Macy’s Q2 Comp Sales: Owned + Licensed +0.5% (vs. Expected -0.9%) “Adjusting for (the calendar shift), the company estimates that comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis were up 2.9 percent for the second quarter.” Press release

 

…Reuters: Macy’s posts surprise same-store sales growth “Excluding one-time items, the company earned 70 cents per share, much higher than analysts’ expectations of 51 cents.” Read more

 

US retail sales increase strongly in July via CNBC. “The Commerce Department said on Wednesday retail sales increased 0.5 percent last month…Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales nudging up 0.1 percent in July.” Read more

 

Walmart teams up with Ellen DeGeneres for new denim-focused clothing line at CNBC. “…will be called EV1 and will hit stores and Walmart.com next month, the company announced Wednesday. It will have nearly 60 items, including denim, graphic tees, sneakers and purses for women. According to Walmart, the “core” of the line is denim.” Read more

 

Kroger inks deal with Alibaba to sell PL groceries online in China Press release

 

Costco has a game for employees to win cash when a new store opens at Business Insider. “Participants are asked to put $1 in an envelope and predict how much money the new store will make on its first day of opening. The person who predicts closest to the correct amount wins all of the cash.” Read more

 

UK – Amazon’s one-day delivery ad banned as ‘misleading’ at BBC News. Read more

 

Home shopping networks refine their pitch by Melissa Fares at Reuters. “Qurate executives told Reuters they now are culling HSN’s core merchandise offerings to eliminate many higher-priced electronics and some home goods, such as vacuum cleaners and blenders. Instead, they are adding more niche cosmetic and apparel brands to help draw some distinction with QVC.” Read more

 

Meet the 23-year-old designer behind Target’s new clothing brand by Amanda Hancock at Quad-City Times. Read more

 

**A message from BK Resources – The Best Kept secret for commercial and food service kitchen equipment. Leading supplier of stainless steel: commercial faucets, sinks, work tables, bar equipment, ice bins and more. Catalog | Website | Contact

 

DOUG MCMILLON TO SPEAK AT SUMMIT – Walton group organizing invitation-only summit in Bentonville Oct. 18-21 by Paul Gatling at Talk Business. “The goal of the Heartland Summit, according to the event’s website, is “to showcase the exciting innovation happening between the coasts, spark frank conversations about the challenges the region is facing, and build networks to sustain economic growth and power problem solving across the country.” Read more

 

Tiffany plans to begin a complete renovation of its NYC flagship store in spring 2019 Press release

 

Google doubles down on massive Seattle campus with another new building in Amazon’s backyard by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Work will begin on this block, which will feature a 12-story office building for Google with 23,000 square feet of retail space, in the fourth quarter of 2019, and it will be ready for Google in 2021.” Pic/Read more

 

Perry Ellis ends buyout talks with Randa by Carleton English at NY Post. Read more

 

Amazon Prime Air drone gets delivered to Smithsonian for museum display in 2021 by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. Read more/Pic

 

North Face plans move to Denver from Bay Area by 2020, transferring 650 jobs at Fox Business. Read more

 

Meijer Welcomes 45,000 College Freshmen to “Meijer Mania” – Complete with a DJ Press release

 

CDC monitoring measles outbreak in 21 states at ABC 11. “107 people from 21 states…have reported contracting the measles…The outbreak was linked to an amusement park in California where it is thought that a traveler from overseas brought it to the U.S.” Read more

 

Sears CEO Lampert offers $400 million for Kenmore at CNN Money. Read more

 

EPIC CART RETURN TROPHY – Walmart awards woman for returning cart in torrential rain storm at WPVI 6 ABC. “Walmart surprised her with a year’s supply of grocery pickup….”I didn’t do anything special, except I got wet,” Johnson said. She also received a trophy reading: “Sue Johnson. A Walmart legend for her most epic cart return.” Read more/Pic

 

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Q&A w/Casper CEO: It’s been rumored that Target is going to acquire Casper. Any truth?

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Mom finds ‘disturbing’ card in diaper box she bought at Target

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Heard on the Call:

Home Depot Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

 

Craig Menear

The highest quarterly sales and net earnings results in our company history.

The majority of seasonal sales we missed in the first quarter were recovered in the second quarter.

Navigating a sudden spike in demand like the one we witnessed in May isn’t easy.

• In the northern division the variability in sales over a two-week period of time was as high as 2,770 basis points as the weather turned more favorable.

Pro sales once again outpacing DIY sales in the quarter.

Online sales grew approximately 26%.

 

Ted Decker

Lumber, indoor garden, outdoor garden, and electrical had double-digit comps in the quarter.

Tools and appliances were above the company average.

All of the departments but lighting posted mid to high single digit comps.

Lawnmowers, watering, patios, ceiling fans, and interior and exterior paint all had strong comps.

Comp average ticket increased 4.9% and comp transactions increased 2.9%.

We are redefining big ticket sales as transactions over $1,000 (from $900) as they now represent approximately 20% of U.S. sales.

Transactions over $1,000 were up 10.6%

Sales to our pro customers grew double digits

Our interior paint business had its best half performance in more than five years.

47% of all of our online orders are picked up in the store.

We are thrilled to announce our new appliance partnership with Bosch.

 

Carol Tome

Our total company comps were positive 8% for the quarter. Positive comps of 11% in May, 7.5% in June, and 5.7% in July.

Comps in the U.S. were positive 8.1% for the quarter with positive comps of 10.6% in May, 7.6% in June, and 6.3% in July.

Total sales per square foot for the second quarter were $504, up 8.6% from last year.

Inventory turns were 5.4 times, up one tenth from last year.

It’s the 96% of the housing units that are in place that are driving the home improvement spend and not so much the marginal turnover that the media tends to pay attention to.

Unpack that 8% comp: About two points of growth came from our seasonal business, about one point of growth came from the index-based commodity categories…another 1% came from hurricane-related sales…four came from everything else.

I modeled what could happen (if housing turnover were to decline 15%)…No one is projecting that…the impact on comps…was less than 1%.

 

Marc Brown

Rolling out electronic shelf labels. We’ve not done this in the past and we’re starting with our appliance department, and we’ll do over half the stores this year.

 

Bill Lennie

On the B2B site being developed for Pros: We’ll probably get a couple of customers over on kind of a small test as we go through Q3. We’ll see more activity around this space in Q4.

• Tome: We saw a demo of it yesterday, though, and the demo looked good.

Pro penetration closer to 45% today (vs. 40% recently).

 

Full transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

**

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