Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet 1/28/12: Target Announces Canada Brands; Shoppercetion
“How Walmart and Heineken Will Use Shoppercetion to Put Your In-store Experience in Context” by Shel Israel at Forbes. “Retailers are installing 3D sensors directly over the area where customers stand in front of a retail store section. Let’s assume that its breakfast cereals. The sensors will see when a shopper picks up a particular box, seems to be reading ingredients and whether they buy or return the package. It can tell where in a section customers interact the most often. As they reach for a particular cereal—or even just look at it—a display iPad—makes a special promotional offer, either for the box being vied or a competitive offering. To get the deal, all the customer has to do is toss it into her or his shopping cart, and the cash register will automatically adjust the price.” Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelisrael/2013/01/27/how-walmart-and-heineken-will-use-shoppercetion-to-put-your-in-store-experience-in-context/
“Target Announces Brands Set to Launch in Canadian Stores” “Target today officially unveiled its exclusive partners, owned brands and limited time only collections that will be available to Canadian guests when stores start opening in March/April 2013. Target Canada senior vice president, Merchandising, John Morioka , along with special guests Nate Berkus , Michael Budman , Don Green , Sonia Kashuk , Giada De Laurentiis, and Kate Young unveiled the comprehensive collection of brands at an exclusive event. The announcement demonstrates the company’s commitment to providing Canadian guests with a one-stop shopping destination for affordable, stylish, quality products.” Read more: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/target-announces-brands-set-to-launch-in-canadian-stores-188340911.html
“Amazon Surges to New Highs on Expectation of Positive Holiday Report” by Tricia Duryee at All Things D. “Amazon usually grows at twice the rate of the overall e-commerce market during the fourth quarter. The last three months of 2012 should be no exception. According to comScore’s final tally for the November-December shopping season, online spending in the U.S. totaled $42.3 billion, which was a 14 percent increase over 2011, but fell short of its expectations. Ahead of the Christmas holiday, comScore was anticipating a 16 percent jump in spending. So, if it follows form, Amazon’s year-over-year growth should end up around 30 percent. Read more: https://allthingsd.com/20130125/amazon-surges-to-new-highs-on-expectation-of-positive-holiday-report/
“Vendors compete for Whole Foods spots” by Kim Chappell at ABC 57 News (Video and Text). “In less than three months, the new Whole Foods store is scheduled to open in Mishawaka. But before that can happen, the company is on the prowl for local products to fill the shelves. On Thursday, Michiana vendors got a chance to enter the “shark tank” of natural foods. in a foodie face off. Forty local vendors vied for precious space on the shelves for the new Mishawaka location.” See and read more: https://www.abc57.com/news/local/Whole-Foods-on-the-prowl-for-local-products-188338371.html
“Amazon is busy, but secretive, at Kendall Square offices” by Scott Kirsner at The Boston Globe. “They are building some sort of new device that will have speech as an interface,” said Michael Phillips, a speech recognition entrepreneur who founded Vlingo in Cambridge in 2006. His was among the first companies, even before Apple’s Siri, to devise software for dictating text messages to your mobile phone or initiating Web searches with speech. Phillips said Amazon has hired several Vlingo veterans. The tech industry rumor mill has settled on a mobile phone as Amazon’s secret project. “I think most people would be totally un-stunned by a phone,” said Russ Wilcox, a Framingham entrepreneur who, as a founder of E Ink, worked with Amazon on its Kindle e-book products. And Wilcox notes that it wouldn’t be unusual for Amazon to assign important work to its Cambridge office, such as writing the software necessary for a phone, or perhaps a more futuristic product, like a “wearable” communicator.” Read more: https://bostonglobe.com/business/2013/01/27/amazon-workers-keep-busy-cambridge-but-what-are-they-working/QCe5kORPZ8pgU71Iz4VviL/story.html
“Why I dread going to the Apple Store” by Scott McNulty at MacWorld. “Who doesn’t love going to the Apple Store? Well, me, for one. Sure, I’ve waited in line at an Apple Store opening—I got a t-shirt!—and I’ve also waited in line for the special holiday sale at an Apple Store—I got Mac-themed magnetic poetry!—but instead, I now just wait for the urge to visit an Apple Store to pass. I’m still a fan of what Apple makes, but the retail experience has become less akin to shopping at a high-end boutique and more like going to Walmart (albeit, a well-designed Walmart).” Read more: https://www.macworld.com/article/2026223/why-i-dread-going-to-the-apple-store.html
“Even Sears Shoppers Don’t Care About Sears” by Pam Goodfellow at Forbes. “Sears is often on the receiving end of retailer-related jokes. My favorite is the line uttered by Gary Cole’s Mike Brady in 1995’s camp “classic,” The Brady Bunch Movie: “Put on your Sunday best kids; we’re going to Sears!” Yes, nearly 20 years ago we were laughing at Sears in a movie that aimed to epitomize 1970s kitsch. Outdated indeed. However, the $13.5 million investment that CEO-elect Edward Lampert recently infused into Sears Holdings is no laughing matter. It seems that Mr. Lampert intends to make a serious effort to revive the ailing department store – targeted by many as next in the line of potentially defunct retailers. The department store’s historical performance suggests that Sears cannot rely on its powerhouse Kenmore and Craftsman brands alone to survive in its current state. So if Sears is serious about making a comeback – and cultivating a legacy – it’s time the retailer took a hard look at three major problems it’s facing in the very competitive women’s apparel category.” Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/prospernow/2013/01/22/even-sears-shoppers-dont-care-about-sears/
“Supervalu gives $23M in ‘golden parachutes’ to four executives” by Ed Stych at Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. “Supervalu, which recently announced a $3.3 billion deal that changes control of the company, is giving $22.78 million in “golden parachutes” to four executives, with CEO Wayne Sales receiving more than half the total. Sales, who became the grocer’s CEO last July, will receive $12.8 million when he leaves the company, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Of that, $8.1 million will be in the form of cash and $4.7 million will be in equity.” Read more: https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2013/01/26/supervalu-ceo-sales-golden-parachute.html
“Stater Bros. CEO lauded for career” at MMR. “When Jack Brown joined Stater Bros. Markets in 1981, the chain had 79 supermarkets, 3,300 employees and about $475 million in annual sales. Under Brown’s leadership (he has served as the company’s president and chief executive officer for 32 years and its chairman for 27 years) Stater Bros. has grown dramatically. It now has 167 supermarkets, about 18,000 employees, and annual sales of about $4 billion…For these accomplishments, the editors of MMR are recognizing Jack Brown with the publication’s Lifetime Achievement Award.” Read more: https://www.massmarketretailers.com/inside-this-issue/news/01-14-2013/stater-bros-ceo-lauded-for-career