JC Penney will stop selling appliances at the end of this month at CNBC. “The company also said that furniture is soon only going to be available online and in select stores in Puerto Rico. It plans to use excess space in stores, moving forward, to focus on its “legacy” categories like apparel and certain home furnishings like curtains and bedding, which it calls out as “higher margin opportunities.” Read more

 

Home Depot Cuts Staff Across the Country in Installation Business by Kevin Curran at The Street. “After reviewing the installation business, we’ve decided it’s right to wind down our roofing, siding, insulation and gutters,” (Home Depot spokesperson Holmes) said. “[They are] just not going to be part of our focus moving forward.” But Holmes said the business is not entirely winding down, as many products — including doors and windows — will remain available for installation.” Read more

 

Walmart conducting pilot test of electronic shelf labels, LED strips by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Walmart officials told Talk Business & Politics the company is testing two different types of shelf labels for the same concept which is to see if electronic shelf labels can be controlled through programming as quickly as price changes.” Pics/Read more

 

Amazon testing facial recognition tools for online sellers by Brett Samuels at The Hill. “BuzzFeed reported that an individual based in Vietnam who sells goods through the retail giant was prompted to record a five-second video of his face in order to sign up for a seller profile…the process may reflect a push for Amazon to use facial recognition software to prevent the creation of duplicate seller profiles, which would cut down on fake accounts.” Read more

 

SpartanNash names Lori Raya new Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer “Ms. Raya joins SpartanNash following a thirty-one-year career with Safeway/Albertsons, most recently serving as Division President of Albertsons from 2015-2018.” Press release

 

Walmart’s online mattress brand has a new retail strategy: Tiny homes at CNN Business. “The “Allswell Tiny Home” is a rolling showroom that will start a cross-country tour on Wednesday. Beginning in New York, Allswell will head to major cities to introduce the brand to new customers and gain their feedback.” Read more

 

BDO: 54% of traditional retailers—including big box, department store, discount and specialty retailers— say they are just surviving headed into 2019 Press release

 

Kroger lets customers customize Home Chef meals, expands kits nationwide by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati Enquirer. “Kroger is expanding the availability of Home Chef meal kits to 500 more….(Kroger) acquired the popular meal kit brand last year and put them on shelves in 200 Midwest stores last fall.” Tiered subs.

 

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Kmart stiffed St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on donations by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “St. Jude hasn’t seen an estimated $739,000 that Kmart had collected for a “Thanks and Giving” fund-raising drive over a 5-week period leading up to Sears’ Chapter 11 filing on Oct. 15, according to court papers.” Read more

 

QVC steps up mobile and social shopping experience Press release

 

Instacart CEO apologizes for tipping debacle by Megan Rose Dickey at TechCrunch. “Instacart says it will pay shoppers between $7 to $10 at a minimum for full-service orders (shopping, picking and delivering) and $5 at a minimum for delivery-only tasks. The company will also stop including tips in its base pay for shoppers.” Read more

 

Coke and CDC, Atlanta icons, share cozy relationship, emails show by Alan Judd at AJC. “It’s like regular, steady teamwork, as if this was what’s to be expected,” Ruskin said Wednesday. “If it were tobacco, it wouldn’t be OK. Why is it OK if Coke does it? It’s not.” Read more

 

Blue Apron is introducing a lower-cost version of its meal kits, initially only for Jet.com shoppers in the greater NYC metro area by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “The new kits, called “Knick Knacks,” still require refrigeration, but require customers to supply their own protein and produce…by dropping the two most expensive ingredients from the meal, the company has brought the price down to $7.99, compared with prices that ranged from $17 to $23 for the meal kits that launched on Jet last fall.” Read more

 

Washington Post untangles a complex web behind the National Enquirer’s Jeff Bezos exposé by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. Read more

 

Book Shopping on Amazon? Don’t Be Duped Into Buying a Summary by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at Wall Street Journal. “Authors and publishers say they are concerned about a recent surge in summaries available on Amazon, some of which have covers that copy or mimic the original’s art and use the author’s name. Some consumers are mistakenly buying those summaries instead of the original works, they say, hurting their sales.” WSJ subs.

 

Toddler with Down Syndrome visits Kroger employee who also has Down Syndrome every Tuesday at USA Today. 3:03 video

 

Bail set at $1 million for woman accused of crashing into CVS at Fox 32. “She drove forward, nearly missing the officers who moved out of the way, and then rammed a squad car about eight or nine times, Dumyahn said. Allen drove over the curb and into a wall, but did not crash through until she rammed it another two times, Dumyahn said. The car stopped about 35 feet within the CVS.” Read more

 

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