Tipsheet: Target Bucks Satisfaction Trend | Macy’s Ends COO Role | Traffic Light Timing

 

Target Q4 comp sales +20.5% “…comparable traffic growth of 6.5 percent and a 13.1 percent increase in average ticket. Store comparable sales increased 6.9 percent. Digital comparable sales grew 118 percent…More than 95 percent of Target’s fourth quarter sales were fulfilled by its stores.” Press release

 

Kohl’s Q4 net sales fell to $5.88 billion from $6.54 billion a year earlier, topping the $5.86 billion forecast by analysts at CNBC. Read more

 

Customer Satisfaction in Retail Falls to Lowest Point Since 2015, ACSI Data Show “For 2020, online retail loses the most ground among all retail categories, tumbling 3.7% to an ACSI score of 78. Nordstrom captures the industry lead despite retreating 1% to 81. In second place, Costco (down 1%), Etsy (down 2%), and Newegg (down 1%) are all deadlocked at 80. Former industry leader Amazon tumbles 5% to an all-time low score of 79. With a stable score of 78, Target is the only e-commerce retailer to buck the downward ACSI trend.” Press release

 

Amazon Workers’ Union Drive Reaches Far Beyond Alabama at NY Times. “In this charged atmosphere, even routine things have become suspect. The union has raised questions about the changing of the timing of a traffic light near the warehouse where labor organizers try to talk to the workers as they are stopped in their vehicles while leaving the facility.” Read more

 

…Inside Joe Biden’s decision to dive into the Amazon union drive at Politico. “Democrats approached Biden advisers early this year to voice support for the factory workers. Discussions between White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, unions, and allied operatives took further shape in early February and continued through recent weeks.” Read more

 

AutoZone Q2 comp sales +15.2% Press release

 

Abercrombie quarterly sales fall 5% at Reuters. “Net sales fell to $1.12 billion from $1.18 billion a year earlier, in line with analysts’ average estimate of $1.12 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.” Read more

 

Macy’s, Inc. Announces Changes to Its Senior Leadership Team “John Harper, chief operations officer, will depart the company effective August 1, 2021. Subsequently, the role of chief operations officer will be eliminated…Laura Miller has been appointed chief information officer…” Press release

 

Kroger Announces Retirement of EVP and COO Mike Donnelly Press release

 

**A message from SPS Commerce. More than 90% of companies are not receiving essential information they need from their vendors. Without this critical information, they’re unable to properly measure vendor performance and experience sub-optimal fill-rates and receive late shipments. To learn how you can identify areas of improvement and enhance vendor performance, visit our website, or contact us at 866-245-8100.

 

Walmart drops the $35 order minimum on its 2-hour ‘Express’ delivery service at TechCrunch. Read more

 

CVS, Walgreens Look for Big Data Reward From Covid-19 Vaccinations at Wall Street Journal. “Every one of these customers is coming through our digital front end, so we have their email, we have their text message, and we have the ability to communicate with them regularly,” said Jonathan Roberts, CVS chief operating officer. CVS executives say they plan to stay in touch with vaccine recipients beyond receiving their second shot…” WSJ subs.

 

Czech on-demand grocery delivery startup Rohlik bags $230M to expand across Europe at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Instacart checks out another Amazon ad sales exec as hiring spree continues at Ad Age. “Instacart announced that it hired (Ryan) Mayward as VP of ad sales. Mayward was a sales director at Amazon for nearly a decade, where he helped Amazon grow its agency relationships and advertising technology business. At Instacart, Mayward rejoins Seth Dallaire, chief revenue officer, who left Amazon as head of its global ad sales team in 2019.” Read more

 

SpartanNash has promoted Amy McClellan to Vice President, Fresh Merchandising, effective March 8 Press release

 

Tipsheet Extra

What if USPS delivered local produce in the mail?

The brutal truth you must accept to write well, according to Jeff Bezos

To go electric, America needs more mines. Can it build them?

Tensions over vaccine equity pit rural against urban America

Apple says all 270 US stores open for first time since pandemic began

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

Tipsheet: WM Poaches Goldman | Giant Eagle #1 w/Greenpeace | CA City: No New Gas Stations

 

Goldman Consumer Head Is Leaving to Run Walmart Fintech at Wall Street Journal. “Mr. Ismail, who first joined Goldman nearly 20 years ago, was among a group of executives who came up with a strategy to expand into digital banking services in 2014. By the end of last year, that business generated $1.2 billion in annual revenue, had amassed $97 billion in deposits and held $8 billion in consumer-loan balances.” WSJ subs.

 

Walmart Lures Goldman Bankers in Bid to Fight Wall Street at Bloomberg. “David Stark, one of (Omer Ismail’s) top lieutenants at Goldman, will join him in the new venture, the people said, asking not to be identified as the moves haven’t been announced. “Our business has serious momentum and a deep and growing bench of talent,” said Andrew Williams, a Goldman Sachs spokesman. “We wish these two well.” Walmart didn’t immediately respond to calls seeking comment.” Read more

 

Biden urges workers to ‘make your voice heard’ as Amazon employees vote on union at Reuters. “Biden didn’t mention Amazon, but specifically referenced “workers in Alabama” in the video and a tweet introducing it. He said every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union, and no employer could take that away. “It’s your right…So make your voice heard,” he said.” Read more

 

Could an Amazon union form in Iowa? The Teamsters say they’re organizing employees. by Tyler Jett at Des Moines Register via USA Today. “International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 238 Organizing Director Buzz Malone said Friday that he has been recruiting workers to organize since November. He said the union has approached “400 to 500″ current or former employees, primarily tied to Amazon’s distribution centers in Grimes and Iowa City.” Read more

 

KKR and Rakuten Complete Seiyu Share Purchase from Walmart “With the completion of the transactions, KKR owns a 65% stake in Seiyu and Rakuten DX Solution owns a 20% stake in the Company. Walmart retains a 15% stake in Seiyu.” Press release

 

At-home fitness company Tonal to open shops within 40 Nordstrom stores at CNBC. “It’s found a new partner in Tonal, a company that sells a wall-mounted workout station for $2,995…The 50-square-foot shops will be located in Nordstrom’s active department next to workout apparel and other fitness accessories. Customers will be able to demo the Tonal device and speak with a Tonal employee.” Read more

 

Costco to raise minimum wage to $16 per hour starting next week at Fox Business. Read more

 

**A message from SPS Commerce. Product demand in 2020 heightened the need to reduce vendor onboarding timelines, place orders quickly and receive product in a timely manner. Hear from a customer on about how SPS helped them add products quickly and expand their product assortment through enhanced vendor onboarding. Visit our website for details or contact us at 866-245-8100.

 

Costco, Whole Foods rise in Greenpeace rankings of grocery chains’ plastic use at Seattle Times. “Giant Eagle was crowned the best performer on plastics use for its commitment to eliminate all single-use plastics by 2025. Aldi, Sprouts Farmers Market, Kroger — which owns Fred Meyer and QFC — and Albertsons were the next-best chains.” Read more/Top 10

 

Sprouts Q4 comp sales +3.7% Press release

 

‘Nomadland’ spotlights Amazon’s RV workforce — here’s what it’s really like at CNBC. “The CamperForce experience depicted in “Nomadland” is a fairly realistic portrayal of what Martinez-Machen and others experience each year. CamperForce draws nomads from all corners of the country, many of them elderly, but increasingly younger and with families in tow, to a growing number of Amazon warehouses…” Read more

 

…Golden Globes: ‘Nomadland’s’ Double Wins Put It in Driver’s Seat This Awards Season at Variety. Read more

 

UPS Boss Preaches the Power of No at Wall Street Journal. “Ms. Tomé is taking more of a retailer’s approach to UPS’s 1.9 million customers, viewing them as a portfolio that needs segmentation.”…“Home Depot didn’t make much money on lumber. They made more money on the attachments that they sold on lumber,” Ms. Tomé said. “As we look at our customer mix, we run it like a portfolio, much like retail.” WSJ subs.

 

Etsy CEO hopes to build more e-commerce market share no matter what happens with Covid at CNBC. “If I look at 2020, e-commerce grew at a crazy rate. E-commerce grew at over 40% year over year, and yet Etsy grew 2.5 times the rate of e-commerce,” he said. “I don’t know what e-commerce is going to do in 2021,” he acknowledged, but added, “I hope and believe that Etsy will be able to continue to outpace e-commerce overall.” Read more

 

Amazon’s Lack of Public Disclosure on SolarWinds Hack Angers Lawmakers at Wall Street Journal. “While cybersecurity experts say it is nearly impossible to prevent hackers from misusing cloud services, as is alleged to have occurred in this case, they also say that Amazon is likely sitting on critical information that could shed light on the scope of the attacks and the tactics used by the cybercriminals. U.S. authorities say the intruders are likely Russian intelligence agents.” WSJ subs.

 

This California city banned the construction of any new gas stations at Fast Company. “In the California city of Petaluma, which covers less than 15 square miles, there are currently 16 gas stations. But there will never be another one, even if one of the existing stations goes out of business.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Local pharmacies say they need more COVID vaccines

Virginia is the 16th U.S. state to legalize marijuana

Amazon Kids adds new browser setting control to give children access to more sites

Krebs: How $100M in Jobless Claims Went to Inmates

Twitch, owned by Amazon, pulls Amazon’s anti-union ads

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