crown Bolt, for an undisclosed amount…The deal is expected to close by the end of 2014.” Read more

 

“Walgreen index identifies states with largest number of flu cases” by Ellen Jean Hirst at Chicago Tribune. “Richard Ashworth, Walgreens president of retail and pharmacy operations: “With the ability to generate hyperlocal data that’s as specific as a single ZIP code, the Walgreens Flu Index can become a platform to improve preventive health measures throughout the season, including immunization rates.” Read more

 

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“Wal-Mart’s South Africa Growth Slowed by Mall Food Fight” by Janice Kew at Bloomberg. “Game, a chain owned by Wal-Mart that’s known for household goods ranging from soap to electronics, is encountering opposition as it adds fresh produce to the mix. Rivals with stores in South African shopping centers that have Game outlets have sued to enforce lease clauses barring new food retailers.” Read more

 

“Kroger in middle of Texas turkey fight” by Steve Watkins at Cincy Bus. Courier. “Dallas City Council wound up passing an ordinance earlier this year that levied a 5-cent fee for any bag that a retailer uses. The retailers didn’t like that. Whether coincidental or not, Kroger opted not to donate turkeys this year to a program called Baskets of Hope, which hands out turkeys to needy people just before Thanksgiving. Kroger has donated for years. It just so happens that Dallas City Council member Dwaine Caraway runs Baskets of Hope and was one of the more vocal proponents of the bag tax.” Read more

 

“Target Loses Bid To KO Banks’ Data Breach Litigation” by Jonathan Randles at Law 360. “A Minnesota federal judge left intact most of a consolidated class action against Target Corp. over losses payment card-issuing banks suffered as a result of the retailer’s massive data breach, ruling Tuesday that Target owed banks a duty to protect customer credit and debit card information from hackers.” Read more (Subscription)

 

UK: More than half of Christmas shoppers plan to ‘Showroom’ on mobile this year by Paul Skeldon at Internet Retailing. “Under 35s are the most ‘handy’ shoppers, with 67% finding the best deal on a handheld device while out shopping.” Read more

 

“The Fresh Market opens its first store in Dallas” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “The Fresh Market will become the latest grocer to enter the competitive Dallas-Fort Worth market Wednesday when it opens the first of its four local stores in the works.” Read more

 

HuffPo: “Walmart Denies Stalling In Tracy Morgan Lawsuit” “Plaintiffs’ accusation that Wal-Mart is somehow behind Mr. Roper’s motion in an attempt to delay discovery is simply false,” the company’s attorneys wrote.” Read more

 

“Woman Stumps Orchard Road’s OSHbot with “I’m Looking for a Boyfriend” by Jonathan Bloom at ABC 7 News. “What we actually do is use a process called science fiction prototyping, where we give all our marketing research and trend data to professional published science fiction writers,” said Lowes Innovation Labs Director Kyle Nel.” See the video / Read more

 

Tuesday Tipsheet: Wmart’s Ashe on CNBC | Target’s Rosso Iview | Gun Friday & Hells Angels

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“Online Sales Grew 8% on Cyber Monday vs. 13-15% Projection” at Reuters. “Consumers are not holding back their purchases for deals on certain days anymore and that trend is becoming increasingly clear,” said Jay Henderson, strategy program director at IBM.” Read more

 

…IBM: Mobile Accounted for 38% of Traffic & 20% of Sales on Cyber Monday “Consumers spent more money on their desktops with an average order value of $136.60 compared to their mobile devices at $116.96, a difference of 16.8 percent.” Read the release

 

…IBM: Facebook referrals drove an average of $126.31 per order, Pinterest referrals averaged $98.69 per order Read the release

 

“Supervalu director got $3M for 10 months of work” by Sam Black at Minn./St.Paul Bus. Journal. “Robert Miller spent 10 months as non-executive chairman of Supervalu Inc. For his contribution running the board meetings, working with new CEO Sam Duncan and for presiding over an 11-minute annual meeting in Bloomington in 2013, Miller received stock compensation worth $3.05 million.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart Cyber Monday online sales break record” by Terri Cullen at CNBC. “Wal-Mart Stores on Tuesday announced that online sales broke company records, with more than 1.5 billion pages viewed on Walmart.com between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday.” Read more

 

Walmart’s Neil Ashe on CNBC  “Ashe says 70 percent of Black Friday traffic was on mobile.” See the video

 

“Target Builds TV Ad Impact via Digital Tools, Brent Rosso explains” by Robert Andrews at Beet.TV. “We are a very large TV advertiser,” Target digital media VP Brent Rosso tells Beet.TV. “A lot of our approach has been copied in the marketplace. You hear a jingle (in the ad) and you used to say, ‘That’s Target’ – now it could be a number of different (brands). “To a certain degree, we’ve lost a little bit of the edge there – this digital approach is our way of taking it back.” See the video / Read more

 

Help Wanted: “Retailers seeking cyber head for industry group” by Cory Bennett at The Hill. “According to a job description, the center’s head “will actively engage private sector stakeholders and government agencies to facilitate information sharing and strengthen the retail industry’s capability and capacity to detect, prevent, respond to, and mitigate computerized attacks on retail networks.” Read more

 

WSJ: “Basic Costs Squeeze Families” by Ryan Knutson & Theo Francis. “The data—drawn from 14,000 households that either keep diaries on their spending for two weeks or agree to quarterly interviews—helps explain why so many retailers are turning in persistently lackluster results, and why the household-products business has shown virtually no growth for years.” Read more (Subscription)

 

“Sam Walton’s Granddaughter Has Plans To Fix Public Education In America” by Luisa Kroll at Fortune. “There are an estimated 6,440 public charters–defined as schools that receive some public funding but operate independently–currently operating nationwide. The Waltons have provided over $350 million in seed money to help start more than 1,600 of them, situated mostly in poor urban areas where minorities are in the majority.” Read more

 

“Walmart to cut 250 jobs in China” by Tom Mitchell at Financial Times. “Walmart is to cut 250 jobs in its Chinese operational division and shutter a regional management office in the northeast as it ploughs ahead with its expansion and restructuring plan.” Read more

 

“Home Depot & Lowe’s Keep Radio Managers Happy” at Radio Ink. “The Home Depot retained its number one position airing 55,262 commercials during Thanksgiving week. Lowes moved up to number two, from five, with just over 31,000…Walgreens moved from 14th to 6th.” Read more

 

“Black Friday was Second Biggest Day for Gun Sales Ever” by James Covert at NY Post. “Gun sales surged on the day after Thanksgiving, with more than 175,000 background checks submitted from gun dealers, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Read more 

 

H-E-B and Trader Joe’s Earn Highest Emotion Ratings See the rankings

 

Atlanta: Restoration Hardware Aims to Give Retail a ‘Soul’ “Our goal is to transform the traditional retail model from a way to shop to a way to live,” Mr. Friedman continues. “Most shopping centers and retail malls are archaic windowless boxes, lacking any sense of humanity.” Mr. Friedman concluded, “We don’t want to change the face of retail, but rather give it a soul.” Read the release

 

“Tesco CEO Dave Lewis to Assume Direct Control of U.K. Operations” by Celeste Perri at Bloomberg. “(Dave) Lewis will take the position on an interim basis, the Cheshunt, England-based retailer said on its website yesterday. He takes over from Robin Terrell, who has headed the unit since Tesco divulged the accounting irregularities in September.” Read more

 

“Hells Angels Members Descend Upon Local Walmart for a Purchase That Brings Store Manager to the Scene” by Oliver Darcy at The Blaze. “A group of Hells Angels members visited a Fresno, California Walmart on Black Friday to purchase the store’s entire supply of bicycles so the organization could provide them to needy kids.” See the video / Read more

Monday Tipsheet: Black Friday Downer | Forecasts Hold | Amazon’s Kiva

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“Black Friday Fizzles With Consumers as Sales Tumble 11%” by Lauren Coleman-Lochner at Bloomberg. “The NRF had predicted that 140.1 million customers would visit retailers last weekend, a small decline from last year’s 140.3 million. Instead, only 133.7 million showed up. An effort by some retailers to put items on sale ahead of Thanksgiving may have contributed to sluggish demand on Black Friday, Shay said.” Read more

 

ShopperTrak: Sales at retail stores totaled about $12.29 billion on Thursday and Friday, down 0.5 percent from last year at Reuters via Yahoo. “The research firm stuck by its forecast for November and December sales to increase 3.8 percent.” Read more

 

‘Black Friday’ Fades as Weekend Retail Sales Sink by Shelly Banjo at WSJ. “Shoppers spent an average of $380.95, down 6.4% from a year earlier.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Black Friday 2014: Ecommerce desktop pages were 20% slower than in 2013, mobile pages were 57% slower at Venture Beat. “The five fastest desktop sites, according to Catchpoint, were H&M, Costco, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Etsy.” Read more

 

One-third of Black Friday Online Revenue Was Mobile  Read the release

 

For the first time, online traffic from mobile devices outpaced traditional PCs on Thanksgiving Day  Read the release

 

“Data breaches now industrywide problem: Target CEO” by Tom DiChristopher at CNBC. See the video

 

“The Girls Scouts are going digital for the first time to sell you cookies” by Leanne Italie at Star-Tribune. “For the first time in nearly 100 years, Girl Scouts of the USA will allow its young go-getters to push their wares using a mobile app or personalized websites. But only if their scout councils and guardians say OK.” Read more

 

Alex from Target Interview at WXYZ-Detroit ABC  See the video

 

“Wal-Mart investors to reconsider gun sales after NYC church challenge” by Carey Reed at PBS. “U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark handed down the ruling in favor of New York City’s Trinity Wall Street church, allowing for their original proposal to be presented and voted on by shareholders in 2015.” Read more

 

“Retailers target Alibaba in online sales tax push” by Martin Matishak at The Hill. “Thanks to the online sales tax loophole this Chinese company will decimate our local retailers. Unless Congress ends special tax treatment for Alibaba and other online giants, Main Street will never look the same,” the narrator states.” Read more / See the ad

 

“Army of Amazon robots ready to help fulfill orders on Cyber Monday” by Andrea Chang at LA Times. “The robots — more than 15,000 of them companywide — are part of Amazon’s high-tech effort to get orders to customers faster. By lifting shelves of Amazon products off the ground and speedily delivering them to employee stations, the robots dramatically reduce the time it takes for workers to find items and put them into boxes for shipment.” Read more

 

“Attention shoppers: Customer tracking in cereal aisle” by Jonnelle Davis at News & Record. “Lowes Foods and Wake Forest University business students are watching you…Beahm said students in Wake Forest’s MBA program will analyze the large volume of data gleaned from the lab as part of their business studies, and faculty will use it to do research. The labs are set up in 10 Lowes grocery stores in North Carolina.” 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 happening in the world of retail. Contact us @ info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Black Friday: Bullseye Rings Bell | Wmart: Cuts 30 in China, Expands Lockers

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Today: Brian Cornell (and Bullseye!) to Ring Opening Bell at NYSE “To commemorate the start of the holiday shopping season, Cornell will join other executives and store leaders to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. The group will have two special guests: the young star of Target’s holiday TV commercials and Bullseye, Target’s bull terrier mascot.” Read the release

 

“Santa Ana girl, star of Target holiday ad, will open stock exchange on Black Friday” by Marla Jo Fisher at Orange County Register. “Tatum is really one of the stars of the spot, so we knew we wanted her there,” (Kristy) Welker said. Tatum’s dad, Bryce Bailey, said all four of his children have acted at various times. Target paid to fly the entire family to New York on Tuesday night and put them up in a hotel until Friday’s big event…“And we’re going to see the Rockettes,” Tatum said. “ Read more

 

“Walmart Statement on 2014 Early Black Friday Results” “More than 25 million people downloaded our Black Friday ad, and 20 million customers used their local store maps on Walmart.com….yesterday was our second-highest online sales day ever…throughout the day, we welcomed more than 22 million customers to our stores – that’s more than the number of people who visit Disneyland in an entire year.” Read the release

 

“Ferguson Protests Move to Target & Walmart” by Jim Dalrymple at Buzz Feed.  See the Pics/Vines

 

“Walmart Canada expands ‘grab and go’ online service – beats Amazon to the punch” by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “Walmart is now expanding the project to 33 other Toronto-area stores between now and Dec. 5, before targeting a gradual rollout to other Canadian markets over the next 18 months.” Read more

 

“How Pros Track Holiday Shoppers” by Kyle Stock at Bloomberg. “Digital Globe owns six satellites that circle the globe daily and capture photos of parking lots at big-box stores to see how full they are. ”While it’s interesting to look at the same store over and over and over again, what’s really interesting is looking at thousands and tens of thousands of locations,” said Shay Har-Noy, the company’s senior director of geospatial big data.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart Dismisses 30 China Executives in Restructuring” at Bloomberg. “Among the executives dismissed are vice presidents from Wal-Mart China and Sam’s Club China, according to two Wal-Mart China employees, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. Others were from divisions including merchandising and innovation, they said.” Read more

 

…Sticking by plan to have around 480 Wal-Mart stores in China by the end of 2016 by Laurie Burkitt at WSJ. “Executives have said the Chinese government’s clampdown on excessive consumption at its state-owned enterprises has damped consumer confidence overall. In particular, it has cut into gifting purchases—such as gift-cards and boxes of moon cakes associated with an annual autumn moon festival—that previously lifted retail sales.” Read more (Subscription)

 

“Small Business Saturday Is the Loneliest Shopping Holiday” by Patrick Clark at Bloomberg. “Among the 16 store owners and managers I spoke to, Nick Bari was the most enthusiastic about the promotion…“I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal one way or another,” he says. “It’s more of a gesture than anything else.” The rest of the responses ranged from skepticism to ignorance.” Read more

 

“T.J. Maxx and Dollar Tree Rebel Against Black Friday Frenzy” at Bloomberg. “Dollar Tree, meanwhile, doesn’t expect to join the Black Friday crowd any time soon…“We sell our items for $1 or less all year round, so we feel were already providing a great value to our consumers,” he said.” Read more

 

“A McDonald’s in a church?” by Jenn Harris at Chicago Tribune. “It’s time for churches to engage with entrepreneurship,” writes the group. “By combining a church and a McDonald’s we can create a self-sustaining, community-engaged, popular church, and an unparalleled McDonald’s restaurant.”At the time of this writing, the group had raised $79.” Read more

 

“‘Donuts’ in Walmart parking lot prove deadly for Texas man” via Canoe. “A Texas man doing high-speed spins in his sports utility vehicle at a Dallas-area Walmart parking lot died after his car crashed into a loading dock, trapping him inside, and caught fire.” Read more

Wednesday: Retail ‘Bill of Rights’ | A-lister at Target | High-tech Spoon

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“San Francisco passes first-ever retail worker ‘bill of rights'” by Claire Zillman at Fortune. “The ordinances will require businesses to post workers’ schedules at least two weeks in advance. Workers will receive compensation for last-minute schedule changes, “on-call” hours, and instances in which they’re sent home before completing their assigned shifts.” Read more

 

….Applies to Retailers with 20+ Locations that Employ 20+ in San Fran at Politico.  Read more

 

“How an innovative NYC boutique wooed Target’s CEO” by Leigh Gallagher at Fortune. “For Target’s partnership, events will include an evening discussion with Nate Berkus and make-up lessons from Sonia Kashuk and weekend events, such as a free lunch from a locally-sourced food truck that supports Drive Change, a nonprofit focused on incarcerated youth. (All recipes will involve maple syrup from Archer Farms, available…only at Target.)” Read more

 

“Lowe’s Brings Holoroom to Canada” by Raju Mudhar at The Star. “I think it’s really important to lay out that this is not the final version of where we are going with this. I wouldn’t even call this version 1.0 it’s .5 of where we want to take this. Even the Holodeck had a first step and everything has to start somewhere,” says Kyle Nel, executive director of Lowe’s Innovation Labs.” Read more

 

Consumer Reports Reveals 2014 Naughty & Nice List “Nice = Sam’s, CVS & Whole Foods” See the full list

 

***A message from Lock-it Block-it – 79% don’t feel safe in their own home. Lock-it Block-it is an adjustable window security bar that keeps open & closed windows & doors secured. The patented security bar replaces clumsy wooden sticks and helps homeowners better-secure their homes. Easy to install & easy to use. See the sell sheet / See the video / lockitblockit.com / info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

 

“Costco targets mid-2015 opening of Wichita store” by Josh Heck at Wichita Bus. Journal. “(Todd) Thull says Costco is targeting a mid-2015 opening for a 150,000-square-foot store that will be located near the northeast corner of Kellogg and Webb Road. A fuel station also will be included.” Read more

 

Greenville: Man Has Been Waiting in Line Since Monday for $199 TV (and is still the only one in line) by Anna Lee at Greenville Online. “Coming from Long Island, where people sometimes line up weeks in advance for Black Friday shopping, McCauley said he wasn’t sure what to expect in Greenville but figured it would be better safe than sorry.” Read more / See the video

 

“Home Depot faces at least 44 lawsuits in the United States and Canada” via ABC News. “The security project has been completed in U.S. stores, and Home Depot expects to do the same for its Canadian locations early next year.” Read more

 

“Melissa McCarthy loads up at discount store Target on shopping trip with daughters” at Daily Mail. “She is an A-list comedienne with a reported net worth of $20 million. But it seems like Melissa McCarthy can’t resist a good bargain. The 44-year-old actress was spotted leaving the Target department store in Burbank, California, with her two daughters on Saturday.” Read more / See the pics

 

“Google offers high-tech spoon that stays steady in shaky hands” by Tracey Lien at LA Times. “It then uses “active cancellation” (used in noise-canceling headphones), in which tiny motors in the handle move the spoon opposite to the tremor to help keep the spoon steady. In clinical trials, the spoons reduced shaking by an average of 76%.” Read more / See the video

 

“Calgary area mom finds bullet in Brussels sprouts from Costco” by Phil Heidenreich at Global News. “Despite the shocking discovery, Moore is able to find humor in the situation. Asked if she would buy frozen Brussels sprouts again, she laughed and said “I think I will go with fresh ones.” 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 happening in the world of retail. Contact us @ info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday Tipsheet: Wmart: Duncan Out | Looters In | H.Depot = Digital ‘Genius’

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Ferguson Fallout: 

…Walgreens Completely Engulfed in Flames at KMOV  Read more   Smolders from Fire

…in Oakland via SF Gate “A couple of hundred protesters lit a bonfire in the middle of Broadway as the Starbucks store on Ninth Street was trashed and looted of equipment and bags of coffee beans. Thieves then smashed into the nearby Smart & Final and ran away with booze bottles, snacks, 12-packs of beer and bags of dog food.” See the pics / Read more

…Store Robbed by Brown Looted on National TV via Breitbart.  See the video

 

“Wal-Mart’s Chief Merchandising Officer Out” at Reuters via WSJ. “Wal-Mart Stores chief merchandising officer, Duncan Mac Naughton, is expected to announce his departure from the world’s largest retailer just days before Black Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.” Read more

 

“Home Depot Ranked #1 in ‘Digital IQ’ (Walmart #2)” by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Only two—Home Depot and Wal-Mart—earned the “genius” title. “There’s this myth that digital levels the playing field … I don’t think that could be more incorrect,” said Scott Galloway, founder of L2. “A lot of these guys who are struggling to meet earnings just don’t have the dry powder to throw at technology.” See the Top 10 list

 

“FDA to Require Calorie Counts at Grocery Stores with 20+ Locations” by Tennille Tracy at WSJ. “The final labeling rules, issued by the Food and Drug Administration, apply to movie theaters, amusement parks, convenience stores and the prepared foods sold inside many grocery stores with at least 20 locations.” Read more (Subscription)

 

“Amazon Promotes Handyman and Installation Services” by Jason Del Ray at Recode. “The giant online marketplace has begun advertising services such as TV wall mountings and fan installations from local service providers alongside its product listings, according to search results on Amazon.com this evening.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart adds Tom Horton, former CEO of American Airlines, to its board” at The City Wire. Read more

 

” ‘Frozen’ bests Barbie as top toy for girls” by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz at Chicago Tribune. “One in five parents plan to buy “Frozen” merchandise for girls, while Barbie is on the shopping list of 16.8 percent of parents, according to the (NRF).” Read more

 

42% of online shopping trips start out at Google by Clare O’Connor at Forbes. Read more

 

“Amazon to open huge photography studio in London” by Katrina Bishop at CNBC. “The 46,000 square foot space in Shoreditch will be the largest photography studio in Europe, according to the online retailer, and bigger than its equivalent premise in the U.S. It is due to open in the summer of 2015 and will be the focus of images of clothing – either worn by models or just plain product shots.” Read more

 

“Orchard Supply snags first-ever San Francisco store in urban push” by Nathan Donato-Weinstein at Silicon Valley Bus. Journal. “Lowe’s is betting that the Orchard brand — with its neighborhood-friendly street cred and smaller format — is the ticket to cracking the burgeoning market.” Read more

 

“Amazon will have enough space for 71,500 employees in Seattle by 2019” by Marc Stiles at Puget Sound Bus. Journal. “Those 71,500 workers would generate the need for more housing, and explains why thousands of apartments are under construction or planned downtown.” Read more

 

“Nordstrom taps eBay’s tech to build fitting room of the future” by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “Nordstrom is testing out full-length dressing room mirrors that double as websites as tech invades yet another sphere of shopping.” Read more

 

Check out the strange, “sexy” ad campaign from Coke’s new milk product at Business Insider. Read more

 

Walmart: Woman arrested after passing out in shopping cart for 5 hours by Josh Bergeron at Salisbury Post. “Customers said that she was headfirst in the buggy, passed out,” Colvin 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 happening in the world of retail. Contact us @ info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Monday Tipsheet: Costco & $1 Bil in Aust. | Target’s Tesija Iview | Aldi in China?

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“National Retail Federation CEO to banks: Breaches are your responsibility, too” by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “Those are their cards,” Matt Shay tells banks.” Read the interview

 

“Target healing from breach, though shoppers remain at risk” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “The roulette ball came up on Target,” said Charlie O’Shea, an analyst with Moody’s Investors Service. “It’s not as much of a shock as it was before.” Read more

 

 

“Video Interview with Target EVP Kathee Tesija” by Jennifer Reingold at Fortune. “She seemed genuinely excited to have Cornell, the company’s first outsider CEO, on board. (She had been rumored to be a vocal critic of Gregg Steinhafel, his predecessor: “Don’t believe everything you read,” she told me when I asked about the rumors.) “We are so excited to have Brian on board,” Tesija said. “His enthusiasm for our guest and our businesses is contagious. And he’s really been fun to work with.” See the interview

 

Australia: “Expanding low-cost retailer Costco aims for $1bn sales” by Glenda Korporaal at The Australian. “We have hundreds of thousands of members in Australia. We don’t give out exact numbers. It’s the only trade secret we have.”…“The perception that we are like an Aldi store is incorrect,” (Patrick Noone) says. “We are more like a combination of a high-end department store and a Bunnings warehouse.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart Bulls Betting on Oil to Light Up Christmas Sales” by Joseph Ciolli at Bloomberg. “Demand for options that protect against future losses in Wal-Mart shares fell to the lowest level in more than five years relative to bullish ones, data compiled by Bloomberg show.” Read more

 

“Germany’s Aldi eyes China for expansion” at CNBC. “German monthly Manager Magazin said the families that own Aldi – comprising separate groups Aldi Sued and Aldi Nord – decided in February 2013 that they would look into expansion to China, citing the minutes of a recent management meeting.” Read more

 

Atlanta: “Take a Sneak Peek Inside Restorations Hardware’s Newest/Largest Store” by Amy Wenk at Atlanta Bus. Chronicle. “On Nov. 21, Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. revealed its largest store to date — the 70,000-square-foot RH Atlanta, The Gallery at the Estate in Buckhead…Built to look like a Southern estate, the 6-story design gallery showcases more products than RH has in previous stores.” Read more.” See the 41 Pics

 

“Nordstrom nixes big semi-annual sales” by Rachel Lerman at Puget Sound Bus. Journal. “Nordstrom has nixed its four big half-yearly sales in favor of six clearance sales each year, to be set around the holidays.” Read more

 

“Whole Foods Wants 30 More in Canada” by Paul Vieira at WSJ. “WSJ: What does the Ottawa opening signal? Mr. Robb: That we will continue to invest in Canada. I have said publicly we want to open 35 to 40 stores in Canada. But you can do them only one at a time. We have been in Toronto and Vancouver for over 10 years. And we will be in Calgary.” Read the interview with Co-CEO Walter Robb

 

“This holiday season, high-end retailers go high-tech” by Abha Bhattarai at Washington Post. “Ugg Australia, the maker of the ubiquitous winter boot, is hoping its first high-tech concept store, which opened two weeks ago at the Tysons Galleria, will catch on. The 2,100-square-foot location doubles as an innovation lab where Ugg can test ideas and approaches before rolling them out company-wide.” Read more

 

“J.C. Penney holiday starts without the upheaval” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “This is the first Christmas in four years that J.C. Penney isn’t confusing customers by discontinuing merchandise, killing coupons, introducing brands or having big chunks of its stores under construction.” 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 happening in the world of retail. Contact us @ info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Friday Tipsheet: B.Buy & D.Tree Spike | Costco TX = 5K | Amazon & Hunger Strikes

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“Amazon leases office space near Empire State Building” by Jay Greene at Seattle Times. “We have leased this building primarily as corporate office space and we intend to sublease to other tenants the ground-floor retail space,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman said. Amazon has no current plans to open its own store in the space.” Read more

 

“Best Buy’s Big Q3 Surprise” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “(Best Buy) reported its first sales lift in nearly two years and a near doubling of profit, shattering analysts’ expectations. And in another surprise, it did so with little help from the most-watched new product of the year: the iPhone 6.” Read more

 

Ferguson: Best Buy Store to Close on Black Friday if Grand Jury Decision Comes by Julie Bosman & Alan Blinder at NY Times. “When we find out that the grand jury is going to give its decision one way or the other, we will close at least one of our stores at that time in order for our customers and employees to be able to get home safely in case there are protests,” said Jeffrey Shelman, a spokesman for Best Buy.” Read more

 

“Latinos’ Love Affair With ‘Clubbing'” by Roberto Siewczynski at MediaPost. “Shopping for the Hispanic shopper is not necessarily a quick individual chore, but rather something done in a more pluralistic way (e.g., 141 index to shopping with spouse, 180 index to shopping with children). The in-store experience, in particular, is quite important, with ambassadorship being a key influencer.” Read more

 

“Dollar Tree posts best same-store sales growth since 2011” at CNBC. “Dollar Tree’s same-store sales rose 5.9 percent in the third quarter ended Nov. 1, beating the average analyst estimate of 4 percent, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.” Read more

 

“Dollar Tree expects to shed 500 stores — or fewer — in Family Dollar acquisition” by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Bus. Journal. “The current process with the FTC is what we expected many months ago,” (CEO Bob Sasser) said. “This is a large merger involving many stores, and it simply takes time for the FTC to analyze documents and data.” Read more

 

“Texas: Costco previewed by approximately 5,000” by J.Werner at The Woodlands Online. “We’re amazed at the turnout,” said Azita. “We didn’t think this many people would be here.” “We’ll definitely shop here for our business, but we’ll probably do it on a weekday,” said Dr. Reger.” Read more

 

“Better move fast! Amazon pushing deals to Snapchat” by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “To kick off its Black Friday specials, Amazon on Thursday announced that it will start posting deal codes to disappearing messaging app Snapchat, which can then be redeemed during checkout on its site.” Read more

 

“Buffalo: Stores Still Closed from Snow Storm” by Samantha Christmann at The Buffalo News. “Three Wegmans stores that have been closed since Tuesday, 370 Orchard Park Road in West Seneca, 4960 Transit Road in Depew and 3740 McKinley Parkway in Blasdell; are still closed.” Read more

 

….Some Tops Stores are Open but Don’t Look for Milk, Bread or Eggs at The Buffalo News. “About 10 Tops stores located in areas hardest hit by the storm are open and will remain so, but are “operating in a very limited capacity in terms of associates and products,” according to Katie McKenna, a Tops spokeswoman.” Read more

 

“How Obama’s plan on immigration will enrich Wal-Mart” by Diana Furchtgott-Roth at MarketWatch. “The company’s GoBank is especially helpful to those without bank accounts or with only basic accounts who can benefit from additional banking services.” Read more

 

“FBI takes cyberattack fight in new direction” by Cory Bennett at The Hill. “Normally, we’d be driven by the victims,” Comey explained. “Which companies have raised their hand and said, ‘We’ve been hacked,’ and then we would assign the matter to that field office.” Instead, the threat will get assigned based on the dangerousness and complexity of the threat. Then, up to four regional field offices will be tasked with assisting local hacking victims after the initial threat has been assigned to.” Read more

 

“Former Amazon employee plans hunger strike” by Todd Bishop at GeekWire. “What choice do I have? Crawl back home and move on? That’s not going to happen,” he replied.” Read more

 

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