Target’s new 10-4 policy at USA Today. “The new policy requires employees who are within 10 feet of customers to smile, make eye contact, wave, and use friendly, approachable, and welcoming body language…” Read more

 

The Credit-Card Rule That Powers Rewards Cards Just Got Broken at WSJ. “Under terms being discussed, Visa and Mastercard would lower credit-card interchange fees, which are often between 2% and 2.5%, by an average of around 0.1 percentage point over several years, the people said. They would also loosen rules that require merchants that accept one of a network’s credit cards to accept all of them. A deal could be announced soon, the people said, and would require court approval to take effect.” WSJ subs.

 

…NRF’s General Counsel not happy at CNBC. “‘You can’t just suddenly tell more than 80% of your card customers you’re not going to take their cards,” Stephanie Martz, the NRF’s general counsel, said in an interview. “You would lose a lot of business.” Read more

 

How Beauty Behemoth Ulta Conquered the American Strip Mall at Bloomberg. “If department-store beauty counters are glass-cased, heavily staffed altars to particular brands, and Sephora feels like a candy store packed with ways to extract $40 from you without you really noticing, Ulta is more like the Home Depot of beauty, filled with every possible paint, tool, spackle and fixture imaginable.” Bloomberg subs.

 

Levi’s to sell $300 jeans in more stores to tap growing demand for premium denim at Reuters. “Launched in Asia earlier this year, and in around two dozen stores in Europe and the U.S. since September, the Blue Tab range of higher quality jeans and shirts is part of an ongoing push to broaden the Levi’s brand and attract more women.” Reuters subs.

 

What America’s Longest-Tenured Employees Say About Work—Then and Now at WSJ. “Jacqueline Graf at Target…Age: 80…Cash registers punched holes into paper tape to record sales; the tape would then be sent to headquarters each day and fed into a computer to analyze sales…At the time, Target stores still had wig departments and a restaurant that served three meals a day.” WSJ subs.

 

China’s ‘Singles’ Day’ shopping festival a gauge of Beijing’s effort to get consumers to spend more at AP. “A lot of people have been complaining that the discounts (this year) are not very strong,” said Yaling Jiang, an independent Chinese consumer analyst, adding that she observed a stronger sense of “consumer fatigue.” Read more

 

Target is lowering prices on 3,000 food, beverage and essential items Press release

 

Anti-Trump groups urge holiday boycott of Amazon, Home Depot, Target over DEI backtrack at USA Today. “The “We Ain’t Buying It” nationwide economic pressure campaign is launching ahead of the holiday season “to demonstrate to corporations that there are consequences for not standing up loudly for freedom and core democratic principles of fairness, justice and liberty,” Black Voters Matter, Indivisible and Until Freedom said in a statement.” Read more

 

Rising Pirate Attacks Off Somalia Endanger Key Trade Route at Bloomberg. “Instability in Yemen and the Horn of Africa is fueling a resurgence in maritime piracy off Somalia…At least three recorded incidents have taken place off the Horn of Africa nation this month alone.” Bloomberg subs.

 

Building Homes for Heroes, Lowe’s, and Town of Mooresville to Break Ground on First-Of-Its-Kind Veterans Community Press release

 

Italian Pasta Is Poised to Disappear From American Grocery Shelves at WSJ. “Trump administration is set to impose duties of 107% on Italian pasta imports…The Commerce Department acted after a long-running probe into pricing practices for the product…” WSJ subs.