Walmart e-commerce CEO Marc Lore says the company will make more acquisitions by Edmund Lee at Recode. "We’re being pretty active, yeah,” he told Recode Senior Editor Jason Del Rey at the Code Commerce conference in Las Vegas. “We’re behind,” he added. “We need to catch up.” Read more | Full interview   Costco Sues Titleist In Battle Over Golf Balls via Fox Business. "Costco is asking the court to rule that the ball doesn't infringe on any valid patent rights owned by Acushnet and that it hasn't engaged in any false advertising in reference to the ball. In the [...]

  Uber president Jeff Jones is quitting, citing differences over “beliefs and approach to leadership” by Kara Swisher & Johana Bhuiyan at Recode. "Jones, said sources, determined that this was not the situation he signed on for, especially after Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced a search for a new COO...Jones' decision to leave Uber likely won't surprise people who worked with him at Target. "Jeff does not like conflict," a source previously told Recode." Read more   Personal data of Saks customers exposed at BuzzFeed via CNBC. "The pages, which were reviewed by BuzzFeed News in recent days, were taken offline [...]

  CULT STATUS - Costco’s Private-Label Booze Helps Warm Spirits During Dry Spell by Molly Smith at Bloomberg. "Alcohol sales have surged at the warehouse-club chain, lifted in part by the cult status of Costco’s Kirkland Signature-branded liquors...some are even convinced that the spirits are actually top-shelf liquors such as Grey Goose and Tanqueray hidden behind Costco packaging...The category has grown 46 percent during the past five years." Read more   Target's Boston pride T-shirts get yanked over errors by Arden Dier at Newsday via USA Today. "A Twitter user was among the first to draw attention to numerous misspellings [...]

  Walgreens Said Poised to Sell More Assets to Win Rite Aid Nod by Robert Langreth & David McLaughlin at Bloomberg. "Walgreens is nearing an agreement to sell more assets to Tennessee-based discount chain Fred’s Inc. -- boosting the number of stores and adding distribution centers, software and personnel, according to one of the people. Walgreens could present the beefed-up package to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission within weeks, the person said, in hopes of satisfying the agency’s concerns after an initial proposal fell short." Read more   Here’s What Walmart’s CEO Looks For In a Takeover Target by Phil [...]

  Rising rates will speed up the clock on retail's $3.7 billion time bomb by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. "After years of low rates fueled a private equity "feasting" on retail firms, Moody's Investors Service says that 19 distressed companies have "well over" $3.7 billion in debt that matures over the next five years. Roughly 30 percent of that total is due by the end of next year." Distressed retailers' next maturities/Read more   Jeff Bezos has a new top adviser at Amazon by Jason Del Rey at Recode. "Jeffrey Helbling, most recently a vice president of the Kindle business, is [...]

  New Yorkers stockpile supplies as massive snowstorm looms at NY Post. "Do you know what is worse than 18 inches of snow? No food delivery,” grad student Jen Marcus, 24, said while loading up on groceries at a Morton Williams in Greenwich Village." Read more   A border tax would throw a wrench into retail's price wars by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. "Costco is somewhat cushioned by its annual membership fee, which accounts for three-fourths of its operating income. Those two factors would make a border tax less burdensome than on a company like Target, analysts have said." Read [...]

  Ulta Q4 Comp Sales +16.6% "Retail comparable sales increased 12.8%, including salon comparable sales growth of 8.8%...E-commerce sales grew 63.4% to $154.9 million." Press release   ...CNBC: Ulta blows past Wall Street forecasts, but shares drop on soft outlook "After opening 100 stores last fiscal year, it will open another 100 in fiscal year 2017." Read more   Fortune: 100 Best Companies to Work For (Wegmans #2, Publix #21, REI #28, Container Store #49, Whole Foods #58, QuikTrip #68, Nordstrom #94) Top 100 list   Target Security Chief Joins Booz Allen Hamilton by Steven Norton at Wall Street Journal. "Brad Maiorino, [...]

  Wal-Mart CFO Brett Biggs tells Wall Street to not underestimate the retail giant by Kim Souza at Talk Business. "He spoke Wednesday (Mar. 8) at the Raymond James Investor Conference held in Orlando, Fla. Biggs reminded the group that the retailer serves 260 million customers each week around the world and is on track to hit $500 billion this year in sales revenue...Biggs told investors he came to Wal-Mart 17 years ago when it was a $160 billion company and at that time there also were naysayers about future Wal-Mart growth." Read more   Amazon just confirmed its 10th [...]