Costco Q1 comp sales +8.8% (US +11% / Canada +2.4% / Other Int’l +4%) Press release

 

…Reuters: Costco margin dip overshadows sales beat “We’ve seen a little bit more margin pressure as there’s been a little bit more retail competitive pressure out there, not only from supermarkets but Sam’s as well,” Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said, referring to its grocery business.” Read more | Transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

U.S. core retail sales accelerate in November at Reuters. “Retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services surged 0.9 percent last month after an upwardly revised 0.7 percent increase in October.” Read more

 

Amazon has officially killed the Whole Foods-Instacart partnership by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “Instacart will begin pulling the first group of 1,415 workers out of its 76 Whole Foods locations in February…The end of the relationship is expected to reduce Instacart’s revenue by less than five percent.” Read more

 

Shoppers return to liquidating Sears stores, boosting Q3 comp sales +3.2% Read more

 

New York AG sues Target, Walmart and LaRose Industries for selling lead-contaminated children’s toys  at CNBC. “Underwood said her office had conducted tests which found that “Cra-Z-Jewelz” jewelry-making kits had lead levels up to 10 times higher than the federal limit.” Read more

 

Starbucks to roll out delivery at nearly one quarter of US stores in early 2019 at Yahoo Finance. Read more

 

REDCard Holders Rate Remodeled Target Stores at Field Agent. “Sixty-eight percent of mystery shoppers said they’re more likely to shop at their local Target following the makeover. In the broader survey (N = 461), 52% reported being more likely to shop at their area Target thanks to said upgrades, compared to only 7% who are less likely.” Video/Read more

 

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Amazon adds toys to its growing list of private labels by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “The listings were first spotted by TJI Research this week, but the items themselves are not available for sale. (The listings have also been pulled down, following our inquiry to Amazon.)…the products will be added to the AmazonBasics line in the future and they’re aimed at daycares more so than consumers.” Read more

 

Carrefour Launches First Ever “Sail-Thru” Supermarket in Dubai at Hollywood Reporter. “More than 300 products will be offered, ranging from food items such as hot and cold snacks to non-food items such as sunscreen and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Customers on jet skis or smaller boats can sail up to the Pod and purchase items at the window, while customers onshore and on larger vessels can order by phone or the Aqua Pod app.” Pic/Read more

 

At Home Depot and Walmart, Brick-and-Mortar Retail Is About to Get Way More Personal by Jaclyn Gallucci at Food & Wine. “For Krystal Zell, customer vice president of Home Depot, the future of big retail all comes down to creating personalized experiences through data. “It’s amazing how you can have these treasure troves of data and you really don’t connect the dots,” Zell said.” Read more

 

Risk of heart attack is greatest on Christmas Eve at Miami Herald. Read more

 

How holiday shoppers can avoid falling for fake online reviews at CNBC. “FakeSpot gives Amazon products a grade based on how trustworthy its reviews appear to an algorithm. The website also grades reviews from TripAdvisor, Yelp and Walmart. ReviewMeta takes a different approach. Running an Amazon URL through the website generates a report with an overall grade, as well as an adjusted rating that removes reviews it deems “unnatural.” Read more

 

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