Costco Q4 Comp Sales Flat / +3.0% (excluding gas & f/x) “Net sales for the fourth quarter were $35.73 billion, an increase of two percent from $34.99 billion in fiscal 2015. Net sales for the fiscal year were $116.07 billion, an increase of two percent from $113.67 billion last year.” Press release

 

Fox Business: Costco Wins on Lower Fees to Visa “The lower payments helped offset falling prices of grocery and fresh food in the quarter, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on a post-earnings call.” Read more

 

Target sets up website to invite pitches from startups by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “www.startups.target.com – The company wants to use this portal to find new technology platforms to enhance the customer experience in its stores and through its digital channels. It is not intended to be the place to go to plug products that companies want Target to sell on its shelves or online.” Read more

 

Home Depot & Coca-Cola CEOs join business panel at Georgia Tech by Maria Saporta at Saporta Report. “Asked about Amazon as competition, (Craig) Menear said he believed it was better for Home Depot to develop its internal digital platform. “Personally I don’t believe it will shift entirely to the digital world,” Menear said. “The millennials tell us that bricks and mortar are still hugely important.” Read more

 

Walmart Selects Haworth For $900 Million U.S. Media Account by Steve McClellan at MediaPost. “The two firms had been in talks since April, shortly after the agency relinquished the Target account, which was taken over by GroupM (which acquired a 49% stake in Haworth two years ago). In June, GroupM announced the formation of a Target-dedicated agency called Team Arrow Partners to handle the Target business out of Minneapolis.” Read more

 

Retailers Can Now Request That Uber Drop Off Customers Right in Front of Their Stores by Lauren Johnson at Adweek. “We’re closing the loop so that businesses can provide a great experience all the way from search results to checkout, which includes actually getting to the location,” Marc Ferrentino, evp of strategy and product at Yext, said in a statement.” Read more

 

Report: Supervalu decision on Save-A-Lot could come within weeks by Mark Reilly at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “Supervalu is considering a sale to Onex or a spinoff and could make a decision within the next two weeks.” Read more

 

Big Y takes a big step into Eastern Mass. by Adam Vaccaro at Boston Globe. “The new Big Y stores are north and south of Boston, in communities such as Quincy, Milford, and Saugus, and boost the company’s total near the city to 10, up from two. The total number of stores is now up to 69, split between Massachusetts and Connecticut.” Read more

 

Report: Cabela’s to receive two acquisition bids by the end of the week by Paige Yowell at Omaha World-Herald. “Bass Pro Shops has partnered with Capital One Financial Corp. to make a bid for the whole company, which includes its retail stores as well as World’s Foremost Bank, operator of the Cabela’s Club Visa card. Private equity firm Sycamore Partners also has teamed up with Synchrony Financial to make an offer, the sources said.” Read more

 

**A message from Fabe – Pillows hand-crafted in Italy prevent and relieve neck and back pain. Fabe’s Ergo Praxis pillow supports and aligns the head and neck to prevent cervical pain. Created in cooperation with Ludes University in Switzerland – it gets the body in the right position for a good night’s sleep. 100% Made in Italy. Ergo Praxis Specs | Fabe Website | Retailers request samples at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net. Italy-America Product Connection

 

Dawn Robertson resigns after another short-lived CEO stint by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “Stein Mart…said Thursday that Robertson has resigned her CEO post after just seven months on the job…and the family-run chain took the unusual tack of throwing dirt on her reputation as she left — saying Robertson’s merchandising strategies were implemented too rapidly.” Read more

 

Ex-Home Depot Exec Bob Baird Teams Up With BrandSource by Valerie Villarreal at RTO. “AVB/BrandSource recently hired venerable retail expert Bob Baird as a consultant to advise and assist its independent dealers in the race with their box store competitors…” Read more

 

Analyst: Kroger is facing the toughest price environment in 56 years, stock isn’t likely to return to previous highs for some time by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. Read more

 

Dick’s Sporting Goods renews its partnership with Team USA through the 2018 winter games in Pyeongchang, South Korea by Paul J. Gough at Pittsburgh Business Times. Read more

 

Target shifts its giving strategy, promotes the power of play by Shannon Prather at Star Tribune. “(Target) has committed $40 million to new playgrounds, community gardens, outdoor classrooms and other projects that promote a healthy lifestyle. For the 266 students at Northeast College Prep Charter School in Minneapolis, that means a new playground built with the largesse from Target and the nonprofit KaBOOM! It’s one of 175 new play spaces they are building across the country for about 430,000 children.” Read more

 

Yes, Amazon is behind that drive-up grocery store coming to Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Hours of operation are expected to be 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. At peak time, there will be approximately 15 employees working on site, and three to five people will be dedicated to bringing orders out to parked cars. About a quarter of all trips are expected to occur between 5 and 7:30 p.m. The average wait time is expected to be about five minutes.” See the pics & site plan

 

Best Buy is opening a bunch of stores at midnight for the PlayStation VR launch by Brian Heater at TechCrunch. “(Best Buy) will be opening extra early on October 13 to offer up the gaming peripheral as early as humanly possible. The store will open 350 of its US locations at 12:01AM ET that night – that’s 10:01PM and 9:01PM on the 12th, out on the West Coast.” Read more

 

American Eagle Outfitters names Ralph Lauren vet as CFO by Paul J. Gough at Pittsburgh Business Times. “Bob Madore will take over as executive vice president and CFO on Oct. 28 and report to CEO Jay Schottenstein.” Read more

 

P&G designs smallest Pampers diaper ever – small enough for a 1 pound baby by Barrett Brunsman at Cincinatti Business Courier. “P&G said Pampers is the first major brand to offer a diaper designed for babies that small. The new size means nurses will no longer need to cut or fold larger diapers to find the right fit for the smallest babies.” Read more

 

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