Monopoly critics decry ‘Amazon amendment’ by Ali Breland at The Hill. “The amendment, Section 801 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would help Amazon establish a tight grip on the lucrative, $53 billion government acquisitions market, experts say. The provision, dubbed the “Amazon amendment” by experts, according to an article in The Intercept, would allow for the creation of an online portal that government employees could use to purchase everyday items such as office supplies or furniture.” Read more

 

Kohl’s Q3 comp +0.1% Press release

 

Wal-Mart holds holiday hours steady, with heavy focus online at CNBC. “New this year, Wal-Mart will no longer be handing out wristbands in advance of Black Friday for coveted items like TVs and iPads…”We feel good about inventory” this year, Wal-Mart’s chief merchandising officer, Steve Bratspies, said on a call with the media. “We don’t think we need wristbands this year.” Read more

 

Postmates Adds Grocery Delivery, Undercutting Amazon on Price by Olivia Zaleski at Bloomberg. “The new service charges $3.99 for delivery on each order or $9.99 a month…Instacart charges $5.99 to $7.99 depending on delivery time, plus a service fee…Postmates plans to roll out Fresh on Wednesday in New York, Los Angeles and its hometown of San Francisco to start.” Read more

 

Office Depot beats Q3 estimates despite hurricane impact at MarketWatch via Yahoo Finance. “Sales fell to $2.620 billion from $2.836 billion, but beat the FactSet consensus of $2.610 billion.” Read more

 

Alibaba Prepares a Grand Retail Experiment for This Singles’ Day by Lulu Yulen Chen at Bloomberg. “This year comes with a twist: the e-commerce titan has enlisted 10 percent of China’s convenience stores, about 600,000 outlets, to hawk goods and get billions of parcels shipped to customers nationwide.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart exec Blaine Douglas shares global leadership experience with students by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Right now it’s private label. We are working on having the ability to track all of product’s specifications for every item worldwide. If stores in Chile want to add a private label salsa they can log into the system and get the exact recipe and supplier information from say Mexico or anywhere else in the world they want,” Douglas said during his 45-minute conversational talk.” Read more

 

Ahold Surges After Q3 Beat Press release

 

Former Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb joins board of Colorado Springs startup, provides ‘sizeable’ investment by Bill Radford at Colorado Springs Gazette. “Through an online marketplace, FoodMaven buys surplus food from grocery stores and distributors and sells it to restaurants, institutional kitchens and commercial food preparation businesses.” Read more

 

Kroger is using Google and Microsoft clouds to avoid paying Amazon by Ari Levy at CNBC. “For obvious reasons competitively, it doesn’t make sense for us to do a ton to help grow that business for them,” Chris Hjelm, Kroger’s chief information officer, told CNBC in an interview.” Read more

 

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Retailers Dig Deeper to Find Holiday-Season Workers by Eric Morath at Fox Business. “David Townes said a previous heroin addiction derailed his work as a collections agent and a court clerk…The 59-year-old attended a job fair in Baltimore this fall…Days later, Macy’s hired him as a sales associate for a Towson, Md., store.” Read more

 

Best Buy, other retailers launch Black Friday deals early by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Best Buy offered more than a dozen Black Friday deals early last year, but this year it has gone further by offering early access to hundreds of Black Friday promotions on everything from iPad minis to 4K TVs and Beats Studio 2 wireless headphones.” Read more (tiered subs.)

 

SpartanNash Q3 retail segment comp sales -2.5% Press release

 

Burberry Plunges on Concern Over Cost of CEO’s Move Upmarket by Robert Williams & Eric Pfanner at  Bloomberg. “Burberry said it will continue to cut its exposure to “nonluxury” retail outlets as the new chief focuses on fixing Burberry’s business in the U.S.” Read more

 

Amazon is selling its own private label diapers again, now under the Mama Bear brand by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “However, shoppers will have to request an invite to purchase the items, as they’re still being launched.” Read more

 

Chico’s Picks The&Partnership as Its Creative and Media Agency of Record by Lindsay Rittenhouse at Adweek. Read more

 

A One-Day Apple iPhone X Sale Is Coming to Sam’s Club by Don Reisinger at Fortune. “Sam’s Club will be holding a one-day sales event on November 11, where it will be offering Apple iPhone X customers a $250 in-store card and a waived activation fee.” Read more

 

Neiman Marcus says Harvey Weinstein Wife’s Fashion Brand Sales are “Fantastic” by Booth Moore at The Hollywood Reporter. Read more

 

Amazon’s ad business will get another boost with the rollout of a new API for self-serve ads by Shareen Pathak at Digiday. Read more

 

lululemon’s Lee Holman, EVP and Creative Director, resigns for personal reasons Press release

 

Amazon 2017 Holiday TV Spot at Adweek. Video/Read more

 

Survey: 16.22 percent favor Thanksgiving openings, with 5.60 percent saying they strongly favor it Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

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Walmarts in Central Florida reportedly listed as homes by sex offenders

Kwik Trip sued for deadly caramel apple

‘He was bait’: Family dog dies after being attacked at PetSmart

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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