Tipsheet: Wmart +1.4% | Lowe’s Acquires | Nordstrom #50 @ LinkedIn | PriceSmart New DC
Walmart U.S. comp sales +1.4% / traffic increase of 1.5% / digital sales +63% Press release
…CNBC: Wal-Mart earnings top Street estimates “Earnings per share: $1.00, excluding items, vs. expectations for 96 cents, according to Thomson Reuters analysts. Revenue: $117.5 billion vs. a forecast of $117.74 billion…Comp sales (climbed) 1.4 percent compared to a FactSet estimate of 1.3 percent growth.” Read more
LinkedIn Top Companies 2017: Where the world wants to work now (Amazon #2, Under Armour #16, Nordstrom #50) Top 50 list
Lowe’s Acquires Maintenance Supply Headquarters “…for a total transaction value of $512 million. Based in Houston, Texas, Maintenance Supply Headquarters operates 13 distribution centers serving customers in 29 geographic areas, primarily in the western, southeastern and south central U.S., with a portfolio of more than 5,300 products and value-added services for maintaining and renovating multifamily properties.” Press release
P&G president named CEO of Ralph Lauren by Barrett J. Brunsman at Cincinnati Business Courier. “Patrice Louvet, who oversees brands such as Pantene and Head & Shoulders shampoo as Procter & Gamble Co.’s group president for Global Beauty, has been hired as CEO of Ralph Lauren Corp.” Read more
Amazon turns to military vets as it looks for management talent by Angel Gonzalez at Seattle Times. “Lessard says that Amazon plans to hire 75 former military staffers into this program this year, and 150 in 2018. So far five, including Nielsen, have started working and another 14 have accepted offers. They’re being deployed in warehouses from Spartanville, South Carolina, to Dupont, Pierce County.” Read more
Ace Hardware Q1: Net Income +8.4% / -0.2% Retail Comp Sales “John Venhuizen, President and CEO: I’ll resist pinning the blame on the less than favorable weather.” Press release
**A message from Lock-it Block-it – Shut out burglars – not the summer breeze! The Lock-it Block-it is a high-impact security bar that allows windows to stay open AND secure at the same time. 13 adjustment holes allow for inch-by-inch opening adjustments. Great for sliding doors/windows too! Video | Sell sheet | Retailers request samples: info@shiftmarketinggroup.net
Shares of Ascena, Ann Taylor’s Parent, Plunge After Profit Warning by Maria Armental at Wall Street Journal. “Chief Executive David Jaffe said, company executives “no longer believe it appropriate to expect a stabilization of traffic and resulting normalization of comp sales”…Comparable sales…declined 8%.” Read more (subscription)
Google to launch a jobs search engine in the U.S. by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. Read more
PriceSmart opens 325,000-square-foot distribution center in Miami-Dade by Nancy Dahlberg at Miami Herald. “Although PriceSmart has no storefronts in the United States, the company is a leading Miami exporter and maintains a workforce of more than 200 employees in its Miami distribution facilities. More than $1 billion in merchandise sold by PriceSmart is sourced in the United States and moves via more than 20,000 maritime containers annually.” Read more
Southern Living Launches Two New Branded Retail Stores in Destin, FL, and Huntsville, AL Press release
Target looks to capture more business from bankrupt retailers by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Target didn’t have much new to say about plans to improve its grocery aisles…It recently brought Jeff Burt on board from Kroger to be its new grocery chief…“We want to give Jeff plenty of time to take his own inventory and begin to build his own strategy that will enhance the work we’ve been doing over the last few years,” said Cornell.” Read more
Stein Mart Q1 Comp Sales -7.6% Press release
FBI’s conduct in Best Buy computer case prompts judge to throw out child porn evidence by Tom Jackman at Washington Post. “In a statement to The Post Tuesday, Best Buy reiterated that its Geek Squad employees inadvertently discover what appears to be child pornography about 100 times a year, and that they are legally obligated to report it. “To be clear,” Best Buy’s statement said, “Geek Squad does not work for the FBI and never has.” Read more
The “Amazon of Fish” Want to Get Americans Eating More Seafood at Fast Company. “If you measure us against the overall seafood market in America, we’re a blip on the radar,” Spindler says. But the startup’s business has quadrupled since last year, and its revenue is in the millions. That, to Spindler, signals the potential for further growth, but what will drive that, in the end, will be the quality.” Read more
Stage Stores Q1 Comp Sales -9.6% Press release
Tipsheet Extra Stories
How China’s demand for a $30K fish bladder drives poaching
Amazon’s Australian Expedition to Rattle Retailers (WSJ Subs.)
How Alex And Ani Founder Built An American Jewelry Empire
The Farmer’s Dog, a customized pet food subscription service, scoops up $8.1M
Trader Joe’s Ex-President Has Advice for C-stores
Ace’s New Wholesale Chief Talks Mergers, Expansion, ‘Growing Pains’
Two trailers catch fire at Lowe’s
Target Q1 Earnings Call Highlights
Brian Cornell
We saw an acceleration beginning in late February which was offset by better than expected sales in March and April.
We’re in the early stages of implementing merchandising and marketing efforts to improve Target’s value perception with guests and reestablish everyday price credibility on key items.
Plan to launch 12 new brands across our signature categories over the next two years.
John Mulligan
In our Tribeca store in New York City, we are ready to begin a test in which we will offer same day delivery to guest at that store.
Prior to the launch of the new East Coast facility, we have been testing daily customer replenishment based on niches in a single store here in the Twin Cities market.
We built the Target restock site and supporting back-end operations for Twin Cities’ team member test in just 35 days.
In the first quarter, more than 95% of in-store pick up orders were ready for guests in an hour less, up more than 3 percentage points from a year ago.
For the set of remodels we completed last fall, we have been measuring overall results in line with our expected 2% to 4% lift following completion.
- Most encouraging for the 10 fold remodels in which the layout is more similar to the new layout we will roll out in Houston later this year, we have seen lifts near the high-end of that range.
For our 10 mature small format stores, we are seeing double-digit comp increases on average so far this year.
Mark Tritton
Electronics delivered a mid-single digit comp sales increase (in Q1), the strongest in three years.
Small decline at apparel comps in the first quarter.
Expect to see continued growth in swim in the second quarter and beyond.
Essentials and food beverage businesses…low single digit comp declines
Small increase in produce comps in the first quarter.
Adult beverage business…saw a mid single digit comp increase this quarter.
Plan to expand space for adult beverage in more than 100 additional stores in the second quarter with more planned to the third quarter and beyond.
Ready to launch…Cloud Island…a new exclusive line of nursery décor, bedding, bath and layette products.
The guest response to Cat & Jack, in particular, has been amazing.
But probably the key areas that we’re focusing on of course the food and beverage and essentials.
Cathy Smith
We are planning for a low-single digit decline in comparable sales in the second quarter.
On the EBIT line, we are planning for a decline of just over $200 million compared with last year.
Earnings Call Transcript via Seeking Alpha
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