Costco Q2 US Comp Sales +3% “Net sales for the quarter increased three percent, to $27.57 billion from $26.87 billion last year. Net sales for the first half increased two percent, to $54.19 billion from $53.16 billion last year.” Read the release

 

Kroger Q4 Comp Sales +3.9% “Total sales, excluding fuel, increased 6.5% in the fourth quarter over the same period last year. Excluding Roundy’s, total sales without fuel increased 4.4% in the fourth quarter.” Read the release

 

DON’T CALL IT A HACK – Walmart Says a Coding Error Exposed Some Customer Data via Fortune. “We had a software coding error for a 72-hour period from February 15 to 18 that affected a limited group of online pharmacy customers,” said company spokesman Dan Toporek. “We moved quickly to fix the issue once it was discovered.” Read more

 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM TARGET’S INVESTOR DAY – Overhaul of Target’s grocery section is taking longer than expected by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Last March, executives said they expected to roll out major changes in 2016. On Wednesday, though, Cornell said that he expects it will be a “multiyear effort.” He added, “It’s better to get it right than to get it done fast.” Read more

 

…Target Culling Products in Its Stores to Help Resolve Out-of-Stock Issues by Paul Ziobro at WSJ. “Its merchants are combing through categories to determine how many different packs of water bottles and scents of deodorants should be stocked on its shelves. It also is expanding its shelves to hold more products and working with suppliers to ship goods in packages that match the shelves’ capacity.” Read more (subscription)

 

Report: Home Depot pays $2.1M to end class action suit by Carla Caldwell at Atlanta Business Chronicle. “The Home Depot Inc. will pay $2.1 million to end a class action alleging the Atlanta-based home improvement giant shorted sales managers in its roofing division on overtime pay and meal breaks, reports Law360.” Read more

 

Daughter of Dick’s Sporting Goods founder to run for Congress by Mark Weiner at Syracuse.com. “She grew up working for her father, Dick Stack, in the family sporting goods business before starting Kids Korner Inc., a Binghamton clothing and educational toy store.” Read more

 

Fortune: 100 Best Companies to Work for 2016 (Wegmans #4, Publix #67, Nordstrom #92) See the top 100 list

 

Ex-Wal-Mart CEO Simon Says Trump Can Unite GOP by Julia Limitone at Bloomberg. “Former Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon’s pick for president may be out of the race, but Donald Trump grabbed his attention on Super Tuesday.” Read more

 

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Big-Box Warehouse Construction Surges by Loretta Chao at WSJ. “Building of new “big box” warehouse space, or facilities over 300,000 square-feet with 28-foot ceilings or higher, increased almost six times in four years to 61 million square-feet in 2015, according to Colliers International Group Inc. An additional 74 million square-feet are set to be complete in 2016.” Read more (subscription)

 

Wendy’s breach losses may be 5 to 10 times those of Target or Home Depot via Krebs on Security. “It’s more concentrated and the amounts hitting compromised debit accounts is much higher that what they were hit with after Home Depot or Target,” Berger said. “It seems to have been been [the work of] a sophisticated group, in terms of the timing and the accounts they targeted.” Read more

 

Survey of Walmart Suppliers: 46% said their Walmart U.S. sales rose 5% or better last year, but just 31% expect those same results in 2016 by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “In the fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 31, just 5% of suppliers surveyed said they saw meaningful better store conditions versus the prior 90-day period. Another 44% saw slightly better store conditions and 41% viewed store conditions the same, with 9% saying store conditions worsened.” Read more

 

Former Home Depot CEO Addresses Temple Fox School’s Future Entrepreneurs by Maggie Boccella at Metro MBA. “Discussing the challenges that he and Arthur Blank faced in the development of their business plan, Marcus said, “Everyone has that desperate moment in business when someone tries to break your conscience…[so] ethics are critically important.” Read more

 

Nordstrom lays off 10 as apparel giant restructures technology department by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. “Company spokeswoman Tara Darrow confirmed with GeekWire…that the Seattle-based retailer recently rolled out a new “technology leadership structure” that resulted in a handful of folks losing their jobs.” Read more

 

Rexall takeover shakes up Canada’s drugstore industry by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “U.S. health-care-services giant McKesson Corp. is taking on the heavyweights of Canada’s drugstore industry with a $3-billion deal for the Rexall pharmacy chain and related companies.” Read more

 

Why retailers should take note of Fashion Week’s popularity on Instagram by Sarah Halzack at Washington Post. “…The engagement numbers seen on the other social platforms are paltry by comparison: On Twitter, where women’s brands posted an average of 26 times, tweets averaged 490 likes and 1,117 retweets. On Facebook, brands posted an average of eight posts each that generated 8,000 interactions per post.” Read more

 

Meijer will Invest more than $400 Million in New and Remodeled Stores in 2016 “The investment includes the construction of nine new Meijer supercenters and 32 different remodel projects.” Read the release

 

Amazon, FreshDirect home delivery trucks are congesting NYC streets, officials say by Chelsia Rose Marcius & Jennifer Fermino at NY Daily News. “City Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) has a bill pending in the Council that would require the city to study truck deliveries south of 59th St. in Manhattan and in downtown Brooklyn.” Read more

 

Report: Costco Average Basket is 68% Higher than Sam’s Club by Paul Ausick at 24/7 Wall Street. See the top 10 average basket rankings

 

Sports Authority Files for Chapter 11 to Implement Financial and Operational Restructuring “The Company has identified approximately 140 stores and two distribution centers, in Denver and Chicago, that it intends to close or sell in the coming months.” Read the release

 

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