Archive for month: November, 2020

October pending home sales fall unexpectedly, as high prices take their toll on buyers at CNBC. “Pending home sales fell 1.1% month-to-month in October but were 20.2% higher compared with October 2019…“The housing market is still hot, but we may be starting to see rising home prices hurting affordability,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.” Read more

Black Friday shopping in stores craters 52% at CNBC. “For the six key weeks of the holiday season this year, traffic in retail stores is expected to be down 22% to 25% year over year, an earlier forecast by Sensormatic Solutions said.” Read more

Adobe: Black Friday 2020 online shopping up 22% to record $9 billion at TechCrunch. “Smartphones continued to account for an increasing proportion of online sales, with this year’s $3.6 billion up 25.3%, while alternative deliveries…also continued to grow, with in-store and curbside pickup up 52% on 2019.” Read more

…Adobe predicts Cyber Monday 2020 will see spending of between $10.8 billion and $12.7 billion

Cyber Monday set to be biggest online shopping day in U.S. history at Reuters. “New consoles, phones, smart devices and TVs that are traditional Black Friday purchases are sharing online shopping cart space this year with unorthodox Black Friday purchases such as groceries, clothes and alcohol, that would previously have been purchased in-store.” Read more

The Luxury E-Commerce Wars Heat Up at NY Times. “According to data released last week by Bain & Company, online luxury purchases were worth $58 billion in 2020, compared with $39 billion in 2019, nearly doubling the sector’s share of the market for global luxury sales to 23 percent from 12 percent. “Luxury e-commerce is now in an environment of rapid mutation,” said Claudia D’Arpizio, a luxury consultant at Bain.” Tiered subs.

Canada’s Ag ministers to launch probe into grocery store fees on suppliers at Financial Post. “Bibeau said the working group will “circumscribe the issue, consult experts and industry, and identify actions that can be taken, both at the federal and provincial level,” with a report on recommendations delivered by July 2021.” Read more

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Mexico opens anti-monopoly probe against Wal-Mart de Mexico at AP. “It was not clear what the supposed practices involved, but as Mexico’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart has significant leverage with suppliers.” Read more

NY authorities fine Total Wine over out-of-state gift cards at NY Post. “Total Wine is owned by the Trone family, whose members include US Rep. David Trone (D-Maryland). It has had an especially bumpy ride in New York, getting shot down by the agency as it has tried to open several stores.” Read more

Whole Foods CEO slams socialism as ‘trickle-up poverty’: ‘It doesn’t work’ at Fox Business. “Mackey: ‘They talk about trickle-down wealth, but socialism is trickle-up poverty. It just impoverishes everything. That’s my fear, that the Marxists and socialists, the academic community is generally hostile to business. It always has been. This is not new.” Read more

Amazon workers at German warehouse to strike again at Reuters. “Scheduled to begin on Monday’s night shift and finish at the end of Tuesday’s late shift, the strike follows a three-day walkout between Thursday and Saturday last week in which more than 500 workers took part, Verdi said.” Read more

Topshop retail empire of tycoon Philip Green may die amid COVID-19 at AP/NY Post. Read more

Group of Black Atlanta entrepreneurs pays for over $40k in groceries at Kroger at Fox 5 Atlanta. “We all just took our own individual lanes,” Brad Giles said. “Each of us took a lane to take up as many registers as we can and let people know, ‘Look, groceries are on us.'” The takeover lasted about two hours, leaving shoppers in tears and others dancing with joy.” Read more/Video

‘Porch pirate’ dresses in Amazon driver garb to steal packages from stoop at Fox News. Read more

‘Costco Queen’ loses her job, but keeps neighbors’ shelves stocked at Vancouver Sun. “It started when I was laid off in late March or early April. I had nothing to do, and I thought this was something I could do to help people.” — Katlyn Carter, who does a Costco run for up to 100 people every week.” Read more

Tipsheet Extra

Sales of chess sets have spiked by 87 percent in the United States

Amazon prevails over eBay in lawsuit accusing Amazon of poaching third-party sellers

Walter Isaacson likens Bezos to Einstein and Jobs

As Americans avoid flying, airport shops face economic disaster

Tecate beer masquerading as Mexican, lawsuit claims

Snoop Dogg’s commentary won the Mike Tyson fight

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Walmart corporate employees to work remotely until July 5, 2021 at Talk Business. “According to the memo, (Chief People Officer) Morris said its longer-term view is that it is important for employees to work together in campus offices for the majority of the organization. Morris said working on campus is important to the culture and it aids in collaboration, innovation and speed.” Read more | Corporate memo

Retailers Cut Back on Choices; ‘We Don’t Need Three Types of Red’ at Wall Street Journal. “The wider the assortment, the more confused the customer is,” Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. Chief Executive Mark Tritton said in an interview…In one example, (a) study found that people bought more jam when they were shown fewer choices. Only 3% of consumers who were shown 24 types of jams made a purchase. The purchase rate increased to nearly 30% when consumers were shown just six varieties.” WSJ subs.

Loblaw and Gatik to deploy Canada’s first self-driving delivery fleet at Financial Post. “Beginning in January, Gatik will transport goods from its automated picking facility to Loblaw’s retail locations across the Greater Toronto Area. Five self-driving vehicles will operate on five fixed routes on public roads seven days a week, 12 hours a day, with fixed pick-up and drop-off locations.” Read more

A Day in the Life of an Amazon Warehouse Worker at Wall Street Journal. “Before Covid, she was an accountant. Now she works 11-hour shifts sorting Lysol wipes and Christmas decorations; ‘it has been more exhausting than ever’” WSJ subs.

Amazon robot maps sidewalks north of Seattle, laden with cameras and sensors at GeekWire. “While I was out on an ordinary drive through Everett, Wash., on Saturday morning, in between grabbing a donut for my daughter and a coffee for my wife, I spotted something interesting: An unmarked, six-wheeled robot being driven down the sidewalk on Broadway…” Pics/Read more

Walmart is buying JoyRun assets to add ‘peer to peer’ product delivery at TechCrunch. “Walmart EVP Srini Venkatesan notes that the app has amassed a network of 540 third-party merchant partners and north of 30,000 people who have delivered goods with the service since its launch half-a-decade ago. JoyRun’s service is a bit of twist on more standard delivery apps like Seamless and Uber Eats.” Read more

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Former Chewy CEO tries to push GameStop to become the Amazon of the video-game industry at CNBC. ” Cohen urges the company to cut excessive real estate costs, streamline or sell non-core operations in Europe and Australia and hire the right talent. While Cohen does not specifically target CEO George Sherman, he does note that Sherman has substantial experience working for large brick-and-mortar retailers such as Advance Auto Parts, Best Buy and Target and is committed to a twentieth century focus on physical stores…” Read more

Ann Taylor to ditch alpaca wool after PETA probe at NY Post. “Ascena was among dozens of major retailers that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals urged to ditch the fabric after publishing grisly findings from its undercover investigation of Mallkini, the world’s largest privately owned alpaca farm.” Read more

Amazon’s Sneak Peek to Cyber Monday Press release

Hedge fund trying to make American Apparel founder’s ‘life miserable’ at NY Post. “He’s so down on his luck, his dad told The Post, that he’s been living out of the LA Apparel warehouse in South-Central LA. “Dov does not have his own address or bank account,” said the senior Charney in a phone interview.” Read more

Tipsheet Extra

The Apple TV remote is so awful that cable companies will give you a better one

Alibaba chairman says China’s antitrust rules ‘necessary’

Moderna to charge $25-$37 for COVID-19 vaccine

Barcelona bars spring back to life after five-week coronavirus closure

Tourists are few, but gift shops still ❤️ N.Y.

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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.

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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

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Target Q3 comp sales +20.7% / Store +9.9% / Digital +155% Press release

…Target blows past expectations at Fox Business. “Sales increased across all categories with electronics growing more than 50%, home up in the mid-20% range and apparel increasing by almost 10%. The average ticket rose 15.6% from a year ago. Overall, the company said it won $6 billion of market share.” Read more

…Brian Cornell @ CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning “Cornell would not name retailers that it’s taking market share from, but pointed to the company’s numbers saying they “compare very favorably to our peers.” “It has been broad based,” he said. “We’re picking up share from our traditional competitors as well as specialty competitors.” Read more / 3:05 video

Lowe’s Q3 US comp sales +30.4% / Digital +106% Press release

…Lowe’s shares tumble as earnings fall short despite robust sales gains at CNBC. “For the quarter ended Oct. 30, net income fell to $692 million, or 91 cents a share, from $1.05 billion, or $1.36 per share, a year earlier.” Read more

TJX Companies Q3 overall open-only comp store sales down 5% Press release

Sam’s Club launches agency review after incumbent Mono heads back to Target at Ad Age. “Consultancy Select Resources International is handling the review. Mono earlier this year was dropped from the roster of Sam’s bigger corporate sibling Walmart, the retailer said. Subsequently, according to a person familiar with the matter, Mono renewed its relationship with Target, for which it had worked prior to beginning work for Walmart in 2017.” Tiered subs.

U.S. housing starts beat expectations; building permits flat at Reuters. “(October) housing starts rose 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.530 million units…Data for September was revised up to a pace of 1.459 million units from the previously reported 1.415 million.” Read more

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Bain: Global luxury sales forecast to plunge 23% this year due to pandemic at AP. “Still, the drop is narrower than the 35% collapse forecast in the spring, thanks largely to a market recovery in China, which is generating nearly a third of all sales.” Read more

How to make millions from Bezos’ billions at Forbes. Tiered subs.

Instacart Launches Same-day Delivery of Best Buy Products Nationwide “Customers across the U.S. can now shop from hundreds of Best Buy products at www.instacart.com/best-buy or by downloading the Instacart app on their mobile device.” Press release

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on Q3 Results at Seeking Alpha. Earnings Call Transcript

Home Depot CEO Craig Menear on Q3 Results at Seeking Alpha. Earnings Call Transcript

Dollar General Announces Approximately $50 Million in Additional Employee Appreciation Bonuses Press release

Giant Food says it made a mistake with ‘Super Spreader’ ad at TMZ. “Hosting? Plan a super spread.” That’s the tone-deaf holiday advertisement that’s got an East Coast supermarket chain bending over backward to say sorry for its brain fart.” Read more

Tipsheet Extra

Bud Light made a video game console that also cools two beers

Krebs: Be very sparing in allowing website notifications

Inside IGA’s store brand refresh

China defends food import controls to curb virus

Dow Jones could hit the 40,000-point level next year, analyst says

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Home Depot Announces Agreement to Acquire HD Supply “The Home Depot will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of HD Supply common stock for $56 per share, for a total enterprise value (including net cash) of approximately $8 billion.” Press release

Amazon Black Friday Deals Week Starts Friday, November 20 “Starting Friday, November 20 through Black Friday on November 27, Amazon will release tens of thousands of deals with deep discounts and incredibly low prices, including thousands of holiday deals from small businesses.” Press release

Walmart releases Black Friday ad at USA Today. “The new Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X are listed as online-only offers at the regular price of $499. Additional items will go on sale at midnight ET online and in stores at 5 a.m. local time Nov. 27, which is Black Friday.” Read more

Walmart retreats from Japan by selling most of its stake in Seiyu supermarkets at CNN. “…giving up on a near 20-year attempt to crack the grocery market in the world’s third largest economy. Walmart is selling most of its stake in Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu to KKR and Rakuten in a deal that values Seiyu at 172.5 billion yen ($1.6 billion).” Read more

…Walmart expects $2 billion non-cash loss from stake sale in Japan’s Seiyu at Reuters. Read more

Mall owners Simon and Taubman revise merger terms, with $800 million price cut at CNBC. “Under the new deal, Simon will now pay $43 per share for Taubman, down roughly 18% from an original price of $52.50.” Read more

Guitar Center enters restructuring deal to cut debt by $800M at Fox Business. “Guitar Center, which owns nearly 300 stores across the country, said business operations will continue without any interruption under the deal.” Read more

Drug makers offer Canada $1 billion to scrap some pending pricing rules at Financial Post. “The pharmaceutical industry has made a last-ditch $1 billion proposal to the Canadian government in hopes of fending off parts of a drug pricing crackdown set to go into effect on Jan. 1, according to industry documents reviewed by Reuters.” Read more

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Why Varsity Tutors’ president left Amazon for Sears at GeekWire. “It didn’t go well. Clarkson had taken for granted Amazon’s laser-focused leadership and largely smooth operations, thinking that’s just how companies are run. At Sears, the company’s top leaders encouraged internal competition, which led to a mess of conflicting goals and priorities, he said. “It was like the worst manifestation of corporate culture.” Read more

Reliance Retail said it has acquired a 96% stake in Urban Ladder for about $24.43 million at TechCrunch. “Founded in early 2012, Urban Ladder sells home furniture and decor products online. It also operates a chain of physical retail stores in several Indian cities. The deal size suggests that it was a fire sale.” Read more

Costco selling $17.5K private jet membership that lasts 1 year at Fox Business. “Although the $17,499.99 membership is quite a hefty fee, it also comes with a $3,500 Costco Shop Card and $4,000 worth of flight credit.” Read more

Tipsheet Extra

The mushroom gold rush returns to B.C. forests

New Waffle House collaboration brew smells like bacon

Bezos names first recipients of his $10 billion fund for combating climate change

How to make a billion dollars from a junkyard

Man hides behind Sam’s Club freezer – steals over $13K of jewelry

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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.

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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