Target Surprise: Ranked #1 in Shipping Speed by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “I had to dig a little deeper to make sure that was really accurate,” said Kevon Hills, StellaService’s vice president of research. But it was. The study by the New York-based research firm found that Target shaved three days off its delivery time. Target’s packages reached StellaService analysts in 1.8 days last month, at least a day quicker than many other retailers who made the top 25.” Read more

 

“Postal Service aims for grocery delivery beyond Amazon” by Jay Greene at Seattle Times. “For the past several weeks, the agency has been testing delivering prepackaged grocery items purchased from the Web giant to customers in San Francisco. According to a filing, the Postal Service is now seeking approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission to add new cities to the test.” Read more

 

Walmart SVP of Change Management, Celia Swanson, Speaks at Luncheon by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Swanson shared that one of the first things the new Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon did after his promotion was to create a video on the importance of corporate culture. He also made the traditional Saturday morning meeting optional for the first time in the company’s history…“To his credit he made the meeting optional, but then put the pressure on himself to make the meetings so great that everyone would want to attend,” she added.” Read more

 

“Amazon’s Grand Plan to Avoid Holiday Delivery Snafus Again” by Brad Stone at Businessweek. “Amazon has built 38 new fulfillment centers in North America over the last year and a half and an additional 15 “sortation centers,” a new category of smaller warehouse where packages from the fulfillment centers are sorted by ZIP codes. The sortation centers allow Amazon to ship packages directly to customers…Overall Amazon now has 158 fulfillment centers around the world, ChannelAdvisor estimates, and more than 100 million square feet of fulfillment capacity.” Read more / See the location maps

 

“Tractor Supply plans new pet concept stores” by Eric Snyder at Nashville Bus. Journal. “Nashville Post reports that the concept is known as HomeTown Pet, and will be run independently from Tractor Supply. Concept stores are to open in Franklin and Fairview by mid-November.” Read more

 

J.D. Power: Pharmacy Customer Satisfaction Rankings (Mass: Sam’s – best, Walmart – worst)  “Among brick and mortar pharmacies, Good Neighbor Pharmacy (884) ranks highest in the chain drug store segment; Sam’s Club (865) ranks highest in the mass merchandiser segment; and Publix (886) ranks highest in the supermarket segment.” See the rankings

 

HuffPo: “These Amazon Warehouse Workers Smoke In Cages” by Dave Jamieson. “Amazon’s new fulfillment center in Baltimore includes 30-foot-long outdoor cages that allow workers to step outside while still being confined. Black fencing runs from the floor to ceiling, “making it impossible for anyone inside it to pass objects to anyone standing in the parking lot.” Read more / See the pics

 

“Sears Canada CEO Douglas Campbell resigns after one year in the job” by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “Mr. Campbell is the second chief executive to leave the embattled department store chain in just over a year, and by all accounts, he was an equally competent one.” Read more

 

“Target Announces Exclusive Collection with Faribault” at A Bullseye View. “The assortment of limited-edition bags, throws, scarves for men and women and tech accessories will be available on Target.com starting Nov. 2 and come in an array of exclusive stripes and plaids.” Read more

 

“DHL beats Amazon, Google to first scheduled drone delivery” by Mark Scott at NY Times via Seattle Times. “The flight — expected to take as long as 30 minutes, depending on weather conditions — would be the first time a drone without the aid of even a land-based pilot has been authorized for regular use in Europe, the company said…Like Amazon, which is running tests in Canada, and Google, which is conducting tests in Australia, DHL is hoping its monthlong trial will prove that the technology — dubbed parcelcopter — can replace some of the traditional ways of delivering parcels to remote locations.” Read more

 

“Jeff Bezos’s actions are true to his beliefs, says Amazon India VP Amit Agarwal” by Rashmi Menon at Economic Times. “We recently launched the pet supplies category. The first day, we had people from remote places in India buying guinea pig food. I would never have guessed that. I would have guessed a dog collar or dog food but guinea pig food! There were purchases for bird food and even food for lizards.” Read more

 

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