“Costco Same-Store Sales Up 3% in October – Beats Street” at Reuters. “Sales at stores open at least a year rose 3 percent in the four-week period ended Nov. 3, including the impact of fuel sales and foreign exchange.  On that basis, analysts expected same-store sales to rise 2.6 percent for the month of October, according to Thomson Reuters data.”  Read more

 

“Costco Reports October Sales Results” (Company Release) “Costco today reported net sales of $8.15 billion for the month of October, the four weeks ended November 3, 2013, an increase of six percent from $7.66 billion during the similar four-week period last year.” Read more

 

“Whole Foods Same-Store Sales Up 5.9% in Q4 – Shares Slip” at Fox Business.  “Overall sales rose 2.2 percent to $2.98 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting $3.04 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S…Same-store sales rose 5.9 percent for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 29, the slowest pace of the year.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart, P&G discuss joint business planning” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Febreze Case Study:  In joint planning, Wal-Mart and P&G could see a major gap in consumer spending toward air care products for the home and auto fresheners such as spray, plug-ins and no-spill diffusers. Air care was a $7 billion industry and there was nearly $4 billion being left on the table because consumers were not purchasing these products at Wal-Mart…Read more

 

“Home Depot Beats Wal-Mart, Target Online” by Shelly Banjo at WSJ. “Home Depot revealed in correspondence with the Securities and Exchange Commission this fall that online sales represented 2.4% of its $74.8 billion in 2012 net sales.  That’s a pretty small number, but it’s notable  because it means the seller of lumber, tiles and cabinets books a greater percentage of sales online than retailers like Wal-Mart and Target.”  Read more

 

“Walmart to Rake in Estimated $200 Mil in 2013 from Duck Dynasty merchandise” by Clare O’Connor at Forbes.  “By the end of 2013, Duck Dynasty product tie-ins will have raked in a massive $400 million in revenues according to industry sources. Sales in Walmart alone account for about half of that bounty, with some stores devoting entire aisles to Robertson-themed merchandise. Other major chains selling Duck Dynasty goods include Target and Kohl’s.”  Read more

 

“Walmart is the #1 Most ‘Liked’ Brand on Facebook (by far)” at Forbes.  See the Top Ten List

 

“BJ’s Puts Foot Down – Won’t Open on Thanksgiving”  “BJ’s is spreading its Black Friday deals across an entire week (Sunday, November 24 – Sunday, December 1), sparing BJ’s Members from having to wake at the crack of dawn (or even before dawn!) to line up for BJ’s great holiday sales on Black Friday…BJ’s is bucking the retail trend of putting sales on Thanksgiving above family time and will continue its tradition of not opening on Thanksgiving Day.”  Read more

 

“Walmart CMO Stephen Quinn First Inductee into CMO Hall of Fame”  “An extensive and impressive background, Mr. Quinn also worked in marketing, sales and finance roles for Quaker Oats, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Nortel. He has managed several leading brands, including Tylenol, Johnson’s Baby Products, Quaker Oats, Aunt Jemima, Lay’s Tostitos, Doritos, Great Value, Equate and Walmart.”  Read more

 

“Lowe’s Sitting on Land Worth $1.1 Bil in Australia” by Eli Greenblat at The Age.  “Woolworths and its US  joint-venture partner, Lowe’s, are sitting on a land bank worth nearly $1.1 billion as they lay the groundwork for the national rollout of their Masters hardware stores across 100 sites…the Masters joint venture is still running up sizeable losses, with the sprawling hardware operation posting a full-year loss before interest and tax of $138.86 million in fiscal year 2013.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart Online Price Error Leads to $100 Can of Lysol, Kayaks for $11” by Renee Dudley at Bloomberg.  “Wal-Mart’s website was selling kayaks for about $11 and computer monitors for about $9 earlier today owing to a technical error that led the world’s largest retailer to shut down its online store for maintenance.  The pricing abnormalities were caused internally, said Ravi Jariwala, a Wal-Mart spokesman.  “We’re working quickly to correct” it, he said in a telephone interview, adding that there would be “intermittent site unavailability” until then.”  Read more

 

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