Archive for month: February, 2016

 

Lumber Liquidators sales fall more than expected via CNBC. “Sales at Lumber Liquidators’ stores open more than 12 months fell 17.2 percent in the quarter, much steeper than the 12 percent drop expected by analysts polled by research firm Consensus Metrix.” Read more

 

Ex-Lowe’s Exec Named COO at Lumber Liquidators via Yahoo. “(Dennis) Knowles was responsible for overseeing the omni channel operations of more than 1,700 Lowe’s stores across the country.” Read the release

 

Amazon Partners With British Supermarket Chain Morrisons For Fresh Grocery Deliveries by Catherine Shu at Techcrunch. “Amazon has signed a wholesale supply deal with Morrisons, one of Britain’s largest supermarket chains, to deliver fresh and frozen groceries to Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Pantry customers.” Read more

 

Jet.com acquires online retailer Hayneedle by Tracy Maple at Internet Retailer. “Hayneedle, No. 95 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide, had Internet Retailer-estimated 2014 web sales of $404 million.” Read more

 

…Jet.com’s purchase of Omaha-based Hayneedle an ‘ideal fit,’ say execs; 400 local jobs staying put by Cole Epley at World-Herald. “Jet required hardly a couple months’ worth of consideration to decide to buy the 14-year-old Omaha-based company, executives from both organizations told The World-Herald on Friday.” Read more

 

**Show Spotlight – ASD Market Week is Open for Business! This week we open the doors of the Las Vegas Convention Center to 45,000+ attendees looking to shop the world’s widest variety of wholesale lifestyle accessories and general merchandise at the lowest price points available. Discover hot new products and stylish finds from over 2,600 vendors in categories including: fashion & accessories, beauty & fragrance, gift & home, toys & novelties and many more. See product categories | See the show floor video | Register now

 

Survey: Consumers Trust Amazon More than Walmart/Home Depot/Target to Keep Personal Information Secure by Rich McCormick at The Verge. “More than 50 percent of voters said they were confident in Google, Apple, and Amazon’s abilities to keep data secure…That figure is cast into stark relief when compared to the 36 percent that said they trusted Target with their data, and the 37 percent that trusted Home Depot.” Read more

 

Donald Trump to Amazon: If He’s President ‘They’re Gonna Have Such Problems’ by Dawn Chmielewski at Recode. “Trump says Bezos bought the Washington Post to gain political influence, which the e-commerce billionaire plans to use to the benefit of Amazon.” Read more

 

The 5 best digital marketing success stories of 2015 by Stefany Zaroban at Internet Retailer. “Best Email Marketer in E-Commerce: Beyond the Rack: Discount flash-sale retailer Beyond the Rack gets 16.2% of its website traffic from customers clicking on its email campaigns, according to web traffic measurement firm SimilarWeb.” Read more

 

American Express Enters into Agreement to Sell Costco U.S. Cobrand Portfolio  Read the release

 

Home Depot to disclose more details about its rooftop solar strategy in the next 12 to 18 months by Heather Clancy at Green Biz. “As of 2012, we had 2,000 roofs, but very few of our buildings had roofs that would be there for the next 15 years,” noted Craig D’Arcy, director of energy management for the Home Depot. It made sense to delay significant distributed solar projects until the buildings were updated, D’Arcy said.” Read more

 

Target to Webcast Presentation to Investors on March 2 “Target will webcast its meeting with the financial community on March 2 from approximately 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time.” Read the release

 

Men are twisting the knife that’s already killing shopping malls by Mallory Schlossberg at Business Insider. “When it comes to e-commerce, men drive nearly as much overall spending online in the US as women. The conventional wisdom is that women drive shopping trends, since they control up to 80% to 85% of household spending,” BI Intelligence reports.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Retail CEO Endorses Rubio

Chris Rock Sold $65,000 Worth of Girl Scout Cookies at the Oscars

Why I disrupted the Whole Foods CEO at Stanford

‘Super lice’ outbreak hits half of America as strain is found to be resistant to most over-the-counter treatments

P&G sues discount retailer

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

 

Target takes a Silicon Valley approach to finding new products by Thomas Lee at San Francisco Chronicle. “The buyers seemed particularly impressed with Moxxly, a startup that makes a breast pump equipped with a sensor that transmits data about the amount of milk and the flow rate to a mobile app…The group seemed considerably less enthusiastic about a British entrepreneur who made his pitch about a smart pacifier via Skype. Problems with the online connection certainly didn’t help. “That was a disaster,” one person in the room said.” Read more

 

Wayfair Q4 revenue increased $338.9 million to $685.6 million, up 97.8% year over year Read the release

 

J.C. Penney to sell items for a penny as part of its new marketing by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “Penney wants people to try its products, said Mary Beth West, Penney’s chief customer and marketing officer. “We’re going to do it with items we’re proud of.”…“We’re doing the equivalent of an Oreo display,” West said. “We know that clothes that are featured on mannequins sell.” So a rack of dresses will be right behind the mannequins where shoppers can find them.” Read more

 

CEO MARVIN ELLISON ON COVER OF FORTUNE MAGAZINE – The CEO Who’s Reinventing J.C.Penney by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “Ellison proudly points out similar changes. Fashion jewelry now sits closer to its Liz Claiborne apparel brand, so women can try on accessories to go with a dress they might buy…After Penney failed to cash in on the recent handbag boom, managers did a deep-dive market analysis. Ellison’s conclusion: “Our handbags were ugly. We had to change them.” (It sounds less harsh in Ellison’s gentle Tennessee baritone.)” Read more

 

Best Buy admits Q4 sales were terrible… just like everyone else by Akin Oyedele at Business Insider. “But Best Buy wants shareholders to know that it’s been ugly across the consumer-electronics industry board…” Read more | Read the press release

 

ROSALIND BREWER EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH FORTUNE – Sam’s Club Bets on Fancier Food to Steal Customers from Costco by Phil Wahba. “This is absolutely a reset for our business,” Sam’s Club Chief Executive Officer Rosalind Brewer told Fortune in an exclusive interview. “We realized that we have the ability to take Sam’s to a higher household income.” Read more

 

**A message from Black Flag® Brand: When the flag flies, pests die. The Black Flag® indoor/outdoor pest arsenal arms homeowners in the battle against invading bugs. Offering quick, decisive formulas that act fast and never back down, Black Flag insect and rodent controls get the job done, and take no prisoners. It’s time to Let It Fly. Check out our videos | Visit us on Facebook

 

DOUG MCMILLON’S WIFE NAMED “GODMOTHER” OF NEW MEGA CONTAINER SHIP – A Look Inside the Benjamin Franklin, a Record-Breaking Container Ship by Erica E. Phillips at Wall Street Journal. “The largest vessel ever to call at a U.S. port, the Benjamin Franklin is longer than the Empire State Building, wider than a football field and rises 20 stories high…Mrs. Shelley McMillon…smashed a ceremonial bottle of champagne against the hull to inaugurate it officially.” Read more (subscription)

 

Southwest Airlines adopts ‘Pay with Amazon’ for in-flight entertainment purchases by James Risley at GeekWire. Read more

 

Walmart opens three new supercentres in British Columbia via Yahoo. “The supercentres are located in Coquitlam , Delta and Surrey and represent an investment of tens of millions of dollars, more than 378,000 square feet of retail space…” Read more

 

comScore’s Top 50 US Digital Properties for January (Amazon #5, Walmart #21) See the top 50 list

 

Neighbor baffled by “deafening” sound coming from Costco store by Samantha Baars at cville. “With the leaves off the trees, it’s even louder,” Healy says about the persisting sound. During the quietness of a recent storm that blanketed the area in approximately 20 inches of snow, he called the noise “deafening.”  Read more

 

Ace Hardware Reports Record 2015 Revenues “Ace reported total fiscal 2015 revenues of $5.0 billion, an increase of $344.5 million or 7.3 percent from fiscal 2014.” Read the release

 

H-E-B President Craig Boyan to Keynote United Fresh Confab via Progressive Grocer. “Craig Boyan, president and COO for San Antonio-based H-E-B, will deliver the keynote address at the United Fresh 2016 opening breakfast general session on June 21, at McCormick Place in Chicago.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

The bizarre reason millennials are skipping cereal for breakfast

Stephen Curry’s product pitch in Oakland schools criticized

Walmart’s U.K. Grocery Stores Are Selling Ugly Vegetables. It’s Time The U.S. Followed Suit

Here’s How Many Millions Amazon Spent on Woody Allen’s Next Movie

Target Hosts Demo Day To Discover New Innovative Baby Products

Obama bans US imports of slave-produced goods

Why Is It Okay For Amazon To Do Business With Trump, But Not OK For Macy’s?

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

Target Q4 2015 Earnings Call Highlights

Brian Cornell – Chairman & CEO

• Comp sales grew 1.9% in the fourth quarter, building on a 3.8% increase in last year’s fourth quarter.
• Transactions, our measure of traffic, increased for the fifth quarter in a row, up 1.3% in the fourth quarter.
• Digital sales increased an industry-leading 34% in the fourth quarter, on top of 36% growth in the fourth quarter of last year.
• We shattered all previous records on Cyber Monday. Our offer was broad and simple, 15% off everything on our site.
• …comp sales in our signature categories: style, baby, kids and wellness, which grew nearly 7% over that two-month period (Nov/Dec).
• In style, we saw the fastest growth in women’s apparel, led by double-digit increases in ready-to-wear.
• And in wellness, wearable electronics and food led the way.
• Apparel grew in the low-single digit range.
• In hardlines, toys grew comp sales more than 10% in the quarter, marking the third quarter of double-digit comp growth in toys.
• Fourth quarter comp sales in food grew faster than our overall sales.
• Home grew about 4% in the fourth quarter.
• Comp sales in Bullseye’s Playground grew more than 25%, compared to See Spot Save in the fourth quarter of last year.
• Over the next six months, we’ll complete the rebranding of all of our pharmacies and clinics in stores across the country.
• In New York next Wednesday, I’ll open the meeting with an update on our strategic priorities and the initiatives for 2016…
• At last year’s meeting, I outlined our enterprise priorities and told you that I hoped it would remain consistent for years. So here’s the spoiler alert. Our priorities today remain consistent with a year ago.
• And for those of you who will be with us in New York, you’ll see vignettes showcasing newly-developed products across multiple categories, including our incredible new Kids brand, Pillowfort.

John Mulligan – COO

• For the fourth quarter in total, out-of-stock metrics were 20% better than last year.
• This holiday season, our stores fulfilled 30% of our digital orders through the combination of order pickup and direct-to-guest shipments.
• During the holiday season, about 40% of our order pickup and store shipped volume consisted of items that were out of stock in our web fulfillment centers.
• Last fall, we announced we were filling more than 1,400 new visual merchant positions in our store organization…The majority of these positions have been filled by external candidates with experience at other retailers…
• If a new mom takes her baby out in 10-degree weather for diapers and formula, you better have diapers and formula in your store.

Catherine Smith, CFO

• REDcard penetration was 23% in the fourth quarter, up about 190 basis points from 21.1% last year.
• …this year’s results showed us that clear, compelling, broad based offers are appealing to our guests.
• We are planning for comp growth in the 1.5% to 2.5% range in 2016 consistent with our performance throughout last year.
• As we plan our first quarter comp in light of competitor inventory positions, we’re anticipating growth in the lower end of the 1.5% to 2.5% range.
• We haven’t specified a goal for digital sales growth. I’ll discuss our reasoning for this change in more detail next week, but for now I’ll simply stress that our commitment to digital is as strong as ever.

Read Earnings Transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

Lowe’s Q4 2015 Earnings Call Highlights

Robert Niblock – Chairman, President & CEO

• Q4: 3.6% increase in comp transactions, along with 1.6% comp increase in average ticket.
• Our U.S. home improvement business achieved 5.5% comps for the quarter, with all 14 regions generating positive comps.
• Our strong performance in Canada continues with double-digit comps in local currency for the third year in a row.
• We think that as we look at the market share data that you can get out there that our performance in 2015 exceeded the growth in the market.

Michael Jones – Chief Customer Officer

• Positive comps across all regions and product categories.
• We drove traffic through our Black Friday event, which drove sales increases of 8% overall and 26% online.
• Recorded above-average comps in lumber and building materials, appliances, lawn and garden, and paint.
• In outdoor power equipment, we drove double-digit comps in off-season products such as pressure washers, walk-behind and riding mowers.
• And in lawn and garden, we saw double-digit comps in soil, mulch and lawn care.
• …announce the expansion of HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams with the introduction of Infinity, our premium one-coat paint and primer…in our stores in March.
• We currently have over 160 Pro outside sales representatives in the field and are very pleased with the program’s results.
• Look at some of the brands that we brought back in fashion lighting, with Kichler, Progress Lighting, and Quoizel…You won’t find these brands at any other home channel.
• Paint: Again, another three-brand approach. You won’t find this particular approach at any other home channel. And with the addition of Cabot to couple with Olympic as the knockout punch…

Bob Hull – CFO

• Comps were 2.8% in November, 7.3% in December, and 5.3% in January.
• For the year, total sales were $59.1 billion, an increase of 5.1% driven by comp sales of 4.8% and new stores.
• For 2016, we expect total sales increase of approximately 6%, driven by a comp sales increase of 4%.

Rick Damron, COO

• (Online was) 3% of total sales.
• The outside sales organization that Mike highlighted earlier of 160 people, adding another 35 into that organization.

Read Earnings Transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

Home Depot Q4 US Comp Sales +8.9% “The Home Depot…today reported sales of $21.0 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, a 9.5 percent increase from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Comparable store sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 were positive 7.1 percent.” Read the release

 

@ CNBC: “The key with Home Depot is that they kept warm weather product in the stores longer, and then as the weather shifted, they got the snow shovels, ice melt, generators, whatever else in their stores quickly, so they were really able to take advantage of what was for a while an odd weather environment,” he said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday.” Read more

 

Best Buy lays off a few dozen corporate employees by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “We’ve had some areas where we have done a small amount of restructuring,” Jeff Shelman, a company spokesman, told the Star Tribune. He did not provide an exact number of job cuts. But he noted that Best Buy is also hiring in other strategic areas. Its corporate website lists about 90 job openings in Richfield.” Read more

 

TARGET’S GWEN GRAMMY EFFORT HAS EARNED 3 BILLION MEDIA IMPRESSIONS TO DATE – Gwen Stefani’s $12 Million Live Music Video for Target New Centerpiece to a Emerging Trend by Andy Gensler at Billboard. “Billboard estimates Target invested roughly $12 million into the campaign, including $8 million for the airtime alone. Mistakes like the ones in rehearsal would have left egg on faces far and wide — from Target, Stefani and Muller, to Deutsch (Target’s creative agency for the campaign), as well as Stefani’s Interscope Records label and Azoff Music Management.” Read more

 

**A message from ASD Market Week – ASD has the widest variety of goods anywhere! On February 28 – March 2, 2016, we open the doors of the Las Vegas Convention Center to 45,000+ attendees looking to shop the world’s widest variety of wholesale lifestyle accessories and general merchandise at the lowest price points available. Discover hot new products and stylish finds from over 2,600 vendors in categories including: fashion & accessories, beauty & fragrance, gift & home, toys & novelties and many more. Learn more about ASD / See category list | See the show floor video | Register now

 

CVS says 2015 drug spending grew 5 percent, far less than in 2014 by Caroline Humer at Reuters. “CVS Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan said that the 2015 overall drug price trend would have been nearly the same as in 2014 if it had not made changes to its main coverage plan, called a formulary, or negotiated such steep discounts.” Read more

 

CVS Just Made Valeant’s Day Even Worse by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “It was already a terrible day for Valeant Pharmaceuticals when news came that CVS Health it will restrict the use of Jublia, the drugmaker’s toenail fungus treatment…Jublia goes for $1,000 for an 8-ml bottle. Caremark members will have to try to treat their condition with other, less expensive toenail fungus drugs, according to Bloomberg.” Read more

 

Dillard’s Q4 Comp Sales -2.0% “Dillard’s Chief Executive Officer, William T. Dillard, II, stated, “The fourth quarter was difficult…Sales were particularly weak on the Southern border and in the energy producing regions.” Read the release

 

Office Depot Q4 Sales -9.0%  Read the release

 

Google Shuttering Comparison-Shopping Site via Wall Street Journal. “The quick reversal is a setback to the Alphabet unit’s efforts to use its enormous reach to provide consumers with niche shopping services and financial-services tools, the Journal said.” via Reuters | via WSJ (subscription)

 

Kroger Announces Retirement of Smith’s President Jay Cummins “His replacement will be announced at a later date.” Read the release

 

Online shopping in Canada grew substantially over holiday season, report says by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “Online sales accounted for 9.7 per cent of total retail sales in the two-month period, the highest watermark yet for Web sales in Canada. In December, online sales accounted for to 9.9 per cent of total retail sales, up from 8.6 per cent in 2014.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Hal Lawton and other Senior eBay Executives Become Top Rated Sellers

Target Leaders Share Their Favorite Thought-Provoking Moments From TED 2016

Father, son accused of shooting geese too close to Walmart

Target halts the sale of hoverboards on its website

Thief Dons Walmart Smock, Steals Four Flat Screen TVs

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Walmart is using bananas to lure customers through its remodeled supercenter by Chase Purdy at Quartz. “We are learning some interesting things along the way,” McMillon said, noting that most customers do online grocery shopping between 8 PM and 9 PM. There is also an uptick in orders in the middle of the night, often for diapers and formula. “While it’s been a while since my kids were that age, I remember those days well,” McMillon said.” Read more

 

Walmart Q4 Earnings Call Transcript via Seeking Alpha. Read more

 

Harris Poll Releases Reputation Rankings For The 100 Most Visible Companies In The U.S. (Amazon #1, Costco #13, Lowe’s #26…) See the top 100 list

 

U.K. Retail Sales Surged Most in More Than Two Years in January by Jill Ward & Fergal O’Brien at Bloomberg. “The 2.3 percent jump in the volume of sales was almost three times the pace of growth forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. The Office for National Statistics said growth was helped by post-Christmas price cutting as retailers looked to clear excess stock.” Read more

 

Amazon to open parcel locker network across Europe at Reuters.”The new jobs include business development manager roles for Amazon Locker in Munich and Paris, European Union technical operations manager for Locker based in Luxembourg, and network development manager roles in Luxembourg, Munich and Paris. “Amazon pickup locations, including Amazon Locker, are exciting, new delivery solutions that we are introducing into the German marketplace,” read the Munich business role ad.” Read more

 

Lowe’s Unveils New Innovation Lab in Heart of Tech-hub Bangalore “LIL-Bangalore will also complement Lowe’s existing Bangalore Global In-house Center, which has been operating since 2014 and has grown to include more than 400 employees working on technology and analytics solutions.” Read the release

 

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Fortune reveals its 34th annual list of the World’s Most Admired Companies (Amazon #3, CVS #27, Home Depot #31, Target #39…) See the top 50 list

 

PetSmart’s $8.7 Billion LBO Is Already Paying Off For Consortium Led By BC Partners by Antoine Gara at Forbes. “Roughly ten months after PetSmart’s takeover was sealed by a consortium of PE buyers led by BC Partners, the company is returning a whopping $800 million dividend to its new owners. That cash return, equivalent to about 38% of the cost of PetSmart’s take private deal, comes as the retailer has exceeded expectations in increasing profits and sales under its new management” Read more

 

Kroger Announces Retirement of Senior Vice President Marnette Perry via Yahoo. “Kroger announced that Senior Vice President for Retail Operations and Strategic Initiatives Marnette Perry plans to retire on April 29, after 44 years with the company.” Read the release

 

Cabela’s tight-lipped on its future as it reports fourth-quarter earnings by Paige Yowell at World-Herald. “The silence doesn’t mean that the process is dead. Quite the opposite, some hedge fund watchers say.” Read more

 

Cabela’s Exec Transitions to Strategic Advisory Role “Mr. Copeland joined Cabela’s in November 2007 as Vice President of Retail Operations. Since January 2010 he has served as Cabela’s Chief Operations Officer.” Read the release

 

Masters boss Matt Tyson walks away from Woolworths’ home improvement disaster at News.com.au. “Woolworths and Lowes have poured $3.5 billion in Masters, which was not expected to break even until 2020. Both companies are reportedly firing up for a legal dispute over Masters’ final valuation and exit price.” Read more

 

Canadian Tire CFO cites kettles as an example for how goods can be sold more profitably by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “If we have five kettles on a shelf and we used to buy them from four different suppliers, and we do the analytics to figure out which of those five kettles make us the most money, (then executives might decide) we don’t need to sell five kettles from four different suppliers — maybe we need to sell four different kettles from two different suppliers,” he said.” Read more

 

Kroger could be targeting Israel in first overseas expansion by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. “Kroger is reportedly teaming with two Israeli investors – Yossi Sagol and Eran Meital – to make a bid for Mega, according to the Haaretz report.” Read more

 

North Texas: WinCo Foods to build new supermarket on old Target site by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. Read more

 

Heavy Metal vest returned to bass player after it turns up at Macy’s by Mahita Gajanan at The Guardian. “Word spread, and soon a Facebook page entitled “Macy’s, Give Back Meshach’s Vest” was created, bringing nearly 5,000 likes in a little more than a week.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Kroger CEO joins CPG company board

Wayfair hires retail veteran to head its supply chain operations

The hottest toys from the New York Toy Fair

Nordstrom Is Pulling Back on Tech Spending and Its Stock Is Tanking

New CEO: P&G will adapt, doubles down on cuts

Sanders Supporters Like Chipotle, While Trump Fans Prefer Sonic

Vizio’s smart TVs are snitches, lawsuit alleges

How millennials are driving movement for clean labels on our food

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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