Tipsheet: No Free Bfast @ Costco | Amazon’s Drone Mothership | Meijer Photo Lab No-No | CVS/Menards Fire Back @ Regulators
Kate Spade on the hunt for a potential buyer by Carleton English & Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “On Wednesday, Kate Spade shares jumped 23 percent to $17.86 on reports that it was considering a sale.” Read more
Nasty Gal Receives $20 Million Offer From British Retailer Boohoo by Caroline Anderson at Los Angeles Business Journal. “Boohoo said the deal only included intellectual property assets and excluded operating costs. Nasty Gal reported $10 million in inventory in its bankruptcy filing, suggesting that Boohoo values the company’s intellectual property at around $10 million.” Read more
CVS fires back at Texas regulators in $30 million Medicaid fraud case by Ryan Autullo at Austin American-Statesman. “CVS Pharmacy, accused by the state of Texas of defrauding Medicaid of $30.5 million, is suing the state Health and Human Services Commission, claiming state officials approved the billing practices at the heart of the fraud case.” Read more
Apple dominates Samsung in Holiday gadget shopping while Google ‘struggled’ to excite by Arjun Kharpal at CNBC. “44 percent of activations globally were Apple devices, a decline from the 49.1 percent seen in a similar period in 2015, and 51.3 percent in 2014. Meanwhile, 21 percent of activations were Samsung devices, a tiny rise from 19.8 percent last year.” Read more
Amazon reveals plans to make deliveries using incredible airship drone base by Rod Chester & Jasper Hamill at The Sun. “The patent, granted by the US patent office in April but only uncovered this week by tech analyst Zoe Leavitt, describes motherships floating above cities that release drones that save energy by dropping with gravity before kicking in with their motors.” Drawings/Read more
Michigan mom petitions Meijer for candy-free checkout lane by Judy Putnam at Lansing State Journal. “She posted the petition two weeks ago and has 223 signatures so far. I definitely didn’t roll my eyes over another point she made: the uncomfortable conversations born from racy headlines delivered, again at child eye-level, in the magazines in the checkout lane. Kramer recalls having to explain “cocaine” to her young son at a time she wasn’t prepared to talk about that.” Read more
17% NEVER SHOP ON AMAZON – Not Everyone Wants to Shop on Amazon by Sara Germano & Laura Stevens at Wall Street Journal. “…roughly 22 million American households didn’t purchase anything through (Amazon) this year. Those Amazon holdouts tend to be older than U.S. shoppers overall, with an average age of 57 versus 49, respectively, according to Kantar, and they tend to earn less—$45,700 in annual income, compared with $62,800 among all shoppers. They are less likely to have or live with children.” Read more (subscription)
Suit: Versace used secret ‘code’ for black customers by Mayra Cuevas at CNN. “The manager instructed Sampiro “to say ‘D410’ in a casual manner when a black person entered the store,” according to the lawsuit. The manager explained the “code is used to alert co-workers that ‘a black person is in the store,'” the lawsuit said.” Read more
**A message from Fabe – Italian hand-crafted pillows 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 to America product connection
NO FREE BREAKFAST (OR TRAFFIC JAM) – Costco to offer discounts not free breakfast at new store opening in Taiwan at Focus Taiwan. “This will be the first time Costco has not offered free breakfast and gifts at the opening of a new outlet in Taiwan. The decision is intended to prevent a traffic jam in the vicinity of the new Xinzhuang store when it opens on Jan. 7. In April, (Costco) opened a store in the Taipei suburb of Beitou…Its offering of free breakfast and gifts attracted a great number of members who lined up before the store opened, causing serious traffic congestion, which prompted police to impose traffic controls.” Read more
NLRB alleges Menards purposefully misclassified delivery drivers by Nick Williams at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “We feel that the NLRB is wrong,” the company responded in a statement. “Our corporation has contracts with various corporations to deliver goods to our customers…We plan to vigorously defend ourselves against these ridiculous allegations.” Read more
Amazon scoops up land in downtown Seattle, pointing to potential 5th tower in new campus by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Property records filed with the King County Department of Assessments Wednesday show Amazon affiliate Acorn Development paid $19.2 million for a half block along Seventh Avenue between Blanchard and Bell streets, across the street from the recently opened Day One tower.” Read more
Online traffic spiked by nearly 50% on Christmas Day compared to last year by Matt Linder at Internet Retailer. “Meanwhile, at its peak, traffic to the tracked e-retailers was up by 78% compared to the 2015 average on Christmas Day.” Read more
Bankrupt shipper Hanjin selling terminal operations at Port of Seattle by Mike Rosenberg at Seattle Times. Read more
“CRASH SALE” – J.Crew extends a promotion to make up for its site outage by Tracy Maple at Internet Retailer. Read more
Costco worker, wearing elf hat, performs life-saving CPR at Times Union. “I looked back and noticed a crowd standing over someone. I don’t know who, but someone said, ‘Mat, Mat, this lady needs help,’ ” Rios recalled. “I looked and immediately realized something was wrong.” Read more
50 of 2017’s Most Anticipated Movies by Ashley Lee at The Hollywood Reporter. Read more
Amazon tries to recreate Prime Day magic with the first-ever Digital Day sales event by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “For one day only, December 30th, Amazon will discount over 1,000 digital items across its site in order to encourage post-holiday spending.” Read more
Meijer photo lab employees allegedly circulate customer’s personal pictures by Alex Jokich at WWMT. “Jordan Areaux tells us she took her pregnancy announcement photos to the Meijer in Plainwell, hoping to surprise her family with the big news on Christmas Day. But she says the surprise was spoiled almost immediately, after workers in the store started spreading them around.” Video/Read more
Nursing student who helped save newborn abandoned in Louisiana Walmart says ‘God put me there’ at Montana Standard. “The first thing that came to my mind is either I’m going to start CPR or I’m going to give it a tap on the back to see if it starts breathing,” Bergeron told WBRZ. Bergeron said the baby made a sound and then started crying.” Video/Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Inventor of the famous Red Solo Cup dies at 84
Homeland Security agents took $15M in bribes
John Lennon car set to hit block at Barrett-Jackson
C-store veep works 41st consecutive Christmas
Phil Knight gifts $112 million in Nike stock
Watch this mesmerizing update on construction of Apple’s ‘spaceship campus’
These three hot e-commerce startups could have surprise IPOs in 2017
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