Thursday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: Home Depot Peak? | Whole Foods Worry | Walgreens Sued
“Industry Trends Might Not Favor Home Depot Much Longer” by Dan Moskowitz at Motley Fool. “Many investors will point to a strong housing recovery in California as a major positive. However, a large portion of the housing boom in California has been thanks to investment firms (and foreign investors) buying properties, not families looking for starter homes or upgrading to larger dwellings. That being the case, the housing boom in California should be looked at with at least some skepticism when it comes to long-term sustainability.” Read more
“The Home Depot To Present At Goldman Sachs Twentieth Annual Global Retailing Conference” “The Home Depot today announced that Frank Blake, chairman and CEO, and Marvin Ellison, executive vice president, U.S. Stores, will present at the Goldman Sachs Twentieth Annual Global Retailing Conference in New York, NY. The presentation will begin at 11:20 a.m. ET on September 11, 2013.” Read more
“Wal-Mart promises more U.S. made products” by Carol Costello at CNN. “CNN’s Carol Costello talks with a Wal-Mart executive about their plan to sell more U.S. made goods.” See the video
“Is There a Reason to Worry About Whole Foods?” by Rich Duprey at Motley Fool. “…And therein lies part of the problem for Whole Foods. Not only is there a wealth of choice for organic shoppers, but many of its rivals boast lower prices for their products. The “whole paycheck” brickbat hurled at the grocer is not unwarranted, and increasingly it has been forced to resort to promotional activity that could, if allowed to continue, undermine the rich margins it’s historically enjoyed.” Read more
“Wal-Mart to field questions on Bangladesh practices” at CNBC. “Under scrutiny over a series of disasters at Bangladesh garment factories, Wal-Mart plans to field questions from investors at a briefing on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Carol Schumacher, Wal-Mart’s vice president of global investor relations, told the Journal that the company’s goal was “to provide an update on this area of the business and to give you the opportunity to ask questions.” Read more
“How a Giant Arrow Gets You to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables” by Kevin Drum at Mother Jones. ““In retail, the customer tends to go to the right,” said Tim Taylor, the produce director for Lowe’s, Pay and Save, a regional grocery chain that let the scientists in to experiment with their arrows and mirrors. “But I watched when the arrows were down, pointing left, and that’s where people went: left, 9 out of 10.” Read more
“Walmart deal erases apartheid legacy” at Business Report. ““Growing up we were very poor,” saus Kleynhans, 49. Thanks to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s decision to import her wines, Kleynhans and her six sisters, who were once crammed into a two-roomed fisherman’s cottage along with her brother and parents, will soon make more money than ever. “Maybe the time has come for us to be able to take a break and enjoy life,” she said.” Read more
“Groupon takes aim at Amazon” at Portland Business Journal. “Groupon Inc. is planning to open a network of North American warehouses that would directly compete with Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. The Wall Street Journal reports Groupon is planning a distribution center in Kentucky and adding additional centers.” Read more
“Twitter Buys Trendrr to Track Social Conversations Across Media” by Cotton Delo at Ad Age. “It’s the second major acquisition Twitter has made this year of an ecosystem company that conducted measurement and analytics on behalf of networks and brands around social conversations linked to TV. It reportedly paid $90 million for a former Trendrr competitor, Bluefin Labs, which was acquired in February.” Read more
“Twitter is Hiring an Editor to Surface Vine’s Best Content and Creators” by Christina Chaey at Fast Company. “Vine recently announced that it hit 40 million users, and now parent company Twitter is hiring its first editor to work on the app, which lets you create six-second stop-motion videos. According to the job posting, the Vine editor’s primary responsibilities will be to discover and profile Vine’s best content creators and find new outlets to share the videos.” Read more
“Missouri sues Walgreen Co. for deceptive pricing” by Kavita Kumar at St. Louis Post Dispatch. “On Tuesday, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a civil lawsuit against the Deerfield, Ill.-based drugstore chain for engaging in what he called a pattern of false and misleading advertising and pricing schemes. During a two-month investigation by his office, Koster said staff members visited eight Walgreens stores across the state, including two in the St. Louis region, and found that they were overcharged on about 20 percent of the items they purchased — or on 43 items out of 205 products.” Read more
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