Archive for year: 2019

 

Walmart will now put groceries right in your fridge, starting in Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Vero Beach, FL at CNBC. “InHome grocery delivery is a membership program that is being rolled out at an introductory price of $19.95 a month. It requires shoppers to purchase a $49.95 smart door lock kit or smart garage door kit, which comes with free installation and one month of free unlimited grocery delivery.” Read more

 

Barneys nearing sale to Saks, Authentic Brands by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “Saks Fifth Avenue is teaming up with licensing firm Authentic Brands Group to acquire Barneys out of bankruptcy for $270 million, sources told The Post…Under the deal, ABG would acquire the Barneys brand and Saks would pay a licensing fee to operate Barneys.com and create a Barneys store within Saks.” Read more

 

Walmart subsidizing some vendors in price war with Amazon at Ad Age. “Walmart…has introduced a program to temporarily lower the price consumers pay for some items on its marketplace site, where third-party vendors pay Walmart a fee to list their goods. The merchants selling on the site, however, will still be paid the same amount that was listed before the cuts, with Walmart subsidizing the difference, according to a description of the plan obtained by Bloomberg that was confirmed by a Walmart spokeswoman.” Registration/Subs.

 

Amazon Joins Trend of Sending Workers Away for Health Care by Melanie Evans at Wall Street Journal. “One of the latest is Amazon.com which will pay travel costs for workers diagnosed with cancer who choose to see doctors at City of Hope, a Los Angeles-area health system. More than 380,000 of the Seattle-based company’s employees and families across the U.S. are eligible for the travel benefit.” WSJ subs.

 

How Kohl’s is trying to keep its stores fresh ahead of the holidays at CNBC. “At a Kohl’s store here, the retailer has rolled out a space called “Curated by Kohl’s,” to be heading to 50 of Kohl’s roughly 1,100 locations nationwide. It features six brands, including lingerie maker Adore Me and card marker Lovepop. And in these spaces, Kohl’s is working with Facebook — and its massive database of brands that advertise on the social media platform and Instagram — to help market the brands and choose what might rotate in next.” Read more

 

**A message from Home & Outdoor cookware – Utensils perfect for the cabin, camping, RVs, hunting and fishing. High quality and 3X stain and scratch resistance. Retail ready packaging. Sales deck | Samples: info@eyeonretail.net

 

Panera Bread employee who posted video ‘exposing’ how mac and cheese is prepared was fired at Fox News. Read more

 

How Amazon.com moved into the business of U.S. elections by Nandita Bose at Reuters. “The expansion by Amazon Web Services into state and local elections has quietly gathered pace since the 2016 U.S. presidential vote. More than 40 states now use one or more of Amazon’s election offerings, according to a presentation given by an Amazon executive this year and seen by Reuters.” Read more

 

Walmart’s Flipkart confirms it is entering the food retail business in India by Manish Singh at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Amazon is eating into Google’s dominance in search ads at CNBC. “Amazon’s share is expected to grow to 15.9% by 2021, with Google’s expected to contract slightly to 70.5% of the market.” Read more

 

Piper Jaffray analyst Peter Keith upgraded Lowe’s to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $130, up from $113 at Real Money. Read more

 

Target raised wages. But some workers say their hours were cut, leaving them struggling by Nathaniel Meyersohn at CNN Business. “CNN Business interviewed 23 current and former Target employees in recent months, including department managers, who say hours have been scaled back…Andrew, who works at a Target store in Maryland, put it simply: “How are we supposed to be enthusiastic and happy if we’re only working 19 hours a week?” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Underground store for buying stolen credit card data has itself been hacked

Amazon’s rapid expansion in Bellevue could reach 4.8M square feet

Mack Truck workers strike for the first time in decades

2019 C-store design contest honors seven retailers

Woman feels ‘violated’ after Instacart delivery gone bad

Black households can afford just 25% of homes for sale, down from 39% in 2012

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

 

Target’s Mark Tritton will become Bed Bath & Beyond’s new president and CEO effective Nov. 4. at CNBC. “Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond spiked more than 21% in extended trading on Wednesday.” Read more

 

…Target said it will not search for a new chief merchant at this time. Instead, two current executives — Christina Hennington and Jill Sando — will assume interim leadership of the merchandising organization. by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. Tiered subs.

 

Target Names Michael Fiddelke Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer “In more than 15 years at Target, Fiddelke has served in a variety of roles across finance, merchandising, human resources, and operations. Most recently he served as Senior Vice President of Operations.” Press release

 

Costco September comp sales +4.2% “Comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange were +5.6%” Press release

 

Walgreens partners with FedEx to accept online returns, print labels by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “…consumers will be able to drop off their online returns at thousands of Walgreens  locations nationwide. They’ll also be able to print their return shipping label in the store, if need be.” Read more

 

US consumer prices unchanged in September at AP. “The Labor Department says the flat reading in its Consumer Price Index for September followed a tiny 0.1% August increase and left prices over the past 12 months rising at a modest annual rate of 1.7%.” Read more

 

Kroger made ‘a multiyear mistake’ in how it delivers its groceries, Jefferies says at CNBC. “Kroger was downgraded by Jefferies to hold from buy due to what they believe was a key mistake: investing in centralized fulfillment centers instead of micro-fulfillment. Instead, it should be following Walmart’s lead, according to a Thursday note.” Read more

 

Inside Target’s new Disney Stores at Field Agent. “Of 11 agents who visited Target-Disney shop-in-shops, all said they were at least a little more likely to buy Disney products now that they are available in this new store format.” Pics/Read more

 

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

 

Amazon’s top spokesperson Jay Carney slams the Trump administration at CNBC. “Virtually with no exception, everyone I dealt with in [previous] administrations, whether I personally agreed or disagreed with what they thought were the right policy decisions or the right way to approach things, I never doubted that they were patriots,” Carney said. “I don’t feel that way now.” Read more

 

Dollar General Boosts Digital Strategy by Sara Castellanos at Wall Street Journal. “Dollar General Corp. is working on making it possible for customers to buy its wares online and pick them up at a nearby store, a move that analysts say could help the retailer attract a younger demographic.” WSJ subs.

 

dunnhumby: QuikTrip, Wawa and Sheetz are the top U.S. C-stores “… surveyed nearly 7,000 U.S. households to determine which of the top 27 c-store retailers have the strongest combination of financial performance and consumer emotional connection. The retailers with the highest overall index scores are: 1) QuikTrip, 2) Wawa, 3) Sheetz, 4) Kwik Trip/Kwik Star, 5) RaceTrac, 6) Casey’s General Stores, and 7) Maverik.” Press release

 

Dick’s says Ex-Chief Technology Officer must give back $750K after jumping ship Law 360 subs.

 

Amazon Workers May Be Watching Your Cloud Cam Home Footage at Yahoo Finance via Bloomberg. “Dozens of Amazon workers based in India and Romania review select clips captured by Cloud Cam, according to five people who have worked on the program or have direct knowledge of it.” Read more

 

Why Foot Locker is backing Rockets of Awesome, a start-up disrupting the kids clothing market by Tom Connor at CNBC. “An expansion of Cricket’s Circle — Blumenthal shut down the online baby registry in 2016 so she could shift her focus to children sizes 2 to 14 — Rockets of Awesome now puts her in the ring to take on the global children’s apparel market, expected to reach $339 billion by 2024.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Environmentalists have a new target: Charmin toilet paper

Walmart directors accumulate sizable stock holdings

‘It’s a nightmare’: Zimbabwe struggles with hyperinflation

California bans widely-used pesticide linked to brain damage in children

Saudis likely clear in Jeff Bezos’ racy text and pic leak

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

 

Company making Costco pajamas flagged for forced labor by Martha Mendoza at AP. “In an interview with the AP, Costco officials said “we believe (the baby sleepers) were made in a factory other than the one that was the subject of the CBP detention order. As the facts develop, we’re prepared to consider what action we should take relative to the issue of a supplier to our supplier owning factories that may have problems.” Read more

 

Tiffany removes advert over Hong Kong controversy at Yahoo. “Tiffany & Co. have removed a tweet showing a woman covering one eye after Chinese consumers accused the jeweller of supporting the Hong Kong protesters.” Read more

 

From the Rooftops, Big Box Stores Are Embracing Solar by Bruce Horovitz at NY Times. “We view this as one of the most important things we can do,” said Mark Schindele, senior vice president of properties at Target. “The headline we are focused on is this: What’s most important to Target’s guests?” Tiered subs.

 

Target to power Toys “R” Us Shopping Experience “Consumers will be able to take advantage of all of the great benefits when shopping Target.com, including free two-day shipping, same-day curbside or store order pickup, same-day delivery with Shipt, Target Circle loyalty benefits, easy in-store returns and 5% off when using a Target REDcard.” Press release

 

Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack appears on CBS Sunday Morning “I don’t understand how somebody, with everything that’s gone on, could actually sit there and say, ‘I don’t think we need to do a background check on people who buy guns.’ It’s just, it’s ridiculous,” (Stack) said.” Read more/Video

 

…Dick’s Sporting Goods destroyed $5 million worth of assault rifles by Kelly Tyko at USA Today. “I said, ‘You know what? If we really think these things should be off the street, then we need to destroy them,'” Stack told CBS News.” Read more

 

…Dick’s CEO Ed Stack: The consumer is in ‘pretty good shape’ at CNBC. “CEO Ed Stack said during CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday morning. “Our business is really good. … What we see, we’re pretty excited about it.” He added that the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China hasn’t yet presented any “meaningful” impact to the business.” Video/Read more

 

E-cigarette sales discontinued at Walgreens and Kroger by Nathan Bomey at USA Today. Read more

 

**A message from EasyLock keyless locking deadbolt – Deadbolts aren’t consistently locked – fumbling for the key is a hassle. EasyLock = no key required/twist to lock. Video | Sell sheet | Sample @ info@eyeonretail.net

 

Macy’s brings together nearly 800 brand partners to discuss strategic initiatives and brand innovations “In 2018, 50 Macy’s stores across the country received additional capital to enhance the customer experience…expanded to 100 additional stores in 2019…the 150 stores comprise approximately 50 percent of Macy’s store sales.” Press release

 

Capital One to continue running credit card operations for Neiman Marcus Press release

 

WeWork’s bet on the old Lord & Taylor building has become an albatross by Josh Kosman & Steve Cuozzo at NY Post. “The big worry: WeWork agreed to pay a stiff $105 per square foot — well above the $80-a-foot that’s more typical of buildings in the neighborhood. Now, sources say it’s having trouble finding subtenants who are interested in the pricey floor space — including Amazon, which had weighed a deal to become the sole occupant.” Read more

 

‘The Impact 50,’ A List Of The Country’s Most Influential Impact Investors at Forbes. List

 

Bonobos Trims Jobs as Owner Walmart Seeks to Cut E-commerce Losses by Sarah Nassauer at Wall Street Journal. “A few dozen people are being laid off, a personal familiar with the situation said. Bonobos has around 600 employees, said a Bonobos spokeswoman.” WSJ subs.

 

Home Depot’s Hector Padilla, Southern Division president, speaks to Kennesaw State students “Once a quarter, Padilla writes out a list of his strengths and his opportunities for improvement, and then develops strategies for improving his performance. To reinforce the importance of writing things down, Padilla provided each student at the event with a canvas journal in The Home Depot’s signature orange.” Read more

 

Some Costco employees say they get a special cake after working with the company for 25 years that normal customers can’t order at Business Insider. Read more

 

Teens are spending less than in the spring – Favorite brands include: Chick-fil-A and Starbucks for restaurants and Nike and American Eagle Outfitters for apparel at CNBC. “Piper Jaffray is out with its 38th biannual “Taking Stock with Teens” report…When teens are buying beauty, Ulta is the favorite store, furthering its lead as the top beauty destination gaining 5 percentage points from the spring survey as second-place Sephora falls by 9 percentage points. Walmart comes in at number three, Target fourth and Amazon rounds out the top five.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

The 50 most powerful women in the world

The most popular beers of the 2019 Great American Beer Festival

Organic grocer Erewhon eyes expansion after private equity deal

Alibaba shopping sites appear to have de-listed Houston Rockets products in China

Lizzo is reunited with her high school band director

Officer kills man who sprayed him with ‘unknown substance’ outside Walmart

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

 

Bed Bath & Beyond Q2 comp sales -6.7% Press release

 

…Bed Bath & Beyond increases projected store closures to 60 by Kelly Tyko at USA Today. “…up 20 from the April estimate of 40 stores…Forty of the stores closing will be Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 20 will be stores in the company’s other concepts.” Read more

 

Kroger is looking to lay off several store employees holding middle management roles at Fox Business. Read more

 

Walmart to test programs for U.S. workers to cut its healthcare costs at Reuters. “In Colorado, Wisconsin and Minnesota, Walmart will expand a program that allows patients to video chat with a doctor from home for $4 per chat. The retailer will also offer workers access to fitness clubs for $9 per bi-weekly pay period and add a predictable co-pay of $35 for every visit to a primary care physician under its most popular medical plan.” Read more

 

Shoppers have more options to return online purchases by Anne D’Innocenzio at AP. “Shoppers are increasingly able to have a return get picked up inside their home. Walmart says it will launch such a return service later this year but didn’t offer any details.” Read more

 

Zulily unveils price comparison feature to compete with Amazon and Walmart by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. “Zulily is also offering a price-matching promise for items that are higher-priced on its site compared to Amazon or Walmart. The strategy is part of a “pilot” that lasts until Dec. 19, said John Lohnas, Zulily’s chief merchant who joined the company in May after nearly a decade at Amazon where he ran apparel and footwear businesses.” Read more

 

Amazon sites in France and India should be added to US counterfeit watchlist, says apparel trade group at CNBC. Read more

 

**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 

 

WEGMANS OPENING RECORD – More than 3,000 people lined up outside the new Wegmans in Raleigh before dawn for the grand opening by Marcia Greenwood at Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. “Previously (Wegmans Natale said), the grand opening crowd record was 2,400 people, held by Wegmans’ Northborough, Massachusetts, store, which launched in 2011.” Read more/Video

 

The BrandLab auctions off 1 hour meetings with Target’s Rick Gomez and others Read more

 

New Tesco boss isn’t the obvious choice for chief executive by Nils Patley at The Guardian. “The surprise is that the Tesco chairman, John Allan, couldn’t find a replacement within the ranks. One can’t judge Ken Murphy until he arrives, but a 20-year career at Boots and its US-based parent may not be ideal preparation for a scrap with Aldi et al.” Read more

 

The Trump administration slapped 25% tariffs on French wine, Italian cheese and single-malt Scotch whisky — but spared Italian wine, pasta and olive oil at Reuters. Read more

 

Meet Triple Five Group: The real estate developers behind New Jersey’s ‘American Dream’ mega mall at CNBC. Read more

 

Target’s back rooms are becoming unsafe, overcrowded ‘nightmares’ as the company cuts shifts and hours, workers say by Shoshy Cimint at Business Insider. “Business Insider spoke with 28 former and current Target workers, 13 of whom said they felt that the shift changes made their back rooms an unsafe work environment.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Walmart continues process of relocating workers out of future corporate campus footprint

Amazon workers in Sacramento are protesting the company’s strict time-off rules

Empty shelves at numerous Fry’s Electronics stores spark concern

Chick-fil-A drive-throughs now slowest among big chains, study finds

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes biology is the next frontier in computing

Man arrested for cutting the brakes on over 100 electric scooters

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