Friday Tipsheet: Feds Probe Costco | Kmart Layaway ‘Debacle’ | Amazon 1 Hr Ship

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Costco reports federal probe about prescriptions for controlled substances by Angel Gonzalez at Seattle Times. “Costco said Thursday it has been informed by federal attorneys that they believe the company has violated civil regulations about the handling of prescriptions for controlled substances.” Read more

 

Amazon offers one-hour shipping in Manhattan at AP via SF Gate. “The service is available to customers enrolled in Amazon Prime, which costs $99 a year. One-hour delivery costs $7.99 but the company also offers two-hour delivery for free. Prime Now is available from 6 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club implement stricter poultry safety protocol at The City Wire. “All poultry suppliers must be in compliance with the new requirements by June 2016.” Read more

 

Consumables tilt the pricing see-saw to Walmart: What does this mean for Amazon? by Nicole Santosusso at Internet Retailer. “Walmart.com took the lead with the least expensive overall basket across the three venues. Amazon’s overall basket was more expensive than both Walmart channels; it registered 12% more expensive than the Supercenter and 17% more expensive than Walmart.com. Amazon’s biggest disadvantage was in edible grocery, where it was 37% more expensive than Walmart.com and 38% more expensive than the Supercenter.” Read more

 

Rite-Aid Q3 Front-End Comp +1.6% “Same store sales for the quarter increased 5.4 percent over the prior year, consisting of a 1.6 percent increase in front-end sales and a 7.2 percent increase in pharmacy sales.” Read the release

 

NY AG: Walmart Must End Online Toy Gun Sales by Awr Hawkins at Breitbart. “Schneiderman’s office said the toy guns were illegal because they were “virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.” NY law “prohibits retailers from selling guns in realistic colors unless it has a one-inch-wide orange stripe running down both sides of the barrel and the front end of the barrel that cannot be removed.” Read more

 

Psst! It’s Me, the Mannequin. This Would Look Great on You. by Rachel Abrams at NY Times. “But these can beckon you from outside the store, sending messages to your cellphones and beaming pictures of their outfits onto them. They are one of the latest efforts by the struggling retail industry to lure customers away from the Internet and back into brick-and-mortar stores. “We decided we had to work out a way to bring the good old-fashioned mannequin into the 21st century.” Read more

 

***New product spotlight – A message from Bra Bag: This adorable travel case, shaped like a bra, protects molded bras from denting or lumping in your suitcase so they arrive in form. Available in more than six styles, the Bra Bag can store up to six bras cup sizes A-C.  The Bra Bag has been touted by A-listers and fashion magazines around the world.  See the sell sheet.  Contact info@shiftmarketinggroup.net

 

P&G fined $189 million for fixing prices by Barrett J. Brunsman at Cincinnati Bus. Courier. “Sales managers and others “met regularly and secretly (in restaurants and private homes) to coordinate their commercial policies and discuss their pricing policies,” the Autorité de la Concurrence said in announcing the fines. “These practices are serious and harmed the economy.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart de Mexico Sells Bank Business to Inbursa at Nasdaq. “Inbursa said it would pay 3.6 billion pesos, or nearly $247 million, for the business.” Read more

 

39 percent of customers continue to avoid vendors more than two years after a bad experience by Susan LaMotte at Forbes. “There is a lot of research around helping others — humans have a predisposition to want to help. Research from the University of Wisconsin shows that employees who help others at work are happier. Stanford researchers found that creating goals around helping others directly correlates with happiness.” Read more

 

Can Wal-Mart Clerks Ship as Fast as Amazon Robots? by Shelly Banjo, Suzanne Kapner & Paul Ziobro at WSJ. “Ms. Merritt and her team handle about 1,000 items a day from the one store. At some robot-equipped Amazon warehouses, workers handle as many as 300 items an hour. Wal-Mart says the ship-from-store operations are only one piece of a larger network serving its online customers. “We have fulfillment centers that deliver the vast majority of online orders,” said spokesman Dan Toporek.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Kmart Apologizes For Layaway Debacle, Says Some Cancellations Were ‘Inadvertent’ by Mary Beth Quirk at The Consumerist via HuffPo. “Kmart contacted Consumerist to issue an apology for what is still a very confusing situation. When we started combing through our readers’ tales of woe over the Kmart situation, many said they’d later received yet another notice about their layaway items, saying that their entire layaway contract had been canceled.” Read more

 

How the Deepest, Darkest Secrets of Moms Shape the Products in Aisle 6 by Rebecca Greenfield at Fast Company. “When I sit in meetings, the way people talk about mothers, it’s like it’s the 1950s,” said the founder of The Mom Complex, which works with the likes of Walmart and Johnson & Johnson on product development and marketing research specifically geared toward America’s 80 million moms. “They think we’re all June Cleaver, and happy all the time, and baking all the time.” Read more

 

Minecraft’s Creator Buys The Most Expensive House In Beverly Hills by Luke Plunkett at Kotaku. “In case you needed a material transaction to illustrate just how much money Markus Persson, aka Notch, has having sold Mojang (and Minecraft) to Microsoft, take a look at this: the dude just paid $70 million (and maybe beat out Beyonce & Jay-Z) to buy the most expensive house in Beverly Hills.” See the video walkthrough

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. It’s created early AM and delivered around 8 AM EST daily. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

 

Thursday Tipsheet: Target Leadership Changes | Menards Jingle History | Hoarding Buckwheat

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Target CEO announces leadership promotions by Nick Halter at Minn./St. Paul Business Journal. “Omnichannel president and senior vice president Casey Carl moved into the leadership team, reporting to Cornell as chief strategy and innovation officer. Jason Goldberger has been named president of Target.com and mobile. Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Jones will take on added responsibilities, including enhancing the guest experience through a new “guest center of excellence” Read more

 

Retail watchers say Nook would be a good fit for Wal-Mart by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “You need go no further than Wal-Mart’s own book section on their website to understand their motivation for acquiring Nook. Prominently featured at the top of the page is a banner ad for “Great Gifts” promoted by the “Hatchette Book Group.” Read more

 

Target Teams With Improv Everywhere For Elaborate Christmas Carol Stunt by Steve Hall at Marketing Land. “This week, Improv Everywhere teamed with Target for some unconventional marketing and to orchestrate an elaborate Christmas Carol stunt involving five surprised families. Unlike many of Improv Everywhere’s flashmob-style stunts, the Target stunt involved elaborate planning, a large crew and five willing mothers.” Read more

 

The “Save Big Money at Menards” Jingle: A History by Chaz Kangas at City Pages. “While the popular feel-good urban legend is that the jingle’s music and lyrics were created by John Menard Jr.’s wife as something of a home improvement theme-music Betsy Ross, most accounts attribute the song’s origins to studio musicians and the competitive nature of the jingle era.” Read more / See the old video

 

Michelle Obama: I Was Asked to Take Something Off a Shelf at Target by Daniel Halper at The Weekly Standard. “The Obamas talked with People magazine about dealing with their “own racist experiences,” as the magazine described…Michelle Obama told one story that recently took place…”I tell this story – I mean, even as the first lady – during that wonderfully publicized trip I took to Target, not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn’t see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn’t anything new,” Michelle Obama, who is 5’11”, said.” Read more 

 

NY Times: Amazon Not as Unstoppable as It Might Appear by Farhad Manjoo. “The key to its vulnerability is the smartphone, a device whose scope and significance Jeff Bezos, the chief executive, has not yet managed to corral. Phones have already radically altered both the way Americans shop and how retail goods move about the economy, but the transformation is just beginning — and it is far from guaranteed that Amazon will emerge victorious from the transition.” Read more

 

Hudson’s Bay taps former Target Exec as new CEO by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “(Gerald) Storch, 58, was chairman and CEO of Toys R Us from 2006 to early 2013…Prior to that, he held varying executive roles at Target between 1993 and 2005, and was in charge of the retailer’s SuperTarget grocery strategy, its credit card business and the rollout of its web division, Target.com.” Read more

 

America’s holiday spend: $1000-plus per person by Rebecca Shabad at The Hill. “Just under a third said they usually regret how much they spend during the holidays.” Read more

 

Fox News anchor Shep Smith Worries We’ll Ruin Cuba with Taco Bell and Lowe’s by Andrew Kirell at Mediaite. “You know the fear among anybody who’s ever been there or who cares at all about the Cuban people, as so many of us do,” Smith continued, “the last thing they need is a Taco Bell or a Lowe’s.” Read more

 

Market Basket film, funded by fans, will retell the saga by Callum Borchers at Boston Globe. “Jay Childs, who spent much of July and August filming on the picket lines, has launched an online fund-raising campaign through Kickstarter that aims to collect $50,000 for editing and post-production costs of a project he calls “Food Fight: Inside the Battle for Market Basket.” In five days, he’s pulled in about $13,000, mostly from donations of $75 or less.” Read more

 

“You Know It’s Bad in Russia When They Start Hoarding the Buckwheat” at Bloomberg. “Volkova said that when she was in her hometown of St. Petersburg last week, shelves in some electronics and home-goods retailers had been cleaned out.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. It’s created early AM and delivered around 8 AM EST daily. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

 

 

Wednesday Tipsheet: Wmart #1 Searched | Dick’s Next LBO? | GA Loves Christmas

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Where Christmas is Most Loved in U.S. by Eric Chemi at CNBC. “Look at the states dominating the top of the list: Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi and North Carolina are all up there. These are all Republican-voting strongholds, home to a dominant Christian citizenship.” Read more

 

Most-searched places on Google Maps in 2014 (Walmart #1, Home Depot #5, Costco #10) by Ben Abramson at USA Today. See the Top 10 List

 

WSJ: Sears Bets Big on Technology, but at the Expense of Its Stores by Suzanne Kapner. “…in the four years it was open, Mygofer notched an unusual distinction: On some days, more people returned goods than bought them…internal projections had called for Mygofer to build over four years so that it would eventually generate $8 million in annual sales…Annual sales struggled to top $1 million, these people said. During an interview, Mr. Lampert acknowledged that “going to a store where there were no products may have been weird for shoppers.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Wal-Mart must pay $188 million in workers’ class action at Reuters. “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered Wal-Mart Stores Inc to pay $188 million to employees who had sued the retailer for failing to compensate them for rest breaks and all hours worked. Wal-Mart said on Tuesday that it might appeal the decision.” Read more

 

Family of man killed in BB gun case sues police and Walmart at CNN. “The shooting happened August 5. Crawford was shopping at Walmart and picked up a BB gun that wasn’t packaged and had been sitting on the store shelf for two days, the Crawford family’s lawyers said.” Read more

 

Retailers to try again for online sales tax by Bernie Becker at The Hill. “David French of the National Retail Federation said advocates would continue to “carpet bomb Congress with our message,” after his group and others have sponsored fly-ins from local retailers and state and local government officials. “We’ve told the Hill all along that this is going to pass because it needs to happen, and eventually people will see that,” French added. “They’re not going to pass a bill just because we have a good lobbying strategy.” Read more

 

*** New product spotlight – A message from Eye Dig It Safety Sunglasses: Fashionable protection….set your sights on this pair of chic sunglasses to find the best of both worlds. Maximum visual perception and shatter/scratch-resistant protection, Eye Dig It helps protect your eyes from debris and provide UVA and UVB protection…there’s no need to sacrifice safety for style. Available in Black and Tortoise Shell. See the sell sheet. For more information contact info@shiftmarketinggroup.net

 

Standard shipping deadlines loom for online shoppers by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. See the chart

 

Amazon extends Christmas shipping deadlines by Ben Miller at Puget Sound Business Journal. “Amazon.com said it’s extending its free shipping cutoff deadlines to Dec. 19 to ensure Christmas delivery.” Read more

 

Private label items give Walmart pricing edge in new study by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “A consumer who purchased a basket of 55 grocery and consumable products in December at a typical Walmart Supercenter or Neighborhood Grocery Store would have saved $45 on the $160 purchase by choosing private label products or rollback items over branded everyday low priced products, according the study.” Read more

 

Boston: Watershed Exchange is a farmers’ market on wheels by Jane Dornbusch at Boston Globe. “He says there are three main problems with the traditional grocery model that he and Stanfield wanted to address. First, says Schoen, “In that model, 40 percent of food goes to waste. Second, only 20 cents on the dollar goes to a farmer or producer. Third is that the average product travels 1,500 miles. We said, How can we create a system that’s better and different?” Read more

 

Watch Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Get Grilled in Rare Public Interview by Jason Del Rey at Recode.  See the video

 

“Dick’s Sporting Goods Next Buyout Target?” at Seeking Alpha. “I believe that DKS is the next buyout target, due to its attractive valuation, its ability to generate substantial returns, its FCF and EBITDA strength, and same-stores-sales competitive moat. At a reasonable $61.5 purchase price, DKS presents at least a 22% upside opportunity, with a high likelihood given the high achievable returns for a financial buyer.” Read more

 

Salvation Army bell ringer hit by car outside Walgreens store at WCVB 5 Boston. “A Salvation Army bell ringer was injured Tuesday after he was run down by an elderly driver who mistook a store’s door for a drive-through in Arlington, police said. “ See the video / Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. It’s created early AM and delivered around 8 AM EST daily. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Tuesday Tipsheet: Google’s “Buy” Button | Aldi Tests Credit Cards | Sears = Landlines

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Google Shopping to Counter Amazon by Rolfe Winkler & Alistair Barr at WSJ. “Google has approached retailers about creating a “buy” button for its online shopping site that would be similar to Amazon’s popular “one-click ordering” feature, according to people familiar with the discussions. Until now, Google Shopping has referred shoppers to merchants’ websites via links in search results. But Google wants to keep users on its own pages longer, rather than send them elsewhere.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Sears CEO Lampert explains why he closed 200 stores by Phil Wahba at Fortune. ““Most of these stores were losing money, some for a long time,” Lampert wrote. “We have experimented with different formats, different levels of investment and different processes to bring about a better result. Given changing circumstances, both in the retail industry and in our company, we can no longer afford, nor justify keeping these stores open.” Read more

 

…compares Sears to landline phone by James Covert at NY Post. “Real estate owners and communities are trying to figure out what to do with large, windowless buildings that once held essential — now useless — telephone equipment to make landlines work,” the hedge-fund billionaire wrote in a Monday blog post.“Similarly, some of our stores are simply too large for our needs.” Read more

 

Canadian Tire draws fire over ‘sexist’ flyer at City News Toronto. “Some shoppers were taken aback by a Canadian Tire flyer containing a list of “gifts for her” that included items, such as sewing machines, pots and pans and a pink tool kit. Other items under the gifts for her section included crock pots and a chocolate fountain. “Ideally it should say gifts for the family,” said shopper Laima Cers. “That’s what it should say.” See the video / Read more

 

Aldi’s testing credit cards by John Ewoldt at Star-Tribune. “Matt Lilla, divisional vice president of Aldi in Faribault, Minn., said the company is testing credit cards in Minnesota, Hudson, Wis., and a few stores in Syracuse, N.Y.” Read more

 

Minnesota: Twitter account for Home Depot store shutdown after “war crimes and torture” tweet by Michael Brodkorb at Star-Trbune. “Stephen Holmes, Director of Corporate Communications for Home Depot said in a statement that this was not “a company Tweet or a company statement.” Holmes added that Home Depot “quickly investigated and an employee admitted to accidently retweeting this, not realizing it was coming from the store’s Twitter account.” Read more

 

Houston: Hundreds Line Up for Chance at Air Jordans at KHOU. “I’m here with friends and family,” said Chelsea Boyd, who said she had been waiting since midnight. Others in line said they got in line as early as 8:30 Saturday night. Around 2 a.m., the crowd got a bit unruly as people argued who was first in line and two windows were cracked during the commotion. Officers with the Houston Police Department, who were on scene all night, then put up tape to put everyone in a unified line.” See the video / Read more

 

GameStop’s secret weapon against Wal-Mart’s incursion by Phil Wahba at Fortune. Read the interview with Gamestop CFO

 

Edward Snowden calls Amazon ‘morally irresponsible’ by Drew Hansen at Washington Business Journal. “He described Amazon allowing users to browse products without encryption to be a “morally irresponsible” practice, according to the report.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. It’s created early AM and delivered around 8 AM EST daily. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Monday Tipsheet: Amazon Penny Glitch | $8.3 Bil for PetSmart

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This company loves to move into locations where Sears fails by John Jannarone at CNBC. “There’s still a lot of empty boxes out there and there will be for a long time,” At Home CEO Lewis Bird III said in an interview this week. “We’re the only retailer looking for a big box format.” Read more

 

U.K: Amazon 1p sales bonanza after computer glitch misprices thousands of items, leaving angry retailers ‘losing £30,000 overnight’ at Daily Mail. “For an hour on Friday, between 7pm and 8pm, a problem with RepricerExpress led to hundreds of items being sold on Amazon at a fraction of their normal price. It is unclear whether the processed orders will be delivered to customers or cancelled, and whether retailers will be reimbursed for their losses.” Read more

 

What’s in store for Walgreen now by Brigid Sweeney at Crain’s. “Being able to meld the front end and the back end is going to be key,” says Vishnu Lekraj, a senior analyst at Morningstar. “Walgreen hasn’t done an effective job of this so far.” Though same-store sales and the size of customers’ purchases have increased, foot traffic is down.” Read more

 

NYC: Amazon Fresh definitely not stopping at Park Slope by Ben Fischer at New York Bus. Journal. “The company announced Friday it’s serving customers in nine additional Brooklyn neighborhoods, covering much of the western and northern reaches of the borough.” Read more

 

Will the same-day delivery war be won by a competitor you’ve never heard of? by Sarah Halzack at Washington Post. “Deliv’s model is geared toward a generation of shoppers who want service that is both predictable and flexible. It’s designed to accommodate a shopper who wants his purchase to arrive in the two-hour window between his haircut appointment and his kid’s soccer game.” Read more

 

***New product spotlight – A message from Bra Bag: This adorable travel case, shaped like a bra, protects molded bras from denting or lumping in your suitcase so they arrive in form. Available in more than six styles, the Bra Bag can store up to six bras cup sizes A-C.  The Bra Bag has been touted by A-listers and fashion magazines around the world.  See the sell sheet.  Contact info@shiftmarketinggroup.net

 

Stop blaming store size for weak results by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “DDR CEO Dan Hurwitz said, too much blame gets put on what the store, or “box,” looks like, when often it’s what’s inside the box that’s the problem.”Keep in mind when Best Buy couldn’t keep flatscreen TVs in the store, they weren’t talking about reducing the size of their square footage,” Hurwitz said.” Read more

 

Australia: Woolworths raises petrol prices when Costco turns pumps off in evening by Clare Colley at Sydney Morning Herald. “Woolworths has been slammed as giving motorists a”two-fingered salute” by raising its petrol prices minutes after its new discount competitor, Costco, shuts its bowsers at night. As soon as the new Costco petrol station turned its pumps off at 9.30pm on Thursday, Woolworths’ petrol prices rose 14c to 143.9 cents per litre.” Read more

 

PetSmart Agrees to BC Partners’ $8.3 Billion Takeover Bid by David Welch at Bloomberg. “It was a very competitive auction,” Raymond Svider, a managing partner at BC Partners, said in a telephone interview. “The company should never have been put in play. Growth slowed and the market overreacted. We feel fortunate.” Read more

 

Mystery solved! Amazon delivers giant boxes of toys to charities around the U.S. by Blair Hanley at GeekWire. “Employees from Amazon’s fulfillment centers will deliver a total of 15 boxes to groups around the country, including a Boys & Girls Club in Kenosha, Wisconsin and a children’s hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Each box contains over $5,000 in toys, gifts and other equipment that recipient organizations say they need.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. It’s created early AM and delivered around 8 AM EST daily. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Friday Tipsheet: Safeway Roof Collapses | Lowe’s Analyst Highlights | Target Picks Memphis

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NRF: Retail Sales Up 0.6% in November by Stephen E. Schatz. “Gains were consistent with NRF’s holiday sales forecast, which anticipates an increase of 4.1 percent over last year.” Read more

 

The price is (no longer) right: Retail’s big game by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Amazon and Sears are the most dynamic retailers. They can alter what they charge on 15 to 20 percent of their assortment at least one time a day during regular shopping periods. Wal-Mart falls in the midrange, changing prices on about 6 to 8 percent of its assortment on a daily basis.” Read more

 

Target hacking-case judge voices doubt on claim nobody hurt by Beth Hawkins & Andrew Harris at Bloomberg via Star-Tribune. “You have people here who were honest-to-goodness hurt, who were injured,” U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson told the company’s lawyer, Harold McElhinny, at a hearing Thursday in St. Paul. “Now, whether that’s Target’s fault is for another day.” Read more

 

San Jose: Storm-battered roof collapses onto produce section at Safeway by Robert Salonga at San Jose Mercury News. “The produce section at an East San Jose Safeway got more than its usual misting Thursday when a storm-battered roof collapsed, exposing a 50-square-foot section of the store. No one was seriously injured when the roof gave way about 4 p.m. at the store at East Capitol Expressway and Silver Creek Road.” Read more

 

Kroger chairman steps down by Alexnader Coolidge at Cincinnati.com. “Kroger’s chairman and former CEO David Dillon will retire Dec. 31 after 38 years with the company. Dillon, 63, who served as CEO from 2003 to 2013, will be replaced as chairman by Rodney McMullen” Read more

 

Target picks Memphis for $50M distribution center by Ryan Poe at Memphis Business Journal. “Target will open its new online fulfillment center in the 900,000-square-foot industrial building at 5461 Davison Road. Hiring will begin in early 2015, with the center becoming operational by mid-2015, the release said.” Read more

 

Shareholder adviser to Family Dollar: Delay vote by Matt Townsend at Bloomberg via Charlotte Observer. “Family Dollar Stores investors should oppose the current Dollar Tree takeover offer and postpone a Dec.23 meeting to vote on the deal, shareholder adviser Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. said.” Read more

 

Best Buy apologizes for Serial tweet by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Best Buy found itself hustling Thursday afternoon to retract a tweet some found insensitive related to a closely-watched murder case.” Read more

 

Target holds job fair for new Hawaii store at KITV ABC 4. See the video

 

Lowe’s Outlines Strategic Priorities and Long-Term Financial Targets “Total sales are expected to increase 4.5 to 5 percent. Comparable sales are expected to increase 3.5 to 4 percent. The company expects to open 6 home improvement and 4 hardware stores.” Read the release

 

Lowe’s Signs Deal for Chelsea NYC Flagship by Lauren Elkies Schram at Commercial Observer. “A spokeswoman for SL Green declined to cite rents, but said the store is slated to move into the basement, ground floor and second floor in the second quarter of 2015.” Read more

 

Lowe’s: Heard on Yesterday’s Analyst & Investor Conference 

 

Canada

Lowe’s plans to open 25 new stores over next three years (Total of 62 stores in Canada by end of ’17)

Opportunity for 100 stores in Canada of varying formats

 

Mexico

Will open five new stores over next three years (Total of 15 stores in Mexico by end of ’17)

Testing the model to make sure it’s right

 

Australia

Slowing pace of expansion

Plans to open 30 new Masters stores over next three years (Total of 79 Masters stores by end of ’17)

 

Manhattan & City Center Concept 

Lowe’s is entering Manhattan with two new urban stores in ’15

Open to accelerating concept if test goes well

Stores are 30K square feet and have a multi-story layout

 

Orchard Supply

Plans to open up to 40 stores over next three years

 

Sherwin-Williams Paint Exclusive 

Lowe’s announces new HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams paint line

Says this is the first time in more than 40 years that Sherwin-Williams has made its brand available in another retailer

 

National Brand New Additions

2014: GRK Fasteners, Hubbell, Pella, Henry, Progress Lighting

2015: Rinnai, Culligan, Goldblatt tools, GAF roofing, Owens Corning, Lennox, Troy Bilt Flex, Sherwin-Williams

 

Notable

70% of online orders are picked up in store or delivered by the store

“Our business is sound and our brand is strong” (Robert Niblock)

Private brands account for about 20% of sales

U.S. accounts for 98% of sales today

Orchard platform able to offer brands not available in larger home improvement stores (Benjamin Moore, Craftsman, Carhartt, Dr. Earth)

 

Listen to Webcast (2 hrs 43 min) / See Exec Presentations

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered around 8 AM EST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday Tipsheet: McMillon on CBS | Wgreen CEO Out | Costco Call Summary

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“Walgreen CEO Is Out as Top Shareholder Pessina Takes Over” by Michelle Fay Cortez at Bloomberg. “Walgreen Chief Executive Officer Greg Wasson will retire, clearing the way for top shareholder Stefano Pessina to tighten his grip amid a merger with his European retailer Alliance Boots GmbH…Pessina, 73, will be acting CEO while the company searches for a successor…The move makes almost a clean-sweep of Walgreen’s former executives.” Read more

 

“How Wal-Mart Made Its Crumbling China Business Look So Good for So Long” by Renee Dudley & Liza Lin at Bloomberg. “The practices — including bulk sales to other retailers and some sales allegedly booked when no merchandise left the shelves — made business appear strong even as retail transactions slowed and unsold inventory piled up, these people and documents say. Wal-Mart said in August that it was unhappy with inventory growth internationally.” Read more

 

Walmart CEO Appears on CBS This Morning  See the interview

 

“Walmart CEO: We’ll Do Away With Minimum Wage Pay In New Year” by Clare O’Connor at Forbes. “We’re going to make changes in a few months that will create a situation where no Walmart associate in the United States makes federal minimum wage,” McMillon told ‘CBS This Morning’ co-host Charlie Rose in a rare, fairly wide-ranging sit-down discussion. “We’ll be ahead of that with our starting wage.” Read more

 

“Another top executive leaves Walmart U.S. at height of holiday season” by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “Operating Officer Gisel Ruiz (will) be leaving to go to Walmart International, and be replaced immediately by Judith McKenna, a 20-year Wal-Mart veteran who most recently served as chief development officer for Walmart U.S.” Read more

 

*** New product spotlight – A message from Eye Dig It Safety Sunglasses: Fashionable protection….set your sights on this pair of chic sunglasses to find the best of both worlds. Maximum visual perception and shatter/scratch-resistant protection, Eye Dig It helps protect your eyes from debris and provide UVA and UVB protection…there’s no need to sacrifice your safety for style. Available in Black and Tortoise Shell. See the sell sheet.  For more information contact info@shiftmarketinggroup.net

 

“Dot-Com Survivor BuildDirect Bets The House To Battle Lowe’s and Home Depot” by Ryan Mac at Forbes. “The company, which sells hardwood flooring, patio furniture and marble tile, has been on a start-and-stop schlep through the dot-com bubble, the housing collapse and plenty of skepticism. After 15 years BuildDirect is finally the overnight success story CEO Booth and cofounder Rob Banks envisioned it would be.” Read more

 

Women’s Wear Daily: “Ten of Tomorrow – Marvin Ellison, J.C. Penney” by David Moin. “I was surprised they were in such great moods,” despite working the holiday. Plus, they started at 5 p.m. versus 8 p.m. a year ago. Management debated when to open, Ellison said, yet associates “really petitioned us to open at 5. They wanted to win.” He came and went through Penney’s stores unannounced. “I still have the luxury of being able to walk around the stores pretty anonymously. They don’t recognize me.” Read more

 

“Target to Make No Harm-No Foul Argument in Breach Suit” by Andrew Harris at Bloomberg. “A victory for Target would also benefit retailers including Home Depot that face lawsuits after an explosion of hacking intrusions. Judges in previous cases found that the mere risk of identity theft alone isn’t enough, without proof of actual or imminent financial loss, for cases to proceed in federal court.” Read more

 

NY Times: “Online Deals for Holiday Shopping: Buyer Beware” by Farhad Manjoo. “So far this year, The Wirecutter and The Sweethome have researched 54,000 holiday deals. They’ve found that only a bit more than 300 of them — less than 1 percent — are worth your time. “When we find a deal that we think is good, it’s a needle in a haystack,” Ms. Cheng said.” Read more

 

“Walmart cashier helps customer buy groceries” by Marty Casper at News 10 ABC. “I felt really bad for him,” she said. “I didn’t want him to go home and not have something that he really needed to eat.” Instead, Karpen took $40 out of her own pocket for the man to use toward his groceries. “He didn’t quite realize what happened,” she said. Her manager, Jamie Cobb was stunned. “When I heard that I just couldn’t believe that,” she said.” See the video / Read more

 

— SEEKING INPUT: What do you like about this tipsheet? What do you dislike? Email info@shiftmarketinggroup.net with some thoughts on how to improve this morning rundown. 

 

Heard on Costco’s Q1 Earnings Call

Richard Galanti:

New stores

We opened eight new locations during the first quarter, which ended November 23rd, six in the U.S., our seventh location in Australia and our second location in Leone, Mexico.

We have no openings plan for Q2, for all of fiscal ’15 however, we have a current plan of 31 new locations, 18 of which will be in the U.S., three each in Japan and Mexico, two each in Australia and Korea, and one each in Canada, U.K. and Taiwan.

Australia is what two-thirds of the size population wise as Canada, where we have 90 or so units, we have seven in Australia. I’m not suggesting we are going to have 45 in Australia anytime soon. But certainly we will get more than seven.

Japan is certainly a bigger market for us. We’ve got 23, I believe, 22 or 23. We should have a lot more than that.

International

Better performing countries were Canada, Taiwan and Mexico.

LivingSocial

In early September for eight days we ran a nationwide promotion for new members on LivingSocial. It was a good value and we felt worked pretty well, but we will continue to look and see what we want to do going forward, no plans at this point.

Costco Online

We’re now in four countries, U.S., Canada, U.K. and Mexico. For the quarter, sales and profit were up over the year. E-commerce sales were up 20%, up 19% on a comp basis.

International online: stay tuned, maybe one additional country by fiscal year end ‘15

Google Shopping Express test

It’s too early to completely tell but we’re seeing some increased overall spend and it’s been a good partner to work with Google. 

Alibaba

It’s great but it’s new and we’ll see where it goes from here but certainly get our name noted a little bit over there as well.

Category Comps

Food and sundries: up in the mid-single digits. Candy, deli and spirits were up with the relative standouts.

Hardlines: up in the mid-single digits for the quarter. Electronics, came in high-single digits range. Better performing departments within hardlines was hardware, sporting goods and tires.

Within mid single-digit softlines, domestic, apparel and home furnishings were the standouts.

Fresh foods: comps were in the high singles, with meat department being the standout there.

I think in the last two years, we’ve little more than doubled organic sales from the low billions to closing in on $3 billion currently. 

 

Read the Full Transcript via Seeking Alpha (Registration)

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Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Wednesday Tipsheet: Costco +7% | Canada & ‘Price Gouging’ | Wmart Likes TX

/in

 

“Costco Q1 Comp Sales +7%” “Net sales for the quarter increased seven percent, to $26.28 billion from $24.47 billion during the first quarter last year.” Read the release

 

WSJ: “Costco Profit Gain Falls Short of Forecasts” by Angela Chen. “Profit for the quarter rose to $496 million, or $1.12 a share, from year-earlier earnings of $425 million, or 96 cents a share. Revenue improved 7% to $26.87 billion. Analysts had expected a profit of $1.52 a share and revenue of $26.92 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.” Read more (Subscription)

 

“Costco’s a deal for shoppers. The CEO may be, too.” by Gary Strauss at USA Today. “In an era of oversized pay packages and stock grants, Jelinek pulled in a relatively modest $5.6 million in fiscal 2014 compensation, up 4.8% from 2013, the members-only warehouse giant and USA’s second-largest retailer said in a preliminary proxy Tuesday. That’s about half the median $10.5 million pay Standard & Poor’s 500 company CEOs made in 2013.” Read more

 

“Target testing “vignette” model for home decor” by Nick Halter at Minn./St.Paul Bus. Journal. “Target is experimenting with a new home-decor layout that eschews aisles in favor of open showroom-like areas that display how products would look in a room. The test launched Nov. 8 in Target’s Northeast Minneapolis store — where it does many of its pilots — and hasn’t been introduced elsewhere, at least not yet.” Read more

 

“Ottawa targets U.S. retailers over ‘price gouging’” by Gordon Isfeld at Financial Post. “The federal government may be pushing ahead with a promised crackdown on retailers who jack up their prices — and viewed as widening the gap between Canada and the United States…Industry Minister James Moore said Tuesday that new legislation will tackle the so-called “geographic price discrimination” between the two countries — a practice he prefers to call “price gouging.” Read more

 

“Ottawa’s proposal to probe retail price gaps finds few backers from suppliers” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “Supplier groups are unimpressed by the federal Conservative government’s attempt to use legislative pressures to sway companies to drop prices.“From what I gather, I don’t think this effort will make any difference,” said Bob Kirke, executive director of the Canadian Apparel Federation.” Read more

 

“Big retailers price black, white Barbies differently” by Katie Little at CNBC. “They should always be the same price, across all ethnicities,” a Wal-Mart spokesman said Tuesday evening. “This is just a pricing error. We corrected it immediately.” Read more

 

“Organic-Farming Boom Stretches Certification System” by Caelainn Barr at WSJ. “There are currently 81 accredited “certifying agents,” or groups that stamp food as organic in the U.S. But of the 37 that had a complete review this year, 23 were cited for failing to correctly enforce certification requirements on farms in audits, according to an internal Agriculture Department report.” Read more (Subscription)

 

“Wal-Mart cuts a new path through rural Texas” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “Wal-Mart is rediscovering small-town Texas. This time it’s focusing on even smaller towns than it did in the 1970s and 1980s. Wal-Mart will open 37 stores in the state from November through the end of January.” Read more

 

“Retailers Using Science To Shape Shopping Experience” by Kathryn Hauser at WBZ CBS Boston. “For bigger stores neuroscience could be the new norm. “As the digital world is taking off more competition in traditional brick and mortar stores they have to do something to compete,” says Dr. Marci. And the new playing field is our own subconscious.” Read more / See the video

 

“Target to sponsor 2 Ganassi entries in 2015 as retailer looks to spend more on marketing” by Jenna Fryer at Star-Tribune. “We are just reallocating dollars, there’s no difference in anything else,” said Dan Griffis, vice president of experiential marketing and alliances at Target. “I would put our investment in racing as the only full-time sponsor in both IndyCar and NASCAR, against any other sponsor in the sport.” Read more

 

“The Top 50 Places to Work in the U.S. (HEB #7, Costco #29, Wegmans #32)” by Jared Linzon at Fast Company. See the Top 50 List

 

“Amazon Will Allow Negotiating on Prices for Some Products” by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “Amazon has introduced a price-negotiating feature for some of its items in an apparent bid to boost sales in its collectible and fine art categories, which include sports and entertainment memorabilia.” Read more

 

…About 150,000 items for sale on Amazon are eligible for the service, but that will expand to more third-party sellers in 2015 by Mae Anderson at HuffPo. Read more

 

“Best Buy will look for other paper suppliers after Greenpeace report” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “The announcement by the Richfield-based electronics chain this week comes in the wake of a recent Greenpeace report that criticized the retailer for using Resolute Forest Products as its primary paper supplier.” Read more

 

San Jose: “See inside the debut of the Whole Foods grocery store” by Vicki Thompson at Silicon Valley Bus. Journal.  See the 16 Pics / Read more

 

Berkeley: Good Samaritan Attempts to Stop Looting of Radio Shack, Gets Struck in Face for his Efforts by Jason Howerton at The Blaze. “The victim was actually a fellow protester, according to Berkeleyside. The news website reported that there were a “series of aggressive interactions between protesters who wanted to keep the peace and stop those who were breaking windows at Radio Shack and those who were encouraging the vandalism.” See the video / Read more

 

***

Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created early AM every weekday and delivered between 7-8 am CST. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.