Tipsheet: Target to Add 1K IT Jobs | Boxed Nabs $100M | Cornell Channels Springsteen | HD Supply Hire 800 in Cobb?
Target to Add 1,000 IT Jobs by Jackie Crosby at Star Tribune. “It’s not just about Mom anymore,” Cornell said Wednesday, as he laid out a vision for the retailer’s future in a speech to about 300 business leaders in downtown Minneapolis…Evoking the still-strong popularity of Bruce Springsteen, who is 66, Cornell said the Boss understood that “to make great music, he had to evolve with the times.” Read more
Amazon’s Clothing Selection Is Now Bigger Than 250 Walmart Supercenters Combined by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “The number of items listed on Amazon in apparel and accessories categories has soared 91 percent over the last year to 30 million items as of the 2015 holiday season, according to analysts at the investment bank R.W. Baird.” Read more
Target Commits To Cage-Free Eggs by 2025 by Beth Kowitt at Fortune. “Despite the flurry of cage-free commitments in the food sector, Target is still one of the first retailers to commit. Whole Foods was the first national chain to say it would go cage-free in 2005.” Read more | List of co’s going cage-free
Walmart’s E-Commerce Push: It’s Among Top Companies Posting Jobs For Software Developers by Joshua Wright at Forbes. “Oracle, Amazon, Robert Half International, and Microsoft made up four of the top five companies advertising for app developers, according to Emsi’s job posting analytics. IBM and Wal-Mart weren’t far behind in unique job postings.” See the job post rankings
Boxed, The E-commerce Startup For Costco-Sized Orders, Nabs $100M From Investors by Miguel Helft at Forbes. “(CEO Chieh Huang) would not discuss the company’s valuation but said Boxed was not a unicorn…“The funding environment has turned,” he said. “Luckily, we didn’t go out asking for a pie-in-the-sky valuation.”…In November, reports said Boxed was close to receiving an $80 million investment from Alibaba. Huang says that Boxed is “close” to Alibaba, but dismissed those reports.” Read more
Macy’s CEO Loves the Chicago State Street Store (and Frances) by Gail MarksJarvis at Chicago Tribune “(It) could be used as a testing ground for “new ideas” as the retailer struggles…”I love the State Street store,” he said in an interview. “It is one of the most beautiful stores in the world. I love the manager. I love Frances, who serves me chicken potpies in the Walnut Room.” Read more
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Target CEO Visits Homes of Customers by Nick Halter at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “No one knows I am the CEO of Target when I do that,” Cornell said during a question-and-answer session with reporters. “They don’t even know we’re from Target. We will interview them. I have sat with Hispanic moms with 5-year-old little girls, talking about their needs as they think about their baby, where they shop, what they shop for.” Read more
Home Depot hammers away at online growth by Mark Brohan at Internet Retailer. “The percentage of e-commerce sales that involve a Home Depot store increased to about 40% by the end of September, (Kevin) Hofmann says. “We have 300,000 store associates, and that’s an incredible asset to utilize,” he says.” Read more
Walmart Hikes Hourly Pay To $10 Minimum For Most Workers by Clare O’Connor at Forbes. “The company is billing this wage boost as “one of the largest single-day, private-sector pay increases ever.” In addition to raising its minimum pay, Walmart is increasing the starting rate of its pay bands for experienced workers.” Read more | Read the release
Marsh says it will upgrade nearly half its stores in 2016 by Greg Andrews at Indianapolis Business Journal. “Marsh has retrenched repeatedly since Florida-based Sun Capital Partners acquired it in 2006, reducing its store count from 116 to 73.” Read more
Bloomingdale’s Store to Open in Kuwait in 2017 “This will be Bloomingdale’s second international location (the first opened in Dubai in 2010) and ahead of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores scheduled to open in Abu Dhabi in 2018.” Read more
Amazon’s post-holiday party will feature Fall Out Boy by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “This year’s event will be held at the CenturyLink Field Event Center in Seattle, as in the past. Blue-badgers (a.k.a. Amazon employees) can bring one guest (18 or over) and light appetizers and drinks will be provided.” Read more
South Carolina family takes recipe to Walmart shelves by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “The face-to-face at Walmart was a direct result of her meeting a senior seafood buyer at a New York City food show last year. “I saw the Walmart senior buyer and I literally flagged him down and led him over to our booth where he tried our fresh crab dips. He was very helpful.” Read more
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