Tipsheet: Amazon Buy Amer. Apparel? | Nstrom CTO Departs | Costco Dec +3% | Wgreen Surprise Drop

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Walgreens Reports Surprise Drop in 1Q Sales at Fox Business. “Sales fell to $28.50 billion from $29.03 billion.” Read more | Press release

 

Macy’s to shutter 68 stores and cut 10,000 jobs in massive restructuring by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati Enquirer. “The store closures will impact about 3,900 retail associates. But the company also plans to slash 6,200 mostly back office employees.” Read more | Press release

 

Costco December Comp Sales +3.0% (US +3.0% / Canada +7.0%) “Costco reported net sales of $13.07 billion for the month of December…an increase of five percent from $12.46 billion during the similar period last year.” Press release

 

Amazon is opening a bookstore in the middle of Manhattan by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “Amazon is opening a brick-and-mortar bookstore inside Manhattan’s Time Warner Center at some point in 2017, a spokesperson said. The store will join retailers such as J. Crew, Diesel and Microsoft inside the Shops at Columbus Circle, an indoor mall that also features high-end restaurants. Defunct bookstore chain Borders once operated a location in the same mall.” Read more

 

Nordstrom CTO leaving retailer in latest departure for digital team by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “Kumar Srinivasan, who has been with the company for less than a year, is leaving the company as CTO, effective Friday, to return to India later this month.” Read more

 

Online sales rake in a record $91.7 billion over the holidays, rising 11% by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “…the season’s sales came in $115 million ahead of expectations, 0.13 percent better than expected. Mobile devices raked in $28.4 billion, an increase of 23 percent over the prior year. The majority of that value came from smartphones, which generated $19.3 billion in revenue.” Read more

 

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Amazon’s holiday dominance solidified by last-minute shoppers by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Amazon accounted for 38 percent of online sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 29. That’s in line with the same period in 2015, when 37.9 percent of online revenue went to Amazon, according to Slice.” Read more

 

Kohl’s reports awful holiday season sales by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “For Kohl’s, a 2.1% drop in comparable sales, which includes e-commerce and stores open for at least a year, was a large disappointment, coming off of several initiatives that had been aimed at getting the retailer’s turnaround back on track.” Read more | Press release

 

NRF Foundation Announces The List of People Shaping Retail’s Future 2017 “Power Player: Kevin Hofmann – President, Online and Chief Marketing Officer, The Home Depot…Toni M. Miller – Boscov’s Department Store, LLC.” Press release

 

Target teams up with Nate Berkus again for new baby collection by Dan DeBaun at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “The nearly 40-piece nursery and layette collection includes romper sets and crib sheets, wall decor and night lights.” Read more | A Bullseye View

 

Amazon may be among those looking to acquire bankrupt American Apparel by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “Reuters reported Wednesday that sources familiar with talks put Amazon and teen chain Forever 21 in the mix when it comes to those who may make offers for the Los Angeles-based company at a bankruptcy auction.” Read more

 

…American Apparel employees fear massive layoffs loom by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “It feels like there will be a massive layoff,” said one longtime employee who did not want to be identified. “Every time there is a layoff, they increase security here.” Read more

 

Coach Appoints Ex-Saks CFO as CFO Press release

 

Amazon appears ready to produce its own line of workout clothes by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Amazon posted a trio of job listings in late December for brand managers and senior brand managers working on “Amazon Active Apparel.” The listings, first spotted by Recode, indicate that Amazon is just getting started in this business as most of the duties relate to creating strategies for a stable of private label activewear brands to succeed.” Read more

 

Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren talks to The Street “I have said this before, but America is still over-stored,” Macy’s long-time Chairman and CEO Terry Lundgren told TheStreet in an interview Wednesday evening. “My guess is that some rationalization of retail space needs to occur, and I think we were at the forefront of acknowledging that” Read more

 

Teen apparel chain rue21 promotes its chief digital officer to chief marketing officer by Matt Linder at Internet Retailer. Read more

 

Sears CEO lends retailer another $500M amid ongoing losses by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “…on top of a $200 million credit line ESL extended to Sears Holding last week.” Read more

 

Amazon is granted a patent for using a subterranean network to deliver packages by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. “The 33-page application lays out the specifications for a network that could transport packages via conveyor belts or rails, or even through pneumatic tubes. (Hyperloop fans, take note.)” Patent pics/Read more

 

Stanley Black & Decker to Buy Craftsman Brand From Sears For $900M at Fox Business. Read more

 

Gap employee refunds a customer for a 17-year-old shirt by Alice Johnston at Daily Mail. “Naturally the store manager was not impressed when the error was discovered and hung the shirt with a note, saying: ‘Who on earth accepted this as a return?!?!?! This item is from the summer of 2000! That was almost 17 years ago!'” Pic/Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Customer mistakenly returns Christmas presents to Target, woman attempts to track down owners

Ford’s going to put Alexa in cars starting later this year

Two hero cops dive for cover and kill gunman as they are wounded in terrifying ambush in Walmart

LG reveals ‘wallpaper’ TV just 2.6mm thin and so light it can be hung on the wall with magnets

Why daycare fees in Toronto could jump $360/yr this July

Move Over, Acai. Here Comes the Maqui Berry

NY Times: Start-Ups Hope Couples Say “I Do” to Online Wedding Planning

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Tipsheet: Wmart Hires Ex-Target Agency | Kroger Stock Plummet? | Facebook Pop-Up | China’s Excess Malls

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Retailers weren’t panicking at the end of the holiday season — here’s how you can tell by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “…while retail discounts remained rampant over the holidays, they also held steady in the days after Christmas — serving as the latest indication that the 2016 season may have topped original expectations.” Read more

 

Walmart Shifts Massive Media Account to Target’s Former Agency Haworth by Jack Neff at Ad Age. “Haworth has a longtime relationship with Michael Francis, the former Target chief marketing officer who worked with the agency for years there. Then Mr. Francis brought Haworth on board at Dreamworks Animation during his three-year stint as CMO there, which ended in August 2015, less than five months before he began work as a consultant with Walmart.” Read more

 

It’s alive: Amazon’s drive-up grocery store in Seattle lights up — but still no word on opening by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “A series of what look like cords coming out of the paneling indicate crews may soon put up a sign, which would be Amazon’s first public acknowledgment of the store.” Pics/Read more

 

Why Kroger is one of analyst’s six picks to plummet (Walmart too…) by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. Read more

 

Amazon launches individual marketplace pilot in India, will pick up and ship items for sellers by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Not only is it providing the marketplace, Amazon is also taking care of the logistics. According to the website for the new Sell as an Individual pilot program, first spotted by Mashable, after a transaction is completed, Amazon will pick up the items, pack them up and ship them to the buyer.” Read more

 

Here come ‘smart stores’ with robots, interactive shelves by Anne d’Innocenzio at AP via Yahoo. Read more

 

Amazon Air-Cargo Operator Buys Repair Shop by Doug Cameron at Wall Street Journal. “One of the two providers to the fledgling Amazon.com Inc. air-cargo operation has acquired an aircraft-maintenance business that ultimately could compete with Boeing Co. in converting passenger planes for cargo use.” Read more (subscription)

 

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Wal-Mart names Dann Moore new regional general manager to oversee 110 Cincinnati stores by Kaitlin Schroeder at Dayton Business Journal. Read more

 

China Has Too Many Shopping Malls by Dominique Fong at Wall Street Journal. “Chongqing’s glut of shopping malls is a vivid sign of a big miscalculation now imperiling China’s retail economy. For the past five years, developers have been churning out new supply at a record pace on the assumption that the growth of the country’s middle class would greatly boost shopping and create enormous demand among retailers for store space.” Read more (subscription)

 

Amazon doubles deliveries in 2016 for third-party sellers by Jeffrey Dastin at Reuters. “Active sellers using the fulfillment service rose more than 70 percent in the year, Amazon said on Wednesday. It did not specify the total number of vendors.” Read more

 

FACEBOOK POP-UP: Facebook virtual-reality tour makes immersive stop at Denver airport by Tumara Chuang at Denver Post. “The curious can try on a pair of Samsung Gear VR goggles for free to get a better sense of what immersive 360-degree video feels like. Facebook has attendees on hand between 10 to 6 p.m. daily.” Pics/Read more

 

Why Amazon is so secretive: Longtime board member explains the company’s mindset by Dan Richman at GeekWire. “(Bezos) likes to say you get the investors you ask for, meaning that if you focus on 2 cents more profit per quarter, then you get investors who focus on that.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart, Liverpool Seen Hardest Hit by Gas Hikes in Mexico by Michelle Davis at Bloomberg. “Mexican consumer companies from Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB to El Puerto de Liverpool SAB may see sales flag when the country raises gasoline prices by as much as 20 percent in January.” Read more

 

Aldi accused of racial vilification over Christmas ad depicting Americans as ‘gaudy’ and ‘pushy’ by Bruce McDougall at The Daily Telegraph. “In it the Tinkletons, clad in Christmas attire, run amok through a house of “normal” Australians throwing decorations and singing. The Americans are convinced their Christmas is better than Australia’s but they are up against perfect Aussie weather, backyard barbies, days at the beach and seafood feasts.” Read more

 

AMAZON SPHERE UPDATE – Lush nature paradise to adorn $4 billion urban campus by Angel Gonzalez at Seattle Times. “A recent walk through the Spheres showed construction is well along. A towering concrete wall is in place that next year will be a canvas to luxuriant vegetation. So are the five stories through which more than 800 Amazonians at a time will be able to roam.” Read more

 

Nike signs No. 1 golfer Jason Day by Matthew Kish at Portland Business Journal. Read more

 

Mattel is building an Alexa for kids by Mark Wilson at Fast Company. “Aristotle will have various retail partners, but it’s also compatible—rather than competitive—with Amazon’s Alexa service. So in what Mattel calls “parent mode,” anything a parent would ask Alexa can be asked through Aristotle. They simply begin a question with “Alexa” rather than “Aristotle”.” Read more

 

George Lucas Can’t Give His $1.5 Billion Museum Away by Devin Leonard at Bloomberg. “The monumental project has brought him almost as much grief as Jar Jar Binks, the prequel creature from the planet Naboo with an oddly Jamaican accent that some found racially offensive. Lucas tried to build in San Francisco’s Presidio, which is a national park, and then on Chicago’s downtown waterfront, only to abandon both sites after being assailed by local forces.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Struggling watch seller Tourneau having trouble finding a buyer

Woody Harrelson Eyed to Play Han Solo’s Mentor in ‘Star Wars’ Spinoff

Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar” #1 with drunk drivers in Massachusetts

After 122 years, historic Minnesota general store goes out of business

Jack in the Box Tacos Have Been Described as ‘Cat Food’ But Americans Eat 554 Mil Each Year

Amazon Fire and Alexa-powered 4K UHD TVs coming later this year

Man murdered inside Tomball Walmart

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Tipsheet: Ross Buy Macy’s? | JCP HQ Sells @ $400M | HBR Omni Study | Cabela’s/Bass Snafu?

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Could Macy’s be acquired by Ross Stores in 2017? by Andy Brownfield at Cincinnati Business Courier. “The idea of off-price retailer Ross Stores buying Macy’s , which boasts numerous high-end locations in major U.S. cities under the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s banners, would have once seemed unthinkable,” Sozzi writes.” Read more

 

…Sozzi prediction #2: Dunkin’ Brands buy David’s Tea? Read more via The Street 

 

New SEC filing lists potential roadblocks in proposed Cabela’s-Bass Pro deal by Steve Jordon at Omaha World-Herald. “…making some investors nervous about the deal’s future…And Capital One Bank “likely” will not get federal bank regulators’ approval to acquire Cabela’s World’s Foremost Bank before Oct. 3, 2017, when the bank-purchase agreement could be dropped, according to the filing.” Read more

 

A Study of 46,000 Shoppers Shows That Omnichannel Retailing Works at Harvard Business Review. “Within six months after an omnichannel shopping experience, these customers had logged 23% more repeat shopping trips to the retailer’s stores and were more likely to recommend the brand to family and friends than those who used a single channel.” Read more

 

Amazon’s 1-Click Multi-Billion Dollar Patent Expires In 2017 by Ian Morris at Forbes. Read more

 

J.C. Penney’s Plano campus sells for more than $400 million by Steve Brown at Dallas News. “J.C.Penney plans to consolidate its offices into about 600,000 square feet in the north end of the building. Penney’s downsizing will leave more than 1 million square feet of office space that can be renovated and rented to other businesses.” Read more

 

Here’s what happens to all those unwanted Christmas presents by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “Just 5 percent of returned presents go directly back onto the same store’s shelves, Moriarty estimates. For the rest of the goods, the trip back to the store is just the beginning of a long and strange journey that can take that party dress or dollhouse either halfway around the world — or just around to the other side of town.” Read more

 

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Meijer fires photo lab workers who texted couple’s pregnancy announcement photos to their friends by Anneta Konstantinides at Daily Mail. “The Allegan County Sheriff’s department is also investigating to determine if the photo leak was a crime. Areaux filed a complaint with the department after she became unsatisfied with how Meijer handled the scandal.” Read more

 

MediaRadar: Media spending at eight large retailers by Don Davis at Internet Retailer. Print/TV/Online breakdown

 

Harvard Business Review: How 4 Retailers Became “Best Places to Work” by Zeynep Ton & Sarah Kolloch. “HEB, Costco, Trader Joe’s, and QuikTrip all made Glassdoor’s 2017 “Best Places to Work: Employees’ Choice” list…Over the past year, we hosted current or former leaders from each of these retailers at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and all four talked about a corporate culture of setting high expectations and creating conditions that encourage employees to innovate.” Read more

 

Retail’s laggards will have a tough time passing the blame this Christmas by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. Read more

 

Costco chicken plant raises environmental concerns by Nicholas Bergin at Lincoln Journal Star. “Now is the time to really look at it and ask questions,” said Duane Hovorka, director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. “It’s much more difficult once you’re already in place and up and operating to change the operation.” Read more

 

Edmontonians line up at Costco gas pumps to beat carbon tax by Emma Graney at Edmonton Sun. “The effect of the $20-per-tonne carbon pricing, introduced by government as part of its climate leadership plan, was immediately obvious on gas prices. The tax hikes the cost of gasoline by 4.49 cents per litre.” Read more

 

Woman opens Christmas gift from Walmart to find box packed with sprouting potatoes by Andrew Lynch at Fox 4 KC. “My dad is very upset, it’s not what he purchased for $150. I’m hoping Walmart can work with me. Hopefully we can get it fixed.” Video/Read more

 

Cameron Diaz shops for organic veggies at Whole Foods during grocery run in LA at Daily Mail. Pics

 

Thieves steal $6M in jewels while ball drops on New Year’s Eve at NY Post. “The burglars were caught on video inside Gregg Ruth, a commercial jewelry store known for its rare yellow and pink diamonds. One of the robbers, a bearded white male in a hood without a mask, looks straight into the camera during the heist, surveillance footage shows.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

2 planes collide, 1 crashes in Home Depot parking lot

Toymakers are the early adopters pushing AR into the mainstream

How Inventors and Ad Agencies Are Starting to Shape the Internet of Things’ Next Phase

Army veteran steps in to help man shot at Texas Walmart

Why retail CFOs turn over at a rapid rate

Run-DMC Sues Walmart & Amazon for $50M

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