Walmart’s mobile chief just joined PepsiCo to lead its new e-commerce push by Shelly Banjo via Quartz. "Gibu Thomas, who helped to drag Walmart into the digital age and spearheaded the launch of its Silicon Valley tech shop @WalmartLabs, quietly left the mega-retailer and started at PepsiCo this month, a PepsiCo spokesman confirmed to Quartz. Thomas didn’t respond to a request for comment." Read more   PR Week: A talk with Home Depot's Stacey Tank "The keys are to make sure you're monitoring constantly," Tank told PRWeek after her Q&A session at the PRWeek Conference on September 16, 2015. [...]

  Target pharmacy workers form union, first in company's history by Nandita Bose at Reuters. "Target said it was "disappointed" by the vote within its store and will appeal..."Because of the pending sale of the business, we don't believe it was appropriate for the NLRB to move forward with the petition," spokeswoman Molly Snyder told Reuters..."It is a big win for us," said Lou Solicito, organizing director of the United Food and Commercial Workers union that supported the vote." Read more   ...The Brooklyn employees decided to pursue a union vote after CVS agreed to buy Target's pharmacy business, according [...]

  Wal-Mart adds more online grocery pickup sites in Northwest Arkansas by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "Wal-Mart is rolling out grocery pickup options at several of its Northwest Arkansas stores beginning Sept. 23...it’s expanding the grocery pickup test in its home market by adding five new Neighborhood Markets as pickup sites." Read more   ...Walmart expands curbside pickup in Arizona at Sun City West Independent. "Now the service is expanding to six West Valley Walmart locations in Peoria, El Mirage, Surprise, Goodyear and Glendale." Read more   Target Fall Meeting in Full Swing by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. "It [...]

  Costco Heir Aims to Create New Napa Cult Wines in 1,403 Steps by Elin McCoy at Bloomberg. "My big vision,” says Sinegal Estateowner David Sinegal, “is to create a luxury experience where the product is just one part. That’s where everything is going.” By entering onto the Sinegal mailing list, you not only get access to those lower-priced bottles. You also gain access to the 30-acre historic wine estate in St. Helena. He purchased it two years ago for $17 million and spent another $8 million in refurbishing and expanding hillside caves for aging the wine." Read more   Target [...]

  NY Times: Etsy Welcomes Manufacturers to Artisanal Fold by Hiroko Tabuchi. "This fall, Etsy is set to introduce Etsy Manufacturing, a new service in the United States and Canada that matches sellers like Ms. Goodall with small manufacturers." Read more   Target & Other Retailers Are Getting Snapchat Users To Put Their Brand Images in Videos by Mike Shields at WSJ. "The localized execution that geofilters provide allows us to create a personalized experience that is relevant to our guests, and they add an element of surprise,” said Kristi Argyilan, Target’s senior vice president of media and guest engagement." [...]

  Wal-Mart's Suppliers Are Finally Fighting Back by Shannon Pettypiece & Matthew Townsend at Bloomberg. "Saying the new fees will hurt their own bottom lines, several vendors are hiring lawyers, and a top executive from at least one supplier visited Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, in hopes of reversing all or some of the new terms...A smaller supplier, notified of the fees late last month and given two weeks to accept, said it won’t be able to make a profit on its Wal-Mart business under those terms unless it fires workers or cuts wages and benefits." Read more   Wal-Mart [...]

  Wal-Mart's Suppliers Are Finally Fighting Back by Shannon Pettypiece & Matthew Townsend at Bloomberg. "Saying the new fees will hurt their own bottom lines, several vendors are hiring lawyers, and a top executive from at least one supplier visited Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, in hopes of reversing all or some of the new terms...A smaller supplier, notified of the fees late last month and given two weeks to accept, said it won’t be able to make a profit on its Wal-Mart business under those terms unless it fires workers or cuts wages and benefits." Read more   Wal-Mart [...]

  Lowe's and Woolworths inject another $90m into hardware chain Masters by Sue Mitchell at Financial Review. "Documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission this week show that the Hydrox Holdings joint venture issued 90 million new shares at $1 each – 60 million to Woolworths and 30 million to Lowe's – on August 28, the same day that Woolworths revealed that losses from home improvement jumped 33 per cent to $224.7 million in 2015." Read more   J.C. Penney gives a boost to its private brands by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. "Penney CEO Marvin Ellison [...]