Costco Q4 Comp Sales -1.0% "Comp sales for Q4 excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange were +6%" Read the release   Target expands price-matching policy to 29 rivals by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "The updated policy, which goes into effect Thursday, includes giants like Macys.com and Staples.com as well as a number of online-only retailers such as Diapers.com, Drugstore.com, Newegg.com, and Wayfair.com. In addition, Target will for the first time begin matching online prices with warehouse clubs, such as Costco and Sam’s Club." Read more   Wal-Mart tweaks store rules for better in-stocks [...]

  NY Times: As Online Data Theft Escalates, Banks Look to Retailers to Bear the Losses by Julie Creswell. "There’s a lot of misinformation out there about this, much of it based on speculation, rumors and opinion by individuals who don’t have the facts, and we’ll address them in the proper forum,” said Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for Home Depot." Read more   Home Depot again asks court to dismiss banks' lawsuit over data breach by David Allison at Atlanta Business Chronicle. "Home Depot goes on to say that "The banks guarantee the security of their cards and accounts, but [...]

  Best Buy tests robot at New York store by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "In just a half-minute, Chloe can scoot around and pick out a customer’s request from rows of about 15,000 DVDs, CDs, video games and even some tech accessories, such as Beats headphones and chargers. Customers at that store in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood can make a purchase without ever having to interact with a person." Read more / See Chloe in action   Aldi announces it will launch online next year by Chloe Rigby at Internet Retailing. "Aldi today said it would sell via ecommerce from [...]

  Apple's ad-blocking move causes big problems for Walmart, Walgreens, Bass Pro & more by Dan Primack at Fortune. "A Fortune investigation shows that an iPhone enabled with Crystal — the top paid iOS app right now – is unable to fully render the e-commerce sites of many major retailers, including Walmart, Sears and Lululemon." Read more   Target hires new executive to help fix fundamentals by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "Previously (Anu Gupta) was vice president for process and profit improvement at Michaels, the arts and crafts retailer, from 2008 to 2013 and held a leadership role at [...]

  Rumors continue about deep job cuts at Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club HQ by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "Rumored corporate layoffs at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club offices in Bentonville persist, with five sources each telling The City Wire on Wednesday (Sept. 23) that the retail giant will begin handing out pink slips as early as this Friday and continue through the fiscal quarter which ends Oct. 31." Read more   Target founder's lakeside estate sold for $5.3M by Sam Black at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. "The buyer was an entity controlled by developer and real estate agent George Stickney, who [...]

  Survey: Walmart grocery pickup popular with 74% of users by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "Field Agent found that 65% of shoppers in its 500-person survey said the inability to take advantage of sales promotions such as coupons, in-store discounts could deter them from using grocery pickup in the future. Likewise, a whopping 91% said being able to use coupons, or being able to benefit from other in-store discounts, was either “extremely” or “very” important to them." Read more   ...Five more Walmart pickup locations open today in Northwest Arkansas at NWA. " The five new locations (all Neighborhood [...]

  Ex-Walmart Exec Cindy Davis on the Biggest Lesson She Learned at Walmart by Jon Lafayette at Broadcasting & Cable. "The biggest lesson I learned [at Walmart] is that all consumers don’t want the same thing, and even the same consumer wants different things at different times based on their needs,” Davis said. “The key is to have your finger on the pulse of that, so you can innovate and help deliver that to the consumer the right way.” Read more   ThredUp: Reinventing the resale business 20 years after eBay by Sarah Halzack at Washington Post. "...he believed there [...]

  Inside Target Corp., Days After 2013 Breach at KrebsOnSecurity. "In December 2013, just days after a data breach exposed 40 million customer debit and credit card accounts, Target Corp. hired security experts at Verizon to probe its networks for weaknesses. The results of that confidential investigation — until now never publicly revealed — confirm what pundits have long suspected: Once inside Target’s network, there was nothing to stop attackers from gaining direct and complete access to every single cash register in every Target store." Read more   NY Times: Retailers’ Use of Their Fans’ Photos Draws Scrutiny by Sydney [...]