Tipsheet: Prime Day July 10/11 | Wmart Pressures Truck Co’s? | Wgreens Buys 2,186

 

Walgreens scraps Rite Aid deal – will buy 2,186 stores instead via CNBC. “Walgreens Boots Alliance terminated its agreement to buy smaller rival Rite Aid after struggling to win antitrust approval, and said it would instead buy 2,186 Rite Aid stores and assets for $5.18 billion in cash. Walgreens also said on Thursday it ended a related deal to sell 865 Rite Aid stores to Fred’s Inc. sending the company’s shares plunging 27 percent in premarket trading.” Read more | Press release

 

Amazon says third annual Prime Day will start July 10, running for 30 hours by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “…the third annual Prime Day will begin at 6 p.m. Pacific on Monday July 10 and run all day July 11…In addition to the extra shopping time, this year’s Prime Day has expanded to 13 countries…Amazon didn’t give much detail about Prime Day deals, but the company did say it is stocking up on TVs.” Read more

 

Pier 1 Q1 Comp Sales Flat “E-Commerce represented approximately 24% of net sales in the first quarter, as compared to approximately 19% of net sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2017.” Press release

 

Walgreens Q3 sales increase 2.1% to $30.1 billion Press release

 

Sobeys parent company post lower fourth-quarter adjusted earnings via Toronto Star. “Sales dropped to about $5.8 billion — with $461.2 million of the decline attributed to last year’s extra week. Same-store sales were also down 1.1 per cent overall, or 1.6 per cent when fuel sales were excluded.” Read more

 

Staples will go private in $7B deal with Sycamore Partners by David L. Harris at Boston Business Journal. “Staples’ stockholders will receive $10.25 per share in cash for each share of common stock they own, which represents a premium of approximately 20 percent to the 10-day volume weighted average stock price…” Read more

 

Walmart escalates war of words with Amazon by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “Walmart is escalating its war of words with Amazon by sending veiled messages to the trucking companies that haul its merchandise from its distribution centers and stores, telling them if they do business with the Web giant it may not want to work with them, according to an industry expert.” Read more

 

Amazon Starts Charm Offensive as Merchants Defect to Wal-Mart by Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. “For merchants, Wal-Mart today is what Amazon was a decade ago: a vast frontier with room to grow. Amazon, by contrast, is so crowded with products and sellers it has become difficult to stand out, forcing merchants to sacrifice some of their profits on advertising.” Read more

 

Blue Apron goes public – raises a third less than it had hoped at Reuters. “The IPO values Blue Apron at $1.89 billion, below the $3.2 billion implied by its previous estimate and the $2.2 billion by its last private fundraising round two years ago.” Read more

 

Advance Auto Parts confirms management job cuts by Amanda Hoyle at Triangle Business Journal. “…the changes impacted about 475 employees, all in corporate, supply chain and field-based management roles. No store-level associate or management positions were affected.” Read more

 

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Nike Thought It Didn’t Need Amazon—Then the Ground Shifted by Laura Stevens & Sara Germano at Wall Street Journal. “In recent months, Nike realized it was losing negotiating leverage to argue for better brand presentation or eliminate counterfeits as long as Amazon could make money off unsanctioned sales of its product, according to one of the people familiar with the deal. That triggered internal conversations among senior Nike executives about its relationship with Amazon, according to people familiar with the deal.” Read more (subs.)

 

Lowe’s Goes High on Innovation by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “Yet no matter how cool all these innovations may be, Lowe’s has, so far, put them to use in a handful of stores.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart green lights the ‘Banana Wave’ and dozens of other products at annual Open Call by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Talk Business & Politics interviewed two Wal-Mart buyers who said they saw some of the most inventive items in this year’s event, more so than in other years. Toy buyer Dawn Henry said…buyers are looking for items that don’t feel like a “me too” item.” Read more

 

…Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon told the group he just “wanted to buy items all day and walk up and down the halls saying “yes.” Read more about Open Call

 

QuikTrip to open 100 c-stores in Austin, San Antonio by Ryan Salchert at San Antonio Business Journal. Read more

 

Carrefour’s Brazilian IPO May Raise as Much as $1.7 Billion by Thomas Mulier at Bloomberg. “The grocer’s quarterly same-store revenue in Brazil has climbed between 5.6 percent and 13 percent since the third quarter of 2013, a stellar showing in a nation muddling through a two-year recession that’s the worst on record.” Read more

 

Walgreens to roll out urine, blood testing at some stores at Chicago Tribune. Read more (tiered subs.)

 

QVC Has Quietly Become Successful With Streaming Audiences, and Nearly Half Its Revenue Is From Ecommerce by Sami Main at Adweek. “Mobile, in fact, accounted for 62 percent of the company’s global ecommerce orders and 61 percent of its U.S. ecommerce orders during the first quarter of 2017.” Read more

 

CNBC: Why this store opening should terrify T.J. Maxx “ThredUp, a secondhand e-commerce company that’s been around since 2009 and now processes as many as 100,000 items in a single day, is opening its first store in San Marcos, Texas, today, with four more on the way across the country before the end of the year.” Read more

 

Judge shoots down challenge to J. Crew debt deal at Reuters. “The deal buys J. Crew an additional two years to turn its business around in the face of flagging sales and competition from e-commerce.” Read more

 

Target will open its downtown Minneapolis liquor store on Friday by Dan DeBaun at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “The Wine & Spirits shop is about 3,600 square feet on the first floor of the store, where a food counter used to be.” Pics/Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Vanderbilt says football players suspended after shooting at Target

Don Quijote acquires Hawaii-based Times Supermarkets

Apple Glasses will soon outshine the iPhone, influential analyst says

Earth Fare opens store #41

Amazon disputes claims that Echo Show’s Drop-In feature is a security risk

R2-D2 droid used in ‘Star Wars’ films sells for $2.76 million

Urban Outfitters to Calif. federal court: We’re not Free People

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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