Walmart may face backlash in India; massive protests planned on July 2 by Karan Choudhury at New Dehli. "As many as 1,000 simultaneous protests are planned in which more than 700,000 people are likely to take part, CAIT said...“We demand that the government reject the deal and frame an e-commerce policy and a Regulatory Authority for e-commerce."" Read more   Visa, Mastercard said to be near swipe-fee settlement via NY Post. "Under the settlement, Visa, Mastercard and a number of banks that issue debit and credit cards including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America would pay the merchants around $6.5 [...]

  Conagra Brands to acquire Pinnacle Foods for about $8.1 billion at CNBC. "The pairing of Healthy Choice-owner Conagra and Bird's Eye-owner Pinnacle would combine two companies with a large presence in frozen foods at a time when the category is seeing a resurgence. It would also create the second-largest U.S. frozen food company behind Nestle, analysts at RBC Capital Markets have written." Read more   Home Depot continues to install lockers in stores for online orders by David Pan at USA Today. "The initiative began in 2016 and it hopes to have lockers in all its stores within three years." [...]

  Brand Finance: America's 500 Most Valuable Brands 2018 (Amazon #1, Walmart #8, Home Depot #11, Walgreens #44, Target #48) Full list   Amazon Workers Facing Firing Can Appeal to a Jury of Their Co-Workers by Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. "Employees can dismiss some panelists they worry will be unsympathetic. It didn’t help much, she says: At the hearing, the videoconference made it difficult to connect with any of the panelists or engage on a personal level, and she sweated through her shirt. She wasn’t invited to watch her boss’s presentation, and he got the last word. She waited by [...]

  The head of Amazon's marketplace has lost most of his authority amid internal shake-up at CNBC. "Peter Faricy, the vice president of the Amazon Marketplace and a 12-year company veteran, currently has no direct reports except for his assistant, according to an internal document viewed by CNBC. Many of the functions previously overseen by Faricy or his former boss, Sebastian Gunningham, who joined WeWork in March, appear to have been reassigned to executives in Amazon's retail group, led by Doug Herrington." Read more   Walmart-Advent deal gets Brazil antitrust nod at Reuters. Read more   'Target Run' campaign showcases retailer's [...]

  A tech goof might have just leaked the date for Amazon Prime Day at CNBC. "This year's Amazon Prime Day is reportedly scheduled to start around midday July 16 and continue through the following day. The information was accidentally published on a banner of Amazon's U.K. website this week, according to TechRadar." Read more   Kroger Q1 Supermarket Comp Sales Without Fuel +1.4% "When calculating identical sales to (include) Kroger Specialty Pharmacy and ship-to-home solutions – Kroger's identical sales, without fuel, were 1.9% in the first quarter. The company intends to use this calculation going forward." Press release   [...]

  Target's CEO says retail industry will fight negative impact of tariffs by Jim Spencer at Star Tribune. "Until we see the final plan, it’s hard for us to react to it,” Cornell said. “But we’re watching it carefully to see what categories [of products] are going to be affected.” Read more (Tiered subs.)   Starbucks says it will close 150 stores next year at CNN Money. "The company told investors late Tuesday that it expects same-store sales to grow just 1% for the quarter that begins next month, lowering its previous guidance." Read more   Amazon’s ‘Hub’ apartment delivery [...]

  CVS introduces prescription drug delivery at CNBC. "CVS will charge $4.99. For same-day delivery, the company will charge $8.99. It's now expanding (same-day delivery from NYC) to Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C...CVS will ship the products through the U.S. Postal Service." Read more   Costco's Craig Jelinek named "Best CEO for Women" (Menear #17, Bezos #24, Joly #39) at MarketWatch. Top 50 list   Want to be Walmart CMO? Tony Rogers Switches to Sam's in New Role by Jack Neff at Ad Age. "Walmart U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Tony Rogers is moving over to sibling Sam's Club in the newly created role of [...]

  BJ's Wholesale sees IPO at $15-$17/share at Reuters. "...giving the warehouse club operator a market capitalization of up to $2.15 billion. At the top end of that range, the offering of 37.5 million shares would raise $637.5 million." Read more   Retailers Fume Over Tax Law Typo That Makes Renovations Pricier by Laura Davison & Matthew Townsend. "Under the previous tax code, 84 percent of the cost of some store improvements could be depreciated over 15 years with half coming in the first year...Republican tax writers intended to offer 100 percent right away through 2022, but because they didn’t specify a [...]