Wal-Mart is joining Target in bid to woo millennial parents by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “(Wal-mart)… has added hundreds of new baby products to its lineup in the last years from about 20 national brands including Baby Bjorn, Ella’s, and Plum Organics…Wal-Mart executives would not say how big of an increase this is to its previous assortment and whether more space has been added in its stores for baby products. But they said it was a “fairly significant increase.” Read more

 

NY Post: Walmart selling baby car seat that can prevent hot-car deaths by Lisa Fickenscher. “There are millions of cars in our parking lots every day and we put a challenge out to the industry,” said Diana Marshall, vice president for baby at Walmart. “Evenflo stepped up with a first-of its kind product aimed at vehicular heat stroke.” Read more

 

Amazon.com Q2 Sales up 20% to $23.18 Billion  Read the release

 

Katy Perry, Coty Launch Perfume Line With Twitter Pop-Up Shop by Declan Harty at Ad Age. “The account, which gained more than 14,000 followers by Thursday afternoon, is the first of its kind for a beauty brand, Ms. Bond said. While she declined to comment on the virtual pop-up shop’s cost, it is a relatively new concept for marketers. As with brick-and-mortar pop-up stores, the goal is primarily to pique consumer’s interest.” Read more

 

Amazon adds record 18,000 workers in quarter to top 183,000 globally by Jacob Demmitt at GeekWire. Read more

 

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Loblaw to Close 52 Stores by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “Canada’s largest grocer said on Thursday the shutdown of an array of its stores, including supermarkets, pharmacies, standalone Joe Fresh clothing outlets, and gas bars, is expected to cut its sales by about $300-million but add $35-million to $40-million to its operating income annually.” Read more

 

Satellite Imagery Shows Home Depot is Busier than Lowe’s by Ana Watson at Washington Post. “Analysts are now using satellite imagery to examine everything from the lights cast by cities in India, to black market activity in North Korea, to how many people are shopping at Home Depot. As satellite imagery becomes more available, it will reshape how companies monitor their own and competitors’ operations.” Read more

 

Apple Kicks Nest Thermostats From Its Shelves — For Now by Marc Bergen & Dawn Chmielewski at Recode. “The ouster comes as a new generation of devices that take advantage of Apple’s HomeKit home automation technology reach store shelves. “ Read more

 

Cabela’s Q2 Comp Sales +0.8%  Read the release

 

Wal-Mart, thwarted by India’s retail restrictions, goes big: wholesale by Shashank Bengali at LA Times. “Before the Best Price opened…the family relied on a loose network of wholesalers who kept irregular hours. If an item suddenly ran out, it could be days before the vendor returned…”We used to go to 10 or 12 places to get all the inventory we needed, and we would spend the whole day,” Bhaskar Sreenivasan said. “Now it’s better. We come here once or twice a week and in a couple of hours we have everything we need.” Read more

 

Jeff Bezos is now world’s fifth-richest man as Amazon passes Walmart in market cap by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. Read more

 

Bass Pro Founders New Project: ‘1,200 Acres of Wow’ by Wes Johnson at Springfield News-Leader. “Still to come: A sporting clays course reminiscent of a golf links, where shooters travel on a golf cart from “hole to hole” and shoot clays at each stop. Unlike golf, it’s the highest score — he who dusts the most clay pigeons — that wins. The shooting areas aren’t the only draw. Look closely and you’ll see the parking lot lines are painted to look like shotguns.” Read more

 

Walmart Heiress is Selling all of Her Horses at Texas Ranch at CBS DFW. “It’s called realigning my priorities,” (Alice) Walton said in an interview to Western Bloodstock LTD about the sale. “I have loved this business and this way of life.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet is created early every weekday morning and read by retail merchants and executives worldwide. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail. See our website at www.eyeonretail.net