Former Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club exec Tom Coughlin has died at The City Wire. “Tom Coughlin, an early executive hire by Sam Walton who rose to the No. 2 spot at Wal-Mart Stores before forced to resign in 2005, has died. He was 67.  Kelly Coughlin, his daughter, said he became ill in the last month and spent the past few weeks at Northwest Health System hospital in Bentonville.“ Read more

 

…Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon sent an email to company executives Friday announcing Mr. Coughlin’s death. “Like me, many of you worked with Tom over his more than 26 years with the company. I know firsthand how much he loved our associates and this company,” Mr. McMillon wrote. via WSJ (subscription)

 

Costco gets creative to meet shoppers’ huge appetite for organics by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. “The effort is still in its infancy. So far, Costco is working with just one partner, loaning money to help San Diego-based Andrew and Williamson Fresh Produce buy equipment and 1,200 acres of land in the Mexican state of Baja California. But Costco is looking at expanding the initiative.” Read more

 

Amazon Plans Big Push to Expand Prime Now Fast Delivery by Spencer Soper at GeekWire. “The service – now only available through the Prime Now app on smartphones — will be run on Amazon’s website starting in May, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg…Amazon is trying to sell advertising space to major brands for the Web launch…The premium “Launch Hero Package” would cost $500,000 for about two weeks of placement on Amazon’s website associated with the rollout.” Read more

 

Ulta Beauty opening downtown Chicago office by Lauren Zumbach at Chicago Tribune. “The Bolingbrook-based retailer’s new 23,000-square-foot satellite office, with 100 workstations, will be at 120 S. Riverside Plaza, according to a statement from Ulta CEO Mary Dillon and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.” Read more

 

Group holds ‘nurse-in’ to support breastfeeding at North Carolina Costco by Mark Schultz at Charlotte Observer. “She didn’t say the words, ‘You have to,’” Symes said. “But she said, ‘Follow me to the lactation room. I’ll get the key.’” Symes, a UNC doctoral student in public health, was flustered. “It made me feel really unwelcome,” she said, and the family left.” Read more

 

**A message from 2016 Sweets & Snacks Expo – the Show Floor is Sold Out! The 2016 Expo will set an all-time record in volume of confectionery and snack products with more than 720 companies showcasing nearly four acres of product innovation. The Sweets & Snacks Expo is the one place more confectionery and snack retailers and manufacturers come together to get inspired, make connections and find new best sellers. See all of this year’s exhibitors | 2016’s New Exhibitors | Meet our retail taste testers

 

MCMILLON INNOVATION LAB – Starship land drone being tested at University of Arkansas for ‘final mile delivery’ by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Doug McMillon…told us when he contributed the $1 million to fund it, that he wanted this lab to explore future technologies that help to bridge the physical and digital retail worlds,” said Matt Waller, interim dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the UA.” Read more

 

Clothing became the No. 1 online sales category for the first time in 2015 by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “The clothing and accessories category was the top-selling e-commerce category in three of the four quarters of 2015.” See the comScore chart

 

WSJ: Online Groceries Becomes Next E-Commerce Battleground by Kim S. Nash. “The pending merger of Peapod parent Ahold with Delhaize Group may allow the online grocer to expand to new markets in the southern U.S., where Delhaize operates chains such as Food Lion, Ms. Carr-Smith said. But for now, Peapod sees New York as its next big target.” Read more (subscription)

 

Even in a Mobile World, Retailers Aren’t Convinced Social Media Can Sell by Lauren Johnson at AdWeek. “Between January and March, e-commerce vendor Custora crunched data about $100 billion in sales among 500 million shoppers and found that only 1.5 percent of retailers’ last-click e-commerce transactions came via social media. Within that sliver of activity, Facebook dominated 81 percent of sales.” Read more

 

Jeff Bezos shares drones-eye view of Blue Origin’s third smooth landing See the video

 

When Bass Pro’s Johnny Morris speaks, people listen by James White at Harrison Daily. “Morris spoke of a time in 1974, after he’d started Bass Pro Shops, when he was fishing with a friend on Beaver Lake….The boat capsized and he and his friend were left in the frigid water. He found the gas can from the boat and used it as a floatation device…Believing they could die, they said their prayers and Morris tried to use a coin to scratch a message into the paint on the can thinking his parents would find it…” Read more

 

New drone footage shows progress of the $5B Apple Campus 2 being built in Cupertino, California See the pics / Read more

 

Bloomingdale’s adds pop-ups for festival fashion as category explodes by Teresa Novellion at New York Business Journal. “…it is opening pop-up shops in all of its U.S. stores devoted to the clothing and accessories that people wear to those experiences, specifically music festivals like Coachella and SXSW.” Read more

 

This Costco essay got a high-school senior into 5 Ivy League schools and Stanford by Abby Jackson at Business Insider. “Costco fuels my insatiability and cultivates curiosity within me at a cellular level. Encoded to immerse myself in the unknown, I find it difficult to complacently accept the “what”; I want to hunt for the “whys” and dissect the “hows”. In essence, I subsist on discovery.” Read more

 

Staples finds a new use for its stores – office space by Janelle Nanos at Boston Globe. “The relationship will establish co-working spaces inside three Staples Inc. stores, in Norwood, Brighton, and Danvers, where members can rent desks on a daily or monthly basis.” Read more

 

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