Archive for month: September, 2019

 

Amazon Probed by U.S. Antitrust Officials Over Marketplace by Spencer Soper & Ben Brody at Bloomberg. “Several attorneys and at least one economist have been conducting interviews that typically last about 90 minutes and cover a range of topics, according to three merchants. All were asked what percentage of revenue their businesses derive from Amazon versus other online marketplaces like Walmart Inc. and EBay Inc., suggesting regulators are skeptical about Amazon’s claims that shoppers and suppliers have real alternatives to the Seattle-based company. One merchant, Jaivin Karnani, said he was surprised the FTC returned his call the very next day.” Tiered subs.

 

Sam’s Club names new chief merchant in Megan Crozier by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “…according to an internal memo sent by Sam’s Club CEO John Furner on Monday (Sept. 9). Furner said Crozier will assume the new role Sept. 16 and will report to him…Crozier joined Walmart in 2003 as an engineer in a grocery distribution center in Temple, Texas. She moved to Bentonville to work as supply chain manager supporting merchandising and in 2005, she became as assistant buyer.” Read more

 

GameStop shares tank after earnings miss, cuts sales forecast at CNBC. “It said it now expects sales at stores open at least 12 months to fall in the low teens, compared with prior expectations of a decrease between 5% and 10%.” Read more | Co. press release

 

…GameStop closing 180 to 200 stores globally by Kelly Tyko at USA Today. Read more

 

Gun rights activists test Walmart request not to open-carry guns into store by Rebecca Klar at The Hill. “David Amad, the vice president of Open Carry Texas, told The New York Times the 38,000 members of his group have openly carried their guns inside Walmart stores since the retailer announced last week it is “respectfully requesting” customers to no longer openly bring guns into its stores. He said none of the members who have done so have been asked to leave.” Read more

 

…Retailers Walk Thin Line by Asking, Not Telling, Shoppers Not to Carry Guns by Michael Corkery at New York Times. “Some of the retailers said their new policies were meant to strike a balance between signaling that guns make many employees and customers feel unsafe, while not angering gun rights supporters. The new policies appear to be achieving something that have been elusive in the nation’s long-running gun debate: some form of middle ground.” Tiered subs.

 

RH Q2 net revenues +10.3%, raises fiscal 2019 guidance for the 3rd time this year Press release

 

**A message from EasyLock keyless locking deadbolt. Lock your deadbolt with a simple twist! Sell sheet | Sample: info@eyeonretail.net

 

‘A new type of department store’: Neighborhood Goods snags $11 million in funding, plots more locations at CNBC. “Some names in the Plano space, which is about 10,000 square feet, include razor company Dollar Shave Club, watchmaker Fossil, men’s clothing brand Buck Mason and women’s shoe company Rothy’s. There’s also a restaurant there, called Prim and Proper, serving burgers and weekend brunch. And Neighborhood Goods holds other weekly events like workout classes, gardening workshops and taste testings.” Read more

 

Cashier arrested in Japan for allegedly using ‘photographic memory’ to steal credit card information of 1,300 customers at CNN. Read more

 

Fry’s Electronics tries to quell rumors of its demise as customers worry about empty shelves by Levi Sumagaysay at Mercury News. “In response to inquiries by (Mercury News), a spokesman for the San Jose-based retailer said Tuesday that the company is “converting most of its suppliers to consignment,” and that its shelves will be restocked over the next few weeks.” Tiered subs.

 

Red hot Costco shares fall after Oppenheimer downgrades, citing a record high valuation at CNBC. Read more

 

Carrefour denies weighing bid for French retail rival Casino at Reuters. Read more

 

L Brands promises an ‘evolution’ is ahead for Victoria’s Secret brand at CNBC. “There’s a big belief in the company that we need to evolve,” said John Mehas, head of Victoria’s Secret Lingerie…The company, by its own admission, stayed tied to its sexy imaging at Victoria’s Secret stores for far too long as its shoppers looked for more comfortable and inclusive options sold by brands such as Aerie and Third Love, among others.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Smart grocery cart startup Caper bags $10 million

Scraping public data from a website probably isn’t hacking, says court

Growth drives Casey’s plans to open third distribution center

Shopkeeper bitten by a homeless person for the second time in four months

‘A Very Brady Renovation’ Scores Huge Ratings for HGTV

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

**

Eye on Retail Tipsheet is must-read material for retail execs every weekday morning. Tipsheet stories are carefully curated bright and early every morning to ensure fresh and unique content.

 

Subscribe to Eye on Retail Tipsheet here

 

Contact us: Put your product or service in front of the most powerful retail execs in the world, send advertising inquiries to info@eyeonretail.net

 

Website: eyeonretail.net

 

California grocery strike probably averted; contract includes pay raises, pension bump at LA Times. “The looming threat of a grocery store strike throughout Southern California appeared to be dissolving Monday as workers began voting on a new employment contract that seemed to appease all parties. Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions and Albertsons workers are voting through Wednesday on the deal brokered over the weekend…” Tiered subs.

 

HD Supply Q2 net sales +1.5% Press release

 

J.C. Penney looks to outdoor sports enthusiasts to reel in more consumer spending by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “Penney is expanding into the more rugged clothing with its own St. John’s Bay brand, both online and in about 600 of its 830 stores starting Thursday…It’s also creating outdoor shops with national brands — American Threads, The American Outdoorsman and HI-TEC — in about 100 stores and online starting Oct. 4.” Tiered subs.

 

Target to hire more than 130,000 temporary workers for its stores and distribution centers at CNN. “Last year, Target hired about 120,000 workers for the holidays. More than 40% of those employees stayed on with Target past the holiday season, according to the company.” Read more

 

Dollar Tree CEO on mitigating tariffs on Chinese imports: ‘We play hardball’ at CNBC. “I give great credit to both merchants’ teams. The things that we do, we’ve enlisted our vendors … The last thing we want to do is take any value out of the package at all,” he said in a one-on-one with Jim Cramer on “Mad Money.” “We play hardball, but I would say we’ve always been fair.” Video/Read more

 

The World Wastes Tons of Food. A Grocery ‘Happy Hour’ Is One Answer. by David Segal at NY Times. “Food that is nearly unsellable goes on sale at every one of S-market’s 900 stores in Finland, with prices that are already reduced by 30 percent slashed to 60 percent off at exactly 9 p.m. It’s part of a two-year campaign to reduce food waste that company executives in this famously bibulous country decided to call “happy hour” in the hopes of drawing in regulars, like any decent bar.” Tiered subs.

 

Amazon, Home Depot lease multistory Seattle warehouse by Keiko Morris at Wall Street Journal. “You have to go vertical because you can’t find a 50-acre space in the middle of a city close to the customer,” said Hamid Moghadam, Prologis ’s chief executive. Freight elevators capable of carrying forklifts and a ramp that enables trucks to drive right up to loading docks on the second floor help speed up delivery.” WSJ subs.

 

**A message from Real Coconut Water: Really sweet, 100% pure coconut water. PL or branded organic in Tetra Pak. Sell sheet | Website | Samples: info@eyeonretail.net

 

Jack Ma officially retires as Alibaba’s chairman at TechCrunch. Read more

 

‘We blew it’: Forbes named 99 men and only one woman on its list of ‘most innovative leaders’ by Jena McGregor at Washington Post. “Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar, who is on the board of directors of Slack and Walmart, tweeted: “At first I thought maybe they had a men’s and women’s list,” followed by the slapping-my-head emoji.” Tiered subs.

 

Dollar General Announces Plans to Expand to 46 States In 2020 Press release

 

Food Lion Owner Searches for New CFO to Boost Sales, Cut Costs by Nina Trentmann at Wall Street Journal. “Dutch grocer Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV is looking for a new finance chief to boost sales and cut costs across 10 countries, including the U.S., its biggest market…Chief Financial Officer Jeff Carr won’t return as a member of Ahold Delhaize’s management board after his current term expires in April 2020.” WSJ subs.

 

Docs show Amazon planned to open dozens of cashierless Go stores this year — what’s the holdup? by Jay Peters at The Verge. “According to documents from 2018 viewed by The Information, Amazon planned to open 56 Go stores by the end of this year and 156 by the end of 2020, but so far it has only announced 18. Just 15 of those are open to the public…” Read more

 

More than 900 Amazon employees plan climate change walkout on Sept. 20 in solidarity with youth activists by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. Read more

 

Target’s personalized loyalty program launches nationwide next month by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “Target Circle, will launch nationwide on October 6th, following a year and a half of beta testing in select markets. The program combines a variety of features, including 1% savings on purchases, birthday rewards and personalized offers and savings designed to make the program more attractive to consumers.” Read more

 

Shopify boosts delivery network plans with $450M deal for robotics company 6 River Systems at Financial Post. Read more

 

Fred’s has filed for bankruptcy and will close its 300 remaining stores at CNN. “…liquidation sales will take place at its stores over the next 60 days. “Despite our team’s best efforts, we were not able to avoid this outcome,” said CEO Joe Anto in a statement.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Department store selling asymmetrical jeans for $462

Salesforce launches new ads that explain what the company actually does

Swiftly raises $15.6M, launches supermarket OS to help retailers battle Amazon

Lululemon’s first fashion brand, 10 years in the making, is here

DMVs in these states cashed in by selling drivers’ personal data

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

**

Eye on Retail Tipsheet is must-read material for retail execs every weekday morning. Tipsheet stories are carefully curated bright and early every morning to ensure fresh and unique content.

 

Subscribe to Eye on Retail Tipsheet here

 

Contact us: Put your product or service in front of the most powerful retail execs in the world, send advertising inquiries to info@eyeonretail.net

 

Website: eyeonretail.net

 

Fed Lines Up Another Quarter-Point Rate Cut by Nick Timiraos at Wall Street Journal. “Federal Reserve officials are gearing up to reduce interest rates at their next policy meeting in two weeks, most likely by a quarter-percentage point…The idea of an aggressive half-point cut to battle the slowdown hasn’t gained much support inside the central bank…” WSJ subs.

 

Private sector hiring rebounds in August with 195,000 added at Fox Business. “…surging past analyst expectations of 149,000 even as recession fears continue to mount.” Read more

 

U.S. judge approves CVS purchase of insurer Aetna at Reuters. “But (the judge) took aim at the common practice of companies’ closing multibillion-dollar deals while the court review, required by the Tunney Act, was still in process. “If the Tunney Act is to mean anything,” Leon wrote, “it surely must mean that no court should rubberstamp a consent decree approving the merger of ‘one of the largest companies in the United States’ and ‘the nation’s third largest health-insurance company,’ … simply because the Government requests it!” Read more

 

Lands’ End Q2 US operated stores comp sales +7.5% “Net revenue for the second quarter decreased 3.1% to $298.3 million as compared to the same period last year reflecting 110 fewer Lands’ End Shops at Sears.” Press release

 

Kirkland’s Q2 comp sales -11.2% “CEO Woodward: ‘Store traffic remains challenging, and we expect near-term financial results to be impacted by promotional activity to bring inventory back into alignment and increased marketing spend to drive traffic, highlight new product and target new customers'” Press release

 

Sears laying off approximately 250 employees at HQ at USA Today. Read more

 

Neiman Marcus CFO to Depart After Less Than Two Years by Ezequiel Minaya at Wall Street Journal. “Neiman Marcus is on the hunt for a new finance chief…Adam Orvos, who has been chief financial officer at the Dallas-based company since April 2018, is scheduled to depart Oct. 11 to join another company, Neiman Marcus said this week. Mr. Orvos hasn’t disclosed his next position…” WSJ subs.

 

Michaels Q2 comp sales +0.3% Press release

 

**A message from X1 Ebike – Up to 37 miles on a single 4-hour charge. Folds into the size of a golf bag in seconds! GPS tracking, VIN # & alarm for security. Video | Website | Contact

 

American Eagle Q2 comp sales +2.0%: By brand, American Eagle’s comp sales -1.0%. Aerie’s comparable sales +16%. Press release

 

…American Eagle stock plummets after delayed back-to-school season led to disappointing same-store sales growth at CNBC. “The company said that sales were disappointing during the last two weeks of July…August was its strongest month in the quarter. The company’s also beat Wall Street’s estimates on profit and revenue.” Read more

 

Amazon announces new Fire TV devices, including first smart soundbar and more powerful Cube by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. Read more

 

The Buckle August comp sales +3.1% Press release

 

Buffalo Wild Wings joins forces with MGM Resorts International and its sports betting venture, Roar Digital…the partnership will deliver sports gaming experiences at a national scale inside Buffalo Wild Wings Press release

 

Duluth Trading Co. CEO named North American president at Under Armour at CNBC. Read more

 

Hurricane Dorian to help some retailers but hurt others at CNBC. “Foot traffic at apparel stores is expected to fall 25%, while visits to outlet centers will decline 32%. Restaurant traffic is expected to decrease 14%.” Read more

 

Signet Jewelers Q2 comp sales -1.5% Press release

 

Steve Bratspies, chief merchandising officer at Walmart, speaks at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference on Wednesday by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Bratspies:  ‘We have a meeting of all the U.S. officers every Monday afternoon. And the first topic is the customer, all the time, and it’s data on NPS scores on our Clean, Fast and Friendly scores, which is a core metric coming out of our stores. And we look at them in total at a macro level and we look at them on a micro-level…'” Read more

 

Additional comments from Walmart’s Steve Bratspies at Barclays 2019 Global Consumer Staples Conference

Bratspies:

• Right now all of our data and all of our surveys with our customers are saying that they feel pretty good about the economy and where they are.
• (Millennials are more) receptive with private brands because private brand offerings out there, not only ours, but even competitors are just better than they used to be in the past.
• Our electronics program is called Entertainment of the Future. It’s rolled out to a lot of stores. It will be in the vast majority of the chain by the end of next year.
• …we’re testing a new layout in home, a new layout in sporting goods.
• We’re going to be combining seasonal space in our stores. So if you think the traditional think Halloween, for example, and think the traditional set in our stores where we do costumes and all the décor, but candy is often in a — over in a different part of the store. We’re going to be building sections inside the store to put seasonal together.
• We’ve combined a service counter in the back of our stores. So traditionally, we had the paint counter, we had the sporting goods counter, and in many stores we had the auto care center desk. And we’re moving now towards combining all of those into one desk.
• …our national meeting with all of our store managers (is) in two weeks in Indianapolis. We have all the store managers there and we’re going to show them Produce 2.0.
  • (Produce 2.0 is) a lot about visual set and experience inside the store that the customer will see directly.
• My wife’s a big user of our private brands, so she tells me all the time. So I’m sending texts to the team all the time. This one’s good. That one needs work.
• Neighborhood Markets is doing great. They’re running strong comps continue to improve.

Full transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

 

Highlights from Lowe’s Marvin Ellison & David Denton presentation at Goldman Sachs 2019 Global Retailing Conference

Q: Is there one initiative that’s driven the most traction with pros so far?

Ellison:

• I will say probably it’s the investment in job lot inventory
• One of the first things that we did as a team is we started to do focus groups of pro customers that were loyal to us and pro customers that had defected over the years…
• I will say in addition to that, basic things like having loading assistance. If I heard from one – probably I heard from 50 pros that the ability to leave your job site without having to take someone from the crew with you…

Q: Craftsman & brand partnerships

Ellison:

• …when we look at the customers that come to Lowe’s to buy CRAFTSMAN product is roughly 60% of those customers are new to Lowe’s. So to me, it’s irrelevant about being exclusive.
• …we have the best lineup in outdoor power equipment with CRAFTSMAN, Husqvarna, John Deere…
• We have some other announcements (regarding other brand partnerships) we’ll be making in the latter part of the year.

Denton:

• One thing that’s been interesting about bringing CRAFTSMAN into this footprint is that you’ve looked at it and it’s actually not cannibalizing other brands.

Q: Macro environment

Ellison:

• …roughly two-third of what we sell we view as nondiscretionary…we feel very confident that those discretionary categories are holding up really well to levels that give us confidence that the consumer feels good about their economic situation.

Denton:

• We do watch a little bit, I’ll say, at the high price points, are people trading down from, let’s say, $1,000 purchase to an $800 purchase. We’re not seeing – we’re actually seeing demand in high-ticket items actually accelerate, not decelerate.

Q: Do you expect your store base to be larger or smaller over the next two years?

Ellison: …we don’t see the growth of Lowe’s being driven by square footage…so very few new stores.

 

Q: Data initiatives behind pricing

Ellison:

• …we’re developing a new price management system…it is going to be ready and implemented in Q4. 
• In the first half of next year, we’re going to take the data analytics portion of the Boomerang acquisition and we’re going to merge that with our price management architecture.

Full transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Illinois spent $4.6 million on health insurance for dead people

Chick-fil-A takes aim at Canada with first Toronto restaurant Friday

Sonos unveils its first portable speaker that can survive in the rain

American Eagle to launch beauty business before the holiday season

Disney+ Streaming Service to Reach 82M Subscribers Worldwide by 2024: Study

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

**

Eye on Retail Tipsheet is must-read material for retail execs every weekday morning. Tipsheet stories are carefully curated bright and early every morning to ensure fresh and unique content.

 

Subscribe to Eye on Retail Tipsheet here

 

Contact us: Put your product or service in front of the most powerful retail execs in the world, send advertising inquiries to info@eyeonretail.net

 

Website: eyeonretail.net