Tipsheet: Christmas +$1T | Saks Social Stars | Rona Pays Price
US Christmas sales predicted to surpass $1 trillion for the first time this year at CNBC. Read more
Marvin Ellison has chopped 150 stores since taking the reigns at Lowe’s at MarketPlace. “Lowe’s announcement that it would shutter 51 “underperforming” stores…is the second set of closures in Marvin Ellison’s short tenure as CEO, and analysts say they might not be the last. The company announced in August that it would close all 99 Orchard Supply Hardware stores.” Read more
…Rona pays the price — 31 stores — after rebuilding with Lowe’s at Montreal Gazette. “Lowe’s Canada, with a head office in Boucherville, will close its regional support centres in Mississauga, Ont., and Saint John, N.L., and consolidate those activities in the Montreal suburb. Two pre-fabricated parts plants in Newfoundland and B.C. will also stop operations.” Read more | Press release
Report: Amazon will split HQ2 between Long Island City in Queens, and Crystal City in DC at CNBC. “The update follows a pair of weekend reports naming the Crystal City section of Arlington, Virginia, and other cities as front runners in the tightening race for Amazon’s second headquarters…The New York Times on Monday reported that the Long Island City neighborhood of New York City is nearing an agreement with the tech giant.” Read more
Dollar Tree’s $9 Billion Problem: Family Dollar Isn’t Paying Off by Sarah Nassauer at Wall Street Journal. “We have to do renovations,” said the (Dollar Tree CEO), who started at Dollar Tree in 2001 as head of stores. “Maybe that is a little clearer to me than when we started out.” WSJ subs.
Walmart & Microsoft expand strategic partnership at US News. “Walmart (will) expand its technology center in Austin to help associates make better use of digital data and improve operations…Microsoft says about 30 technologists will work in the cloud factory that should open in early 2019.” Read more
7-Eleven is testing new ‘scan-and-go’ technology in 14 Dallas stores by Ilyse Liffreing at Digiday. “When shopping, customers scan barcodes of items and pay directly through their phones, either with a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, applying any rewards to their purchases. Upon leaving these stores, customers scan a QR code in the store to confirm they paid.” Read more
Bonobos & Nike get their own branded shops at Jet.com by Sarah Perez at Techcrunch. Read more
How high-end department store reps use social media to rake in millions by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “A spokesman for Saks said the company has “several” sales associates who generate more than $1 million a year through social media — including a Philadelphia-based rep who has crossed the $2 million mark — and he refused to identify any of them.” Read more
Alibaba says it will help China buy $200 billion in goods in the next five years at CNBC. Read more
Under Armour’s #MeToo Moment: No More Strip Clubs on Company Dime by Khadeefa Safdar at Wall Street Journal. “Strip-club visits were symptomatic of practices women at Under Armour found demeaning, according to more than a dozen current and former employees and executives.” WSJ subs. | Baltimore Sun article
College student accuses JD.com CEO of rape: I told him ‘no’ at NY Post. Read more
Who’s In Your Online Shopping Cart? at Krebs on Security. “Publicwww.com is a handy online service that lets you search the Web for sites running snippets of specific code. Searching publicwww.com for sites pulling code from bootstrap-js-dot-com currently reveals more than 50 e-commerce sites seeded with this malicious script.” Read more
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Amazon offers free shipping with no minimum purchase amount on orders that will arrive in time for the Christmas holiday Press release
Americans Just Got Used to Dipping Credit Cards. Now It’s Time to Tap by Jennifer Surane at Bloomberg. “There’s still some work to be done: 30 percent of the top 100 merchants in the U.S. don’t accept contactless payments, among them Walmart.” Tiered subs.
‘A lot’ of people in Walmart when deadly shooting began in produce aisle by Jane Wester & Mark Price at Charlotte Observer. Tiered subs.
Geoffrey’s Toy Box is coming to Kroger this holiday season at CNBC. “(Kroger) has partnered with the hedge fund owners of the Toys R Us brands to bring Geoffrey’s Toy Box sections to around 600 Kroger locations this holiday. The area will be stocked with 35 toys from Animal Zone and Imaginarium, among others, priced between $19.99 and $49.99.” Read more
Red suitcase near NYC Macy’s brings out the bomb squad but proves harmless at Fox News. Read more
Couple orders flooring from Costco that is infested with termite-like beetles at CBC News. “Their floors are slippery because they’re coated in a thin layer of sawdust, forever regenerating itself, even when the couple sweeps and washes two or three times a day, due to what they say is an infestation of powderpost beetles: tiny woodboring insects whose talents rival those of the termite.” Read more
Pier 1 Appoints Donna Noce Colaco as Chief Customer Officer Press release
Customers buy out his California doughnut shop daily so he can care for his wife by Allison Klein at Washington Post via Mercury News. “…one day, Stella Chhan wasn’t there. When customers inquired, John Chhan, 62, told them she had suffered an aneurysm…He would go visit his wife, 63, in the afternoon once all the doughnuts were sold and the shop was clean, he said. That’s all it took.” Tiered subs.
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Bill Gates just gave the keynote at a toilet expo
Home Depot among dozens of companies adding breast milk shipping benefit
Cub executives hope to sell the chain to one buyer
Walmart to move its Bentonville call center, 700 jobs to Springdale
Confident shoppers could actually hurt Amazon this holiday season
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