Walmart elevates merchants, marketers and operators via Chain Store Age. "Ashley Buchanan was named senior VP of packaged goods, after previously serving as senior VP of dry grocery, a move that aligns snacks, beverage, dairy and deli under his leadership. Reporting to Buchanan are Julie Barber, VP/DMM for snacks, Zach Simpson, VP/DMM for beverages and John Laney, VP/DMM for breakfast and baking." See all the changes here   2016 Temkin Experience Ratings: (Sam's & BJ's beat Costco, Lowe's tops Home Depot) See the full list   Dick's CEO Vows to Go After Sports Authority 'Aggressively' by Phil Wahba at [...]

  Dick's Q4 Comp Sales -2.5% "Same store sales for DICK'S Sporting Goods decreased 2.5%, while Golf Galaxy decreased 5.8%. Fourth quarter 2014 consolidated same store sales increased 3.4%." Read the release   ...CNBC: Dick's Sporting Goods earnings miss estimates "The company posted fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.13...Analysts had expected the company to report earnings of about $1.15 a share" Read more   Walmart readies new product development lab and sensory kitchen at Bentonville headquarters by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "The concept is designed to help food suppliers and Walmart better align on future food offerings, according [...]

  Best Buy adds to C-suite with new HR chief by Nick Halter at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. "The chief human resources officer title was previously held by Shari Ballard. Ballard had been serving a dual role as HR chief and president of U.S. retail. She will continue in the latter position." Read more   Target Canada reaches deal with former landlords by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. "Lou Brzezinski, a lawyer at Blaney McMurtry LLP who represented some of the big suppliers, said the recovery is more favourable to the unsecured creditors than almost all other ones in such [...]

  Costco Will Raise Minimum Wage by Shannon Pettypiece at Bloomberg. "(Costco) will start paying at least $13-to-$13.50 an hour, up from $11.50-to-$12 an hour, the company said Thursday in a conference call with analysts. The increase will cut its earnings per share in the next three months by 1 cent, and by 2 cents in the following three quarters." Read more   Wal-Mart de Mexico Reports Solid February Sales Growth via Dow Jones Business News. "Walmex's February sales were helped by the month having an additional day this year. Comparing similar four-week periods, total sales in Mexico rose 11% and [...]

  Costco Q2 US Comp Sales +3% "Net sales for the quarter increased three percent, to $27.57 billion from $26.87 billion last year. Net sales for the first half increased two percent, to $54.19 billion from $53.16 billion last year." Read the release   Kroger Q4 Comp Sales +3.9% "Total sales, excluding fuel, increased 6.5% in the fourth quarter over the same period last year. Excluding Roundy's, total sales without fuel increased 4.4% in the fourth quarter." Read the release   DON'T CALL IT A HACK - Walmart Says a Coding Error Exposed Some Customer Data via Fortune. "We had a [...]

  Amazon's Huge Advantage in the Online Grocery Battle with Walmart, Target by Phil Wahba at Fortune. "A survey released on Tuesday by Wall Street firm Cowen & Co found that one quarter of Prime members used Prime Now in January 2016...“We view Prime Now as one of the pathways Amazon is utilizing to gain share in the $1 trillion U.S. grocery market,” Cowen analysts wrote in a research note." Read more   Target Canada Play: Employees more willing to talk to playwright now that gag order lifted by Oliver Sachgau at Toronto Star. "Motum said one thing has consistently jumped [...]

  Former Home Depot executive joins J.C. Penney board by Carla Caldwell at Atlanta Business Chronicle. "J. Paul Raines, who for eight years served in various management roles at Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. has been appointed to the 13-member J.C. Penney Co. Inc. board. Raines, who is the CEO of GameStop Corp. and a graduate of Georgia Tech, was appointed Tuesday to the board." Read more   Ex-Walmart Exec Named CEO at Mills Fleet Farm "Former Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer at Wal-Mart, Duncan Mac Naughton, will assume the role of CEO of Mills Fleet Farm. Also effective as part [...]