Archive for year: 2014

“Study:  Target Gets High Marks for Protecting Online Passwords (Costco, Walmart, Home Depot trail)” by Dan Goodin at ARS.  “Apple.com was the only site to receive a perfect score of 100, which was based on 24 criteria, such as whether the site accepts “123456” and other extremely weak passwords and whether it sends passwords in plain text by e-mail. Microsoft and academic supplier Chegg tied for second place with 65, while Newegg and Target came in third with 60.”  See the Rankings

“Sam’s Club Hacks 2,300” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Bill Durling, a Sam’s Club spokesman, reportedly said the layoffs would target a combination of salaried assistant managers and hourly employees. Certain positions, like telephone attendants, will be eliminated.  “We realized we had pretty much the same club structure whether a club had $50 million in revenue or $100 million in revenue,” Durling said of the distribution of assistant managers. “What we’re trying to do is balance our resources.” Read more

“Kroger prospered during 10 years with Dillon at the helm” by Josh Pichler at Cincy Enquirer.  “He’ll also keep preaching the importance of feedback to anybody who asks.  “Most bosses are supposed to give you some feedback, but they often are uncomfortable in doing it. If you ask them for the feedback, the invitation makes it easier,” he said.  “It’s my single most important piece of management and personal advice. Feedback’s a gift.”  Read more

“The 1 Plainly Obvious Explanation for Sears Store Closures Sweeping the Country” by Brian Sozzi at Belus.  “Sears desperately needs cash on its balance sheet. The reasons why: (1) to alleviate the highly likely concern amongst suppliers, temporarily; (2) to tell a story to the stock and bond markets that Sears could fund some form of its alleged turnaround given an asset rich balance sheet, preventing another stock slide; (3) to raise liquidity from underperforming assets in the hopes of soothing the worries of watchful creditors.”  Read more

“At Walmart Alaskan Salmon is Back on the Menu” by Clare Leschin-Hoar at The Guardian.  “After four months of uncertainty, Alaskan salmon suppliers to Walmart have something to celebrate.  The retail giant told the Guardian it has decided to expand its sustainable seafood policy to include certification programs beyond that of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the world’s largest seafood certifier.”  Read more

Radio Shack Breaks “Do it Together” Campaign In Support of New Positioning” by Meredith Derby Berg at Ad Age.  “A new national advertising campaign called “Do It Together,” from Austin, Texas-based GSD&M, aims to show how Radio Shack and consumers can collaborate to solve technological problems like connecting today’s many devices, said Jennifer Warren, the retailer’s chief marketing officer…The new ads will invoke a full tagline: “It can be done, when we do it together.”  Read more

“Michaels Hacked” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News.  “The retailer said it has recently learned of possible fraudulent activity on some credit or debit cards that had been used to make purchases in its stores.  The company gave no details about the data security attack, but said it’s working with federal law enforcement and has hired data security experts to establish the facts.”  Read more

“Take that Beyonce – Target and Shakira Team Up with Three Exclusive Tracks on “Shakira” “The partnership is Target’s first major artist collaboration of 2014 and continues Target’s commitment to working with fan-favorite musicians to bring guests more content from the artists they love.”  Read more

“Retailers step up their visual game to hook shoppers” by Jennifer Wang at Orange County Register via Star-Tribune.  “Oakley’s strategy doesn’t stop after visitors cross the threshold. Stores are designed with an “interior window” in the first 10 to 15 feet for customers to engage with featured products, often involving interactive video and digital screens. “Otherwise you’ve brought them in and lost them,” Abbott said.”  Read more

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“Besieged Target Lays Off 475 and Won’t Fill 700 Jobs” by Adam Belz at Star-Tribune.  “A woman who was laid off from Target’s finance department said half of her 12-person team was fired immediately during a meeting Wednesday morning, while the other half will be laid off next month. The layoffs have been in the works for more than six months, the employee said, and she and her family had been preparing.  “They just sent out a memo saying we had a mandatory meeting at such-and-such time saying that you guys are being let go as of today,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified for fear that her severance could be affected.” Read more

“A ‘tsunami’ of store closings expected to hit retail” by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC.  “Sozzi said that after a profitable but below-expectations holiday season, the retail industry will face its second “tsunami of store closures across the U.S.,” only a few years after what he called the “fire sale holiday season of 2008.”…”There is often a mismatch between the number of stores retailers operate today compared to how many they would choose to operate if they had to do it all over again,” Lejuez said.”  Read more

“12 photos that reveal why Target Canada is in big trouble” by Ashley Lutz at Business Insider via Financial Post.  “Wall Street analyst Brian Sozzi at Belus Capital Advisors recently published photos of Target Canada that indicate why the business could be struggling.”  See the pics

“Is Costco Vulnerable to Online Avalanche?” by Herb Greenberg at The Street.  “In an interview with me Tuesday, (CFO Richard) Galanti — who picks up his own phone and doesn’t duck the questions — said “It’s one of many things we discuss all the time,” he said. “Dot-com is more prevalent than before. I’m not trying to be cute or coy about it. We’re always blocking and tackling on all elements of the business. We’re pleased with our results over the past year and a half. We don’t believe everything will be online. It will be part of the panorama out there.”  Read more

“Kroger’s Forney store will be its first in Texas to sell clothes” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News.  “Kroger has been in the apparel business for some time, but not in Texas.  That will change Friday when a Kroger Marketplace store opens in Forney.  Kroger is devoting 5,000 square feet of the 124,000-square-foot store to adult and children’s clothing, shoes and accessories. The store will also sell kitchen, bed and bath merchandise, small appliances, toys, office, party supplies, fine jewelry, and, oh yeah, groceries.” Read more 

“Kantar Study:  11% Have Purchased Groceries Online in Last 90 Days (56% of those at Amazon)” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Despite “conventional wisdom” and the limited yet growing availability of online grocery delivery models in the U.S. (Safeway, Fresh Direct, Peapod, Coburns), shoppers are already purchasing groceries online. Kantar Retail expects online grocery to grow at a compound annual rate of 26%, moving from 1% of the US grocery landscape to 5% by 2020.”  Read more

“Study:  CVS Most Popular Pharmacy, Walgreens #2” at WSJ.  “23 percent choose CVS and 19 percent choose Walgreens. Only 7 percent choose mail order to fill prescriptions, which is higher than Target, Costco or Sam’s Club pharmacies.”  Read more

“Esquire Study on Male Behavior:  Half Enjoy Shopping, Definition of Masculine Behavior Has Expanded” by Bernadette Giacomazzo at Latin Post.  “Richard Dorment, senior editor at Esquire, said in an interview. “The thing that deeply surprised us, that we have the statistical data for, is how the definition of conventional, masculine behavior has expanded to include all the things that up until a few years ago were considered totally alien.”  Read more

“Square: Rancor from Merchants, No Phone Calls Allowed” by Jessica Guynn at LA Times via StL Post Dispatch.  “Callers are greeted with an automated message, directing them to an online help center or to email their questions, and then they are disconnected.  Barry said she grew so frustrated exchanging emails with customer service representatives that she drove two hours to the company’s San Francisco headquarters to get some help in person…No one would speak to her, she said, and the security guards threatened to call the police.”  Read more

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“Two Arrested at Mexico-U.S. Border in Connection with Target Hack; Canadian Customers Warned” by Christopher Sherman at AP via Star-Tribune.  “Account information stolen during the Target security breach is now being divided up and sold off regionally, a South Texas police chief said Monday after the arrest of two Mexican citizens who authorities say arrived at the border with 96 fraudulent credit cards…Target Corp. on Monday warned some Canadian customers that their personal data may have been compromised when hackers stole credit- and debit-card information from the discount chain’s U.S. operations last year.”  Read more

“Kroger Kills Furniture Department Test in VA – Switches to Apparel” by Randy Hallman at Richmond Times-Dispatch.  “The Stonebridge (VA) Kroger Marketplace store will open an apparel department next month, replacing the furniture and home décor department that has been part of the grocery megastore since it opened in December 2012…“We watched closely how customers responded,” said Carl York, spokesman for the Kroger Co.’s Mid-Atlantic division, based in Roanoke. “We really liked what we saw with the apparel department in Virginia Beach.”  Read more

“Target store victim receives Costco credit card bearing stranger’s photo” by Doug Miller at KHOU 11 Texas.  “But her sadly common story took a curious twist over the weekend when she received a credit card bearing a unique piece of evidence: a photograph of a strange woman on the back of a Costco membership card.  “I’m looking at the card,” she remembered, her voice cracking with laughter. “And I turned it over and there’s her picture.”  Read more / See the video

“Fortune’s 2014 Best Companies to Work for All Stars (Wegmans #2, Whole Foods #4…)”  “Only 13 companies have reappeared on Fortune’s Best Companies list every year since it began in 1998. By consistently investing in employees’ health and well-being to create stellar workplaces, these employers have become perennial Hall of Famers. Meet Fortune’s 100 Best Companies All Stars.”  See the Top 13 List

“Lack Of Quality Space Is Becoming A Big Problem For Brick-And-Mortar Retailers” by Matthew Boesler at Business Insider.  “Retailer demand is up and has been for a number of years in some of the strongest performing local economies in the U.S. That demand is heavy for quality, Class A space. Yet, we have now reached a point where little of that type of space remains available in even the slowest recovering marketplaces.”  Read more

“Good Walmart PR:  Tomato pickers cite Walmart in wage battle with Publix” by Evan Axelbank at Fox 13 Tampa Bay.  “The Coalition of Immokalee workers is demanding that Publix join other chain food-sellers – like Burger King and Subway – in the fair food program.  It pays pickers another penny per pound picked.  Just this week, Walmart signed on, saying it would improve the lives of workers. Workers say the pressure’s now on Publix.”  Read more / See the video

“Why Wal-Mart Just Gave a Raise to Tomato Pickers” by Kyle Stock at Businessweek.  “A penny per pound of produce isn’t much of a commitment, even given the huge pile of tomatoes that Walmart sells. The social capital it will harvest from the announcement—and the ensuing sales that brings—is probably far greater. Plus, it helps Walmart keep pace on the socially responsible supermarket front with the likes of Whole Foods, which is already participating.”  Read more

“Target’s Plans Now Call For 10 New Stores, 12 Closures in 2014” by Kevin Mahoney at Twin Cities Business.  “Target recently announced plans to open new stores in Ohio, California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts; they will open shortly after Target closes locations in Illinois, Nevada, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, and Florida.”  Read more

“New York City Gets a Luxury Pharmacy” by Mia Taylor at The Street.  “Stanley’s Pharmacy is less CVS, Walgreen’s or Eckerd and more new age wellness destination meets old-fashioned neighborhood drug store and soda fountain.  “Pharmacies have gone so far away from their roots. I felt a mission to bring that back,” says George, a Bronx native…Stanley’s combines a wellness bar that specializes in drinks blended by George with the standard prescription services other pharmacies offer and a wellness library stocked with glossy monthly health, fitness and fashion publications — all in an atmosphere that is California cool meets 1970s retro.”  Read more

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 “Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2014; Wegmans #12, Whole Foods #44”  See the Top 100 Rankings

“Heads up Walmart Express, Here Comes TargetExpress; Target to Test Smallest Store Yet @ 20,000-square-feet” by Elizabeth Harris at NY Times.  “The first TargetExpress will be in the most urban of spaces, at the base of an apartment building called the Marshall, which is under construction near the University of Minnesota campus. The test store is scheduled to open July 27…Even the name, TargetExpress, will sound familiar to some.Walmart’s smallest stores are called Walmart Express…Mr. Griffith said Target was not bothered by the similarities, and thought the familiar word would help customers understand what the new stores are.”  Read more

“Fed:  Target Hackers Struck Others; Links to Russia” by Jennifer Bjorhus &  Steve Alexander at Star-Tribune.  “The iSIGHT report doesn’t mention Minneapolis-based Target by name but describes a new malware variant “associated with the KAPTOXA operation which is behind a large-scale point-of-sale’’ cybercrime…POS malware that includes memory scraping capabilities has been available in the Russian language underground for some time,” the report said.”  Read more

“How Porch Landed a Partnership With Lowe’s” by Patrick Clark at Businessweek.  “How did this partnership come together?  We were trying to keep our business very quiet for the better part of a year as we were getting going on aggregating all of this data. As we did start to let the world know we exist, Lowe’s found us and reached out.”  Read more

“Sen. Bernie Sanders rips Walmart’s founding family at Hill inequality panel” at Market Watch.  “Do you think the wealthiest family in this country should have large numbers of employees that depend on Medicaid,” Sanders asked a panel of experts.  In response, Robert Reich, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a former U.S. Secretary of Labor, said: “That is corporate welfare of the worst kind.”  Read more

“Report:  Neiman Marcus Breach Went Undetected for Nearly 6 Months” by Nathaniel Popper at NY Times via CNBC.  “The computer network at Neiman Marcus was penetrated by hackers as far back as July, and the breach was not fully contained until Sunday, according to people briefed on the investigation.”  Read more

“Rahm Emanuel’s grocery store task force coming up empty so far” by Lewis Lazare at Chicago Business Journal.  “Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel formed a grocery store task force to focus on finding new tenants for the vacated Chicago (Dominick’s) properties sooner rather than later…But this week the Mayor’s office had little progress to report. Said Emanuel: “The task force’s number one priority is to get these buildings filled as quickly as possible with grocers or other businesses.”  Read more

“Walmart Hires New Sam’s Club Online President/CEO, 1,500 Now on Team” by Zak Stambor at Internet Retailer.  “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has hired Barnes & Noble Inc. executive Jamie Iannone as SamsClub.com president and CEO.  The move comes a week after Wal-Mart announced it was moving Sam’s Club’s e-commerce operations under the umbrella of its broader global e-commerce unit.”…Wal-Mart has more than 1,500 employees working on its e-commerce team in San Bruno and other offices in Silicon Valley.”  Read more

“Surprise! Target Data Breach Could Include Your Info From Purchases Made A Decade Ago” by Clare O’Connor at Forbes.  “On Wednesday, I received an email from Target that will by now be familiar to many of you. It turns out my personal data was stolen during the retailer’s massive breach…I distinctly remember buying towels for my college dorm at a Philadelphia outlet of the department store around 2004. Since then, I haven’t lived anywhere near a Target..Meaning my personal data from that bath towel purchase in 2004 was stolen during this breach?  “I don’t have the specific time frame, but yes, that is the idea,” the press officer told me.”  Read more

“Amazon Dodges Union Bullet, for Now” by Douglas McIntyre at 24/7 Wall Street.  “The number of people who voted was tiny. But Amazon.com Inc. workers in Delaware turned down the opportunity to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers by a margin of 21 to six.”  Read more

“Family Dollar could pay former exec Mike Bloom nearly $4.8M” by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Business Journal.  “The Matthews-based discount retailer disclosed last week that Bloom had left the company to pursue other interests.”  Read more

“BJ’s Headquarters Complex Sold for $25.69 Million” by Michael Novinson at Worcester Business Journal.  “The ownership change will have no impact on BJ’s operations, said company spokeswoman Kelly McFalls…The 68.4-acre site is capable of supporting an additional 250,000 to 500,000 square feet of commercial development.”  Read more

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