Bed Bath & Beyond Q2 comp sales -2.6% “Comparable sales from customer-facing digital channels continued to have strong growth in excess of 20% for the 13th consecutive quarter, while comparable sales from stores declined in the mid-single-digit percentage range.” Press release

 

Early forecast calls for stronger holiday season for retailers at CNBC. “Deloitte said it expects retailers to see holiday sales growth of as much as 4.5 percent. Last year, total sales for the season climbed 3.6 percent, matching results in 2015.” Read more

 

Walgreens gets regulatory nod for slimmed-down Rite Aid deal at Reuters. “Walgreens will acquire 1,932 Rite Aid stores, 254 fewer than it announced in July, in areas where competition between the two chains is not significant.” Read more | Press release

 

COSTCO KIMCHI – Costco stores in South Korea offer chopped onions for hot dogs. Koreans have a different idea by Matt Stiles at LA Times. “Consumption methods vary by customer. Some prefer a large, clean mound of onions, with sauces placed in careful circles on the side. Some decorate the onions with sauce. Others still mix it all together into a red-orange mass. Scores of these customers’ creations have been posted on social media such as Instagram. There’s even a mini-documentary about the practice.” Read more

 

Walmart, Target join call for ‘Dreamer’ legislation at CNBC. “Wal-Mart, Target and PepsiCo on Wednesday joined an expanded group of nearly 800 companies calling in a letter for U.S. legislation to protect immigrants brought into the country illegally by their parents from deportation, according to organizer FWD.us.” Read more

 

Amazon Emails Customers With Fake Baby News by Jeff John Roberts at Fortune. “Millions of Amazon customers received a surprise email on Tuesday with the good news that a baby gift was on the way. Alas, it turned out there was no gift—and in most cases no baby either. In one of the weirder tech glitches in recent memory, Amazon’s automated email servers appears to have gone off the rails and spammed many of the company’s customers with a message titled “A gift from your registry.” Read more

 

Walmart to give more hours to current staff this holiday season at Fox Business. “Walmart Stores said on Wednesday it would not hire temporary workers this holiday season and would instead offer the extra hours to its current employees. This is in sharp contrast to the plans of other retailers such as Target Corp and Macy’s Inc.” Read more

 

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THRILLER – Why Michael Jackson Is Going to Be Even Bigger This Halloween at Bloomberg. “We’re planting the Halloween flag,” said John Branca, the Los Angeles attorney who serves as co-executor of the singer’s estate, along with former music industry executive John McClain. “Michael loved Halloween!” Read more

 

DON’T LET IT END – Toys ‘R’ Us Will Live Because Mattel and Hasbro Can’t Let It Die at Bloomberg. “Oh my God, they are very important, and people don’t understand,”  Isaac Larian, founder and chief executive officer of MGA, said of the toy chain. “That’s the only place where kids can go and just buy toys. There is no toy business without Toys ‘R’ Us.” Read more

 

Best Buy CEO sees ‘growth opportunities’ ahead, Wall Street isn’t buying it by Courtney Reagan at CNBC. “Additionally Tuesday, Best Buy announced it’s testing a service it calls Assured Living in Minneapolis and Denver, which uses technology to help loved ones check in on the safety and well-being of aging family members.” Read more

 

Amazon turns down cactus gift from Arizona and donates 21-foot-tall saguaro to Desert Museum by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “Amazon turned down a 21-foot-tall saguaro cactus on Tuesday that was being sent to CEO Jeff Bezos as an incentive to consider Tucson, Ariz., as a possible location for the tech giant’s second headquarters.” Pics/Read more

 

HBR: Consumers Prefer Products with Imperfections Because They Feel More Unique “Consumers were more likely to choose the chocolate than extra money when they learned that the chocolate was made by mistake rather than made intentionally…consumer attraction to products made by mistake is not just limited to cases in which a mistake enhances the product.” Read more

 

Stefano Pessina, CEO at Walgreens Boots Alliance, talks with Bloomberg 3:39 video

 

Canadian Tire pledges $50 million toward accessible sports and playgrounds at Toronto Star. “The pep rally-style announcement was made Tuesday at the fully accessible Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre with the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Paralympian Rick Hansen and Blue Jays centre-fielder Kevin Pillar in attendance.” Read more

 

Trump administration prepares to ease export rules for U.S. guns at Reuters. “Aides to President Donald Trump are completing a plan to shift oversight of international non-military firearms sales from the State Department to the Commerce Department, four officials told Reuters.” Read more

 

General Mills shares fall as profit misses on weak yogurt, cereal sales at Fox Business. “Net sales in its U.S. cereal operating unit fell 7 percent, reflecting a reduction in customer inventory levels among other things.” Read more

 

Supermarket offers ‘finger vein’ payment in worldwide first at The Telegraph. “Customers at the Costcutter store, at Brunel University in London, can now pay using their unique vein pattern to identify themselves. The firm behind the technology, Sthaler, has said it is in “serious talks” with other major UK supermarkets to adopt hi-tech finger vein scanners at pay points across thousands of stores.” Read more

 

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Johnson & Johnson acquires subscription-based contact lens startup

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Americans are tired of chicken, eating more beef and fish: Cargill CEO

New FedEx shipping rates will kick in Jan. 1, increasing almost 5%

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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