Tipsheet: B.Buy Cuts HQ Staff | H.Depot +8.9% | Target Spent $12M on Gwen Video
Home Depot Q4 US Comp Sales +8.9% “The Home Depot…today reported sales of $21.0 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, a 9.5 percent increase from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Comparable store sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 were positive 7.1 percent.” Read the release
@ CNBC: “The key with Home Depot is that they kept warm weather product in the stores longer, and then as the weather shifted, they got the snow shovels, ice melt, generators, whatever else in their stores quickly, so they were really able to take advantage of what was for a while an odd weather environment,” he said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday.” Read more
Best Buy lays off a few dozen corporate employees by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “We’ve had some areas where we have done a small amount of restructuring,” Jeff Shelman, a company spokesman, told the Star Tribune. He did not provide an exact number of job cuts. But he noted that Best Buy is also hiring in other strategic areas. Its corporate website lists about 90 job openings in Richfield.” Read more
TARGET’S GWEN GRAMMY EFFORT HAS EARNED 3 BILLION MEDIA IMPRESSIONS TO DATE – Gwen Stefani’s $12 Million Live Music Video for Target New Centerpiece to a Emerging Trend by Andy Gensler at Billboard. “Billboard estimates Target invested roughly $12 million into the campaign, including $8 million for the airtime alone. Mistakes like the ones in rehearsal would have left egg on faces far and wide — from Target, Stefani and Muller, to Deutsch (Target’s creative agency for the campaign), as well as Stefani’s Interscope Records label and Azoff Music Management.” Read more
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CVS says 2015 drug spending grew 5 percent, far less than in 2014 by Caroline Humer at Reuters. “CVS Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan said that the 2015 overall drug price trend would have been nearly the same as in 2014 if it had not made changes to its main coverage plan, called a formulary, or negotiated such steep discounts.” Read more
CVS Just Made Valeant’s Day Even Worse by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “It was already a terrible day for Valeant Pharmaceuticals when news came that CVS Health it will restrict the use of Jublia, the drugmaker’s toenail fungus treatment…Jublia goes for $1,000 for an 8-ml bottle. Caremark members will have to try to treat their condition with other, less expensive toenail fungus drugs, according to Bloomberg.” Read more
Dillard’s Q4 Comp Sales -2.0% “Dillard’s Chief Executive Officer, William T. Dillard, II, stated, “The fourth quarter was difficult…Sales were particularly weak on the Southern border and in the energy producing regions.” Read the release
Office Depot Q4 Sales -9.0% Read the release
Google Shuttering Comparison-Shopping Site via Wall Street Journal. “The quick reversal is a setback to the Alphabet unit’s efforts to use its enormous reach to provide consumers with niche shopping services and financial-services tools, the Journal said.” via Reuters | via WSJ (subscription)
Kroger Announces Retirement of Smith’s President Jay Cummins “His replacement will be announced at a later date.” Read the release
Online shopping in Canada grew substantially over holiday season, report says by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “Online sales accounted for 9.7 per cent of total retail sales in the two-month period, the highest watermark yet for Web sales in Canada. In December, online sales accounted for to 9.9 per cent of total retail sales, up from 8.6 per cent in 2014.” Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Hal Lawton and other Senior eBay Executives Become Top Rated Sellers
Target Leaders Share Their Favorite Thought-Provoking Moments From TED 2016
Father, son accused of shooting geese too close to Walmart
Target halts the sale of hoverboards on its website
Thief Dons Walmart Smock, Steals Four Flat Screen TVs