Tipsheet: Kroger Throws Ecom Shade | Costco +3% | B.Lots +0.3% | Saks Woos Guys
Costco Q2 Comp Sales +3.0% Press release
…Forbes: Following Earnings Miss, Costco Plans To Hike Membership Fees “Starting on June 1, 2017, membership fees will go up $5 for U.S. and Canada individual, business and business add-on members; with this price hike, the membership fee for these groups will come to $60 a year. Executive fees are also seeing a hike: the price for an executive membership in the U.S. and Canada will go to $120, up from $110.” Read more
Kroger’s 13-year winning sales streak ends by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati Enquirer. “Identical-store sales excluding fuel rose 1 percent during the fiscal year ended Jan. 28, but actually declined 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter – snapping a 13-year winning streak of market share growth.” Read more | Press release | Earnings call transcript
…Grocer Kroger ramps up home delivery tests with Uber as online competition heats up by Jeff Daniels at CNBC. “The Kroger CEO also took a dig at competitors in the online grocery space. “There are a lot of companies out there right now investing in digital and e-commerce in opportunistic ways that will likely never create value for their shareholders,” he said. “A core strength of Kroger is our ability to both create shareholder value today and to make meaningfully strategic investments for the future.” Read more
Big Lots Q4 Comp Sales +0.3% Press release
Kohl’s and Under Armour: Behind the Biggest Brand Launch in Kohl’s History by Adrianne Pasquarelli at Ad Age. “The visual spots show intimate, real-life moments of an athletic start, but are representative of a major athletic achievement, recognizing that stepping up to the challenge, no matter the challenge, is a big deal,” said Michelle Gass, chief merchandising and customer officer at Kohl’s, via email. She noted that in the last 12 months, Kohl’s has seen some 500,000 searches on its website for Under Armour.” Read more/See spot
Target Leak Reveals ‘All New’ iPhone Release? by Gordon Kelly at Forbes. “According to a Target memo obtained by MacRumors, the retailer has instructed all its stores to return unsold iPhone SE models to Apple by March 1st.” Read more
CVS Health Names Jon Roberts EVP and COO “Jon Roberts has been with CVS Health for 26 years.” Press release
Saks Looks to Woo Guys with DJs, Putt-Putt Golf by Troy Patterson at Forbes. “Saks Fifth Avenue’s new men’s store at Brookfield Place opened last week, and Saturday-afternoon visitors could be forgiven for thinking that the launch party was still in progress. Just past the entrance was a man in headphones—his bald head gleaming hiply, his pot belly pulling at his designer T-shirt—peering over his sunglasses to work two turntables.” Read more
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Fred’s February Comp Sales -4.0% Press release
Aldi launch online sales of wine, snacks and breakfast products in China using Australian suppliers at Daily Mail. “The company will sell its own brand products via online platform Tmall Global, operated by Alibaba, and will use its Australian suppliers to serve the Chinese market, it said on Thursday. Aldi said an initial ‘soft launch’ on March 20, which typically sees a product offered to a limited audience, will be followed by a full launch event in Shanghai on April 25.” Read more
Burlington Q4 Comp Sales +4.6% Press release
We visited convenience-store rivals Wawa and Sheetz to see which does it better — and the winner is clear at Business Insider. Read more
Wal-Mart to Present at Raymond James Conference on March 8th at 8:40 a.m ET Press release
Barnes & Noble Blames Adele and Coloring Books For Worsening Sales Drop by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “The bookstore chain on Thursday reported comparable sales fell 8.3% during the holiday quarter…it was Barnes & Noble’s worse holiday quarter performance in 11 years.” Read more
hhgregg plans to close 88 store locations and three DCs Press release
Schnucks’ warehouse operator XPO laying off 204 in St. Louis County by Lisa Brown at St.Louis Post Dispatch. Read more
RadioShack’s Successor Preparing to File for Bankruptcy, Sources Say at Bloomberg. “A filing could happen within the coming days and will probably result in liquidation, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process isn’t public.” Read more
McDonald’s Customers Scream, and Get New Ice Cream Machines by Julie Jargon at Wall Street Journal. “The Wall Street Journal recently reported that customers who ordered McFlurry ice cream treats and soft-serve cones in the evening were often turned away because the machine’s weren’t operational. The precise reasons weren’t clear and led many customers to offer up conspiracy theories.” Read more (subscription)
Office Depot names Zimmerman New Ad Agency of Record Press release
Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin offer ‘Amazon-like’ moon delivery in 2020 by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. “As described by the Post, the proposal seeks NASA’s support for sending a “Blue Moon” lander to Shackleton Crater near the moon’s south pole.” Read more
Since 2012, Wal-Mart spent nearly $500,000 a day on federal corruption probe by Kim Souza at Talk Business. Read more
Amazon deepens university ties in artificial intelligence race by Jeffrey Dastin at Reuters. Read more
Report suggests the housewares category drove 15% of Amazon’s sales growth in 2016 by Stefany Zaroban at Internet Retailer. “Amazon sold roughly $7 billion worth of housewares products alone to U.S. consumers last year—a 33% jump from 2015, OneClick estimates. That’s 13% more than the $6.2 billion Internet Retailer estimates Macy’s sold globally online in 2015 across all categories, and double the $3.3 billion top web-only housewares merchant—Wayfair sold last year.” Read more
Wal-Mart boss killed in stabbing; former employee arrested by Stephanie Allen at Orlando Sentinel. “It’s unknown what the argument was about, but deputies said it eventually spilled out into the parking lot and ended with the stabbing.” Read more
Amazon’s massive AWS outage was caused by human error by Jason Del Rey at Recode. Read more
Walmart.com revamp could include limited marketplace access by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Suppliers in Bentonville recently told Talk Business & Politics that Walmart.com is also in the midst of limiting marketplace access for grocery and consumables. Marketplace sellers already have a somewhat limited presence on Walmart.com, but if all access is restricted by third-party marketers, suppliers will be able to ensure their margins are protected.” Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Portland grocer opens store #20 in San Fran
American Eagle developing prototype jeans store
Virginia is the first state to pass a law allowing robots to deliver straight to your door
Popular boutique owner caught shoplifting from Whole Foods
Man crawls through mud while fleeing Walmart fight (Police heat seeking video)
Speaker Ryan greeted by R.I. protesters…and CVS execs
Woman Rams Hearing Impaired Child With a Shopping Cart at Walmart
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