HEB #1 Grocer | Costco +6.2% | WM Board +CEO | Sparky +Ads

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Costco December comp sales (ex fuel & f/x) +6.2%: US +6.3% / Canada +6.0% / Other Int’l +5.6% / Digitally Enabled +18.3% Press release

 

H-E-B and Market Basket Top dunnhumby’s Ninth Annual U.S. Grocery Rankings (Costco #4, Winco #6, Amazon #8) Top 10 list/Press release

 

Albertson’s Companies Inc. Q3 ID sales +2.4% Press release

 

Walmart Opens Up Ads in Gen AI Shopping Agent Sparky at Adweek. “…(Walmart) is actively testing ads within Sparky, its AI shopping agent, after an initial test last fall. Sparky is an AI shopping assistant within Walmart’s mobile app…Search is the most popular use case for Sparky…” Read more

 

Britons splurge on food, cut back on gifts as retailers warn of tough 2026 at Reuters. “Tesco…reported a 3.2% rise in underlying UK sales for the six-week festive period, calling it a “strong” Christmas…Marks & Spencer’s underlying food sales jumped 5.6% in the Christmas quarter, but clothing, home and beauty dropped 2.9%…” Reuters subs.

 

Walmart names Shishir Mehrotra, CEO at Superhuman (formerly Grammarly) to Board of Directors “Prior to joining Superhuman, he was the CEO and co-founder of Coda, a productivity and AI platform…Before founding Coda, Mehrotra served as YouTube’s Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer…” Press release

 

Why some independent brands are upset with Amazon’s new ‘Buy for Me’ shopping tool at GeekWire. “The tools are designed to help shoppers find products that aren’t sold on Amazon — and, in some cases, allow Amazon to complete a purchase on a customer’s behalf using AI…brands…say they were caught off guard when their products appeared in Amazon search results.” Read more

 

PriceSmart Q1 comp net merchandise sales +8.0% Press release

 

Why Every Decent Restaurant Has a Product in the Grocery Store Now at Bloomberg. “Now restaurants are invading the grocery store. They’ve captured the freezer aisle, colonized the pastas, conquered condiments and spreads. I am well aware of this, because, as far as I can tell, I spend all my time at the grocery store. I used to go to restaurants, too, but then I had a baby.” Bloomberg subs.

 

JPMorgan Chase becomes the new issuer of the Apple Card at TechCrunch

 

More Than 1,000 Companies Are Suing Trump Over His Tariffs at Bloomberg. “Everybody stayed out of the fight because the president is very powerful…” said Sara Albrecht, chair of the board of Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian-leaning public interest firm handling one of the cases before the Supreme Court…Albrecht said she asked Costco for a contribution…The company’s general counsel declined…” Bloomberg subs.

 

Shopify competitor Swap raises $100M six months after raising $40M at TechCrunch

 

Amazon rolls out new version of its Dash smart grocery cart at GeekWire. “…capture(s) barcodes more quickly, improved sensors to track the cart’s location inside the store, and an integrated produce scale that weighs fruits and veggies directly within the cart…reduced the cart’s weight by 25% while increasing basket capacity by 40%.” Read more

 

 

Aldi Cult | WA Min $17.13 | Sheetz Dies

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The Curious Cult of Aldi at Bloomberg. “A cross-section of Brooklynites stretched down several city blocks—a Birkenstocked hipster, a school custodian, health-care workers, people receiving government-provided food assistance benefits…You don’t have to squint too hard to see the commonalities between Aldi and TJ’s: Both are known for compact stores, limited selections, fanatical shoppers and low prices…” Bloomberg subs.

 

Instacart Returns to the Super Bowl at Adweek/Yahoo. “Instacart is working with its internal creative agency Local Produce as well as BBDO and McCann on the campaign.” Read more

 

Sweeping Minimum-Wage Hikes Take Hold Across the Country at WSJ. “A mix of 19 states, both red and blue, bumped their minimum wages this month, several to over $15 an hour…Washington state adopted the highest state-level rate at $17.13 an hour, becoming the first state to enact an hourly minimum above $17…” WSJ subs.

 

DoorDash’s CEO blasts ‘appalling’ claim that a major delivery app gives drivers a desperation score at Fortune. “The user…alleges drivers are given a “desperation score” depending on their behavior at work. The hidden metric supposedly flags drivers who accept low-value “garbage” orders without hesitation, and then prevents them from viewing higher-paying orders.” Fortune subs. 

 

NYC Wegmans storing shoppers’ facial scans and biometric data to ID customers, boost security at NY Post. “A Wegmans rep told The Post that the tech is only being used in a “small fraction of our stores that exhibit an elevated risk…Other grocery and retail locations in the five boroughs – like Fairway Market, Westside Market and Walgreen’s – already implement biometric data collection in stores…” Read more

 

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Do Tariffs Cause Inflation? New Studies Offer Surprising Answer at WSJ. “Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco combed through data from 1886 to 2017 and found that previous tariff increases usually didn’t lead to higher inflation. On the contrary: They slowed down price growth. A separate recent paper by economists at Northwestern University found that inflation picked up following tariff increases, but only a little. That’s the good news. The bad news: Both papers conclude that tariffs tend to hurt the economy and that a blow to consumer and business demand likely explains why the impact on inflation is so limited.” WSJ subs.

 

Amazon is bringing Alexa+ to the web at GeekWire. “Amazon is competing against consumer AI rivals such as ChatGPT and Gemini…It’s looking to leverage its more than 600 million Alexa-enabled devices, and areas of differentiation such as smart-home controls and device integrations.” Read more

 

Nestle recalls infant formula batches across Europe over toxin risk Reuters subs.

 

Forbes Best Customer Service 2026 (REI #5, Publix #6, Trader Joe’s #10, Buc-ee’s #13) Full list

 

Former Sheetz CEO Steve Sheetz dies at age 77 at CBS News. “During his time as president and CEO, Sheetz introduced Made-to-Order, entered the fuel business and expanded the company into new states. These days, there are more than 800 stores with 27,000 employees across several states, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.” Read more | NY Times subs.

 

Amazon revamps Fire TV, launches its own ‘Artline’ televisions with frames at CES at TechCrunch

 

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