Archive for month: September, 2023

Costco is selling gold bars and they are selling out within a few hours at CNBC. “I’ve gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we’ve been selling 1 ounce gold bars,” (Galanti) said. “Yes, but when we load them on the site, they’re typically gone within a few hours, and we limit two per member…only available online, and only if you’re a Costco member…retailer also is limiting the purchases to two to a customer…” Read more

In Suing Amazon, FTC’s Lina Khan Turns Her Earlier Pricing Argument on Its Head at Wall Street Journal. “In her 2017 academic paper, Khan argued that Amazon sweet-talked customers by using predatory pricing, or slashed prices so low that it lost money but rivals couldn’t compete…Now the FTC accuses Amazon of hurting consumers with higher prices, mainly through punishing its marketplace sellers if they offer lower discounts anywhere else. It also says Amazon reaps the fruits of monopoly by requiring sellers to use its fulfillment service.” WSJ subs.

Costco exec says membership fee increase question of ‘when, not if’ at Fox Business. Read more

lululemon and Peloton Announce Partnership “Peloton will become the exclusive digital fitness content provider for lululemon, and lululemon will become the primary athletic apparel partner to Peloton.” Press release

Costco limits number of cakes Mexican members can buy over shoppers who slice them up to sell for $430-a-day profit: One woman uses cash to pay for chemo at Daily Mail. “Cakes from the wholesale store have rocketed in popularity after TikTok users posted about how delicious they are – creating a secondary market for resellers…Ana, is part of a group of 15 people who take turns standing in lines outside Costco storefronts.” Read more | Video

Walmart Inc. expands its metaverse presence at Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. NWA online subs. 

Nike Air Jordans are losing resale value. Is sneaker culture moving on? at Reuters. “Apptopia data from Barclays showed that during the fiscal first quarter, Nike app downloads were down 18% compared to last year…As shoppers shift toward running shoes, some investors are concerned that Nike’s innovation has not kept pace with newer brands gaining share in the U.S. market, according to Jessica Ramirez, a senior research analyst at Jane Hali & Associates.” Read more

JCPenney Releases All-New Collection Inspired by Hit Series “Abbott Elementary” Press release

Holiday shoppers are getting an early jump on the season at CNBC. “This year, half of shoppers plan to begin their holiday shopping by Halloween, according to a recent Bankrate report. A separate study, by RetailMeNot, found that more shoppers are starting even earlier than before — with as many as 64% kicking off the season in October, up from 53% in 2022.” Read more

GameStop names billionaire Ryan Cohen as CEO in turnaround push at Reuters. Read more

Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders urge FTC’s Khan to finalize controversial merger rules at MarketWatch. “The new form will require companies to provide much more information to antitrust enforcers before they seek to consummate a deal. Most controversially, that would include narrative information about the strategic rationale for a transaction as well as studies, surveys, analyses and reports which were prepared by the company as it considered the deal.” Read more

Costco CFO: Retail theft ‘not a big issue for us’ at Yahoo Finance. “In the past several years, our inventory shrink has increased by a couple of basis points, in part, we believe, due to the rollout of self-checkout,” (Galanti) said. “Over the past year, it has increased by less than 1 basis point.” One factor that may help to prevent theft — people are paying to go there.” Read more

Walmart opens a pet center with veterinary care and grooming at CNBC. “On Wednesday, the retailer is opening a first-of-its-kind center in Dallas, Georgia, a suburb about 30 miles northwest of Atlanta…The Georgia location will serve as a pilot, but Walmart plans to open more locations, said Kaitlyn Shadiow, vice president of merchandising for pets for Walmart U.S. She declined to say how many pet shops it may ultimately have but said Walmart plans to open more next year, if not sooner.” Read more

Bay Area residents shocked over new COVID vaccine prices at NBC Bay Area. “Being healthy is important but paying $200 for a vaccine shot is too much,” said Lafayette resident Ryan Dougherty. CVS is one of the places passing along the cost to some customers. But the drugstore says things could change soon and suggest those who want the vaccine to reschedule if their insurance doesn’t currently cover the cost.” Read more

US weekly jobless claims, continuing claims at eight-month low at Reuters. “The U.S. labor market continues to outperform expectations,” said Eugenio Aleman, chief economist at Raymond James. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 201,000 for the week ended Sept. 16, the lowest level since January, the Labor Department said on Thursday.” Read more

Hy Vee inches closer to St. Louis with plan to purchase two stores in Central Illinois at St. Louis Business Journal. “News of Hy Vee’s planned acquisitions follow big-box retailer Meijer Inc. having previously announced it plans to build two stores concurrently in the St. Louis region.” Business Journal subs. 

Amazon gives Alexa an AI facelift as it launches new smart speakers at CNBC. “At its annual devices bonanza on Wednesday, Amazon introduced new hardware and software with generative artificial intelligence features…” Read more/Other new items

2 dead at Hiram Walmart in apparent murder-suicide at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “One of the victims appears to be a Walmart employee, officials confirmed to the news station. The identities of both victims were not released. Devani Lopez said he heard two pops inside the store, but the sounds did not register as gunshots until people started running for the exits.” Read more

Container Store CEO cuts salary by 10% to help give pay raises to employees at Dallas Morning News. Subscription required

How U.S. Households Got Turned Upside Down by Higher Interest Rates at Wall Street Journal. “More Americans have turned to payday and other short-term loans, which tend to carry superhigh interest rates. In the second quarter, upward of 1.6 million Americans took out at least one of these loans for the first time in a year or longer, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. That was a 35% increase from a year earlier.” WSJ subs. 

Walmart, Netflix & Target are Among the Top Brands for Hispanic Consumers at Ad Age. “The marketers were cited for offering value and for their understanding of Hispanic consumers, according to a Collage Group survey.” Subscription required

Why Dollar General Might Just Be the Worst Retail Job in America at Bloomberg. “Rat infestations, blocked fire exits, expired kids’ food, machete-wielding and watermelon-throwing shoppers and other nightmares at the biggest dollar chain in the US.” Subscription required

…Dollar General stock downgraded on low-income shopper ‘acting recessionary’ at Yahoo Finance. “Compounding matters, management sees excess saving for the middle-income cohort on pace to be depleted by the end of fall ’23,” wrote Matthew Boss and his team of analysts. Student loan repayments, elevated interest rates, and higher fuel prices could also worsen the picture for consumers, the note said.” Read more

AI is policing the package theft beat for UPS as ‘porch piracy’ surge continues across U.S. at CNBC. “UPS’s Delivery Defense analyzes address characteristics and generates a ‘Delivery Confidence Score’ for each address…The initial version was designed to integrate with the existing software of major retailers through the API —a beta test has been run with Costco Wholesale in Colorado. The company declined to provide information related to the Costco collaboration.” Read more

Carrefour sticks price warnings on food to shame suppliers at Reuters. “Carrefour is putting stickers on products that have shrunk in size but cost more even after raw materials prices have eased…Since Monday, Carrefour has marked 26 products in its stores in France with labels reading, “This product has seen its volume or weight fall and the effective price by the supplier rise.” Read more

CEOs from Alphabet, Walmart, Pfizer meet White House officials on refugees at Reuters. “Chief executives from a wide array of U.S. companies will meet White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients on Thursday to discuss refugee resettlement and sponsorship programs, a White House official said.” Read more

Retailers are losing $100 billion a year from return fraud, bots and coupon stacking at CNBC. “In one example analyzed by Riskified, a company identified 137,000 fake accounts created by just 4,000 abusive customers looking to take advantage of a steep 35% discount promotion for first-time customers. It cost the company more than $14 million annually.” Read more

Retail sales pick up steam at Yahoo. “Retail sales rose 0.6% in August from the previous month, above Wall Street’s estimates for 0.1% growth. Sales excluding auto and gas increased 0.2%, above estimates for a 0.1% decline compiled by Bloomberg.” Read more

Dollarama raises annual sales forecast as demand for essentials thrives at Reuters/Yahoo. “The discount store operator said it now expects comparable store-sales growth of between 10% and 11% for fiscal 2024, compared with between 5% and 6% estimated previously” Read more | Q2 comp sales +15.5% Press release

American Eagle staff were threatened with guns and a machete while working in San Francisco mall, new lawsuit says by Eleanor Pringle at Fortune via Yahoo. “The brand is suing shopping centre chain Westfield for allowing its San Francisco site to “deteriorate into disarray”…The suit claims that in more than 100 instances between May 2022 and May 2023 staff were subject to “significant security incidents.” Read more

‘Linchpin’ in Amazon marketplace bribery scheme sentenced at Seattle Times/Merced Sun Star. “…ran a consulting business to help merchants who sold their goods on Amazon’s digital marketplace. They and four others were accused of participating in a three-year scheme to manipulate Amazon’s digital store by bribing Amazon employees to access confidential information they then used to help clients gain an unfair advantage over other sellers, according to court records.” Read more

Albertsons Companies Launches 30-Minute Grocery Pickup and Delivery Press release

How Gen Z is putting their spin on personal finances by Claire Thornton at USA Today. “A vast majority (89%) of Gen Z — or people born between 1997 and 2012 — said they have saved money on something in 2023, more than any other generation, according to a Harris Poll…Yet they’re also not shy about splurging on items. Seventy-five percent of Gen Z said they spent a lot on something in 2023, also more than other age groups.” Read more

Chicago Mayor explores city-owned grocery store “The City of Chicago is reimagining the role government can play in our lives by exploring a public option for grocery stores via a municipally owned grocery store and market,” said Ameya Pawar, Senior Advisor at Economic Security Project. “Not dissimilar from the way a library or the postal service operates…” Press release

Walmart faces disability violations by Serenah McCay at Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. “The U.S. Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission claims Walmart’s Pathways Training Program, created in 2015, included a test at the end called the Pathways Graduation Assessment…”Walmart terminated employees with disabilities across the U.S., including two in Arkansas, who failed the test after three attempts even though the employees satisfactorily performed their jobs,” the agency said.” Read more

Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison Presents at Goldman Sachs 30th Annual Global Retailing Conference at Seeking Alpha. Transcript/Subs. required

Home Depot Management Presents at Goldman Sachs 30th Annual Global Retailing Conference at Seeking Alpha. Transcript/Subs. required

At Johnson & Johnson, a New Look but Old Hurdles by Peter Loftus at WSJ. “The rebranding is designed to reflect the focus on innovation in medicine and surgery, and put some distance between J&J and the consumer brands that most people have associated with the company. Its new logo uses plain red print letters to spell out Johnson & Johnson and drops the memorable cursive penmanship that was modeled after the signature of a co-founder.” WSJ subs.

US jobless claims hit lowest level since February; productivity strongest in years at Reuters. “The report also showed labor costs, a key focus of the Federal Reserve as it battles to bring inflation back down to its 2% target, rose at a 2.2% annualized rate, a somewhat faster pace than the 1.6% rate initially reported. Nonetheless, the advance was still the slowest since the fourth quarter of 2021.” Read more

Appointees of new Texas task force to work on how to prevent organized retail theft at KXAN. “The task force will meet quarterly and make legislative suggestions to prevent organized retail theft, manage the crime’s long-term economic impact and improve consumer protections. “The mob attacks on retail outlets are only part of the problem,” Hegar said.” Read more / Appointee list

Kroger, Albertsons plan to offload over 400 stores at Reuters/Yahoo. “…to C&S Wholesale Grocers for nearly $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal would give privately held C&S, primarily a supplier rather than an operator of grocery stores, a much more significant footprint. It currently operates about two dozen stores under the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly brands.” Read more

California Bill To Protect Workers From Violence in Wake of Crime Surge Faces Key Vote at Newsweek. “A bill in California that would legally mandate employers to implement a workplace violence prevention plan is just one vote away from becoming law, amid increasing concern about the safety of workers.” Read more

78% of consumers say they use debit cards for the majority of their purchases by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “The (J.D. Power) report found consumers on average tend to use at least four different methods of payment at varying times. The report found that 74% said they use cash, 66% use credit cards, 36% that use gift cards, and 28% said they use buy-now-pay-later.” Read more

How The HeyDude Guy Became A Billionaire Selling Ugly Shoes by Amy Feldman at Forbes. “HeyDude founder Alessandro Rosano…had tried his hand at other businesses before. But with HeyDude, which makes comfortable slip-on loafers with a so-ugly-they’re-cute look, he hit the jackpot…revenue took off, reaching $581 million in 2021…That December, Rosano agreed to sell the brand to Crocs…for $2.5 billion in cash and stock.” Read more

Target children’s clothing section turns into flaming inferno in terrifying scene at NY Post. “Witness Guillermo Santander was with his daughter at the store. He told ABC 7 that he thought it was just a Halloween prop at first, but as he got closer, “we heard a pop which was the sprinkler going off.” “All of a sudden, the flame got bigger,” he told the outlet.” Pics/Video/Read more

Texas power grid enters emergency mode Wednesday evening to avoid rolling blackouts by Houston Public Media. “The state’s power grid operator triggered its emergency operations on Wednesday evening, allowing it to call on all available power generation to stay ahead of demand — and bringing it a step closer to a worst-case scenario of ordering rotating power outages.” Read more

Gen Z and Millennials Twice as Likely to be Omnichannel Shoppers “51.6% of Gen Z and 47.7% of Millennials plan to spend more for the rest of the year, including the holidays, versus just 29.3% of Gen X and 20.6% of Boomers.” Press release

Tesla plans to install 20,000 electric vehicle charging stations across 2,000 Hilton properties in the U.S., Mexico and Canada beginning next year at CNBC. Read more

Walmart issues gift cards in Alabama after sales tax overcharge at Fox Business. “The retail chain made the mistake on Sept. 1 after a new law lowered the state’s tax on groceries from 4% to 3%. Attempting to adjust their systems to the new rate, Walmart accidentally charged customers both the old tax rate and the new tax rate at the same time.” Read more

People Rely on Laxatives So Much, There Aren’t Enough to Go Around by Rachel Wolfe at Wall Street Journal. “Some people are treating laxatives like a budget Ozempic to feel skinnier, psychologists say. And social media, including TikTok’s popular #GutTok, spreads misinformation around what healthy bathroom behavior looks like, doctors say. Searches for laxative pills on Amazon have more than tripled in the past year, according to analytics company Pattern.” WSJ subs.