Today’s Tipsheet: Cornell on CNBC @ 12:15 | Lowe’s US +5.0% | Call Highlights WMT/HD/DKS | Tome to Fix Reporting
Today: Target CEO Brian Cornell to Speak with CNBC’s Courtney Reagan Today at 12:15pm ET Read the release
Lowe’s Q3 Comp Sales +4.6%, US Comp +5.0% “Sales for the third quarter increased 5.0 percent to $14.4 billion from $13.7 billion in the third quarter of 2014.” Read the release
Fortune 2016 Predictions: Hudson’s Bay Will Buy Macy’s See all of the predictions
Home Depot’s Carol Tome to Fix Interline’s Reporting by Maxwell Murphy at WSJ. “Home Depot closed the deal in late August, but could only include one month of Interline’s results in its earnings for the fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 1…“It takes [Interline] three weeks to close the books,” Ms. Tomé told CFO Journal. “I’m going to fix that.” It takes Home Depot significantly less time to close its books.” Read more (Subscription)
Amazon to roll out deals every five minutes by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “That compares to last season, when it launched a new promotion every 10 minutes.” Read more
The Big Cloud Hanging Over Walmart’s Improving Sales? Soft E-commerce Growth by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “Global e-commerce, the bulk of which is in the U.S., grew by only 10%, a much smaller rate than in any preceding quarter this fiscal year. And, perhaps of greatest concern, that clip is well below Amazon.com’s 23% growth last quarter.” Read more
Saks president betting on brand resonance for Canadian launch by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “The downtown Toronto store, Saks’s first in Canada, will launch in February – followed a week later with another one in the city’s west end…“We believe Canada is ready for Saks,” president Marc Metrick, 42, a seasoned U.S. retail executive, said during a visit Tuesday to Toronto from his usual office in New York. “I think this consumer is ready.” Read more
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Apple Readies Long-Rumored Store on Chicago River by Blair Kamin & Robert Channick at Chicago Tribune. “It will be more like a high-tech version of Frank Lloyd Wright’s quintessentially Midwestern Prairie Style homes…Soon-to-be-unveiled plans for the store call for a glass-sheathed temple of computing near the historic Michigan Avenue bridge…These details are outlined in a report from the city’s Department of Planning and Development, a draft copy of which was obtained by the Tribune.” Read more
Walmart’s EVP US Food Speaks at Northwest Arkansas Event at The City Wire. “Redfield told the audience of more than 700 at the eighth annual breakfast, that CASA is an organization that gives children a voice in the court system by providing quality volunteer representation (advocates) for abused and neglected children in the court system.” Read more
Target’s $10M Deal Over Data Breach Gets Final Approval by Y.Peter Kang at Law 360. “A Minnesota federal judge on Tuesday signed off on a $10 million settlement to resolve multidistrict litigation over Target’s notorious 2013 data breach that compromised up to 110 million consumers’ personal information, saying the early settlement of the suit is a big win for class members.” Read more (Subscription)
True Value Retail Store Comp Sales +3.4% Read the release
Converse Claims Win Against Wal-Mart Over Chuck Taylors by Bill Donahue at Law 360. “A U.S. International Trade Commission judge has sided with Converse in a case claiming Wal-Mart, Skechers and others violated its trademark rights by selling knockoff versions of the Chuck Taylor sneaker, the shoe company announced late Tuesday.” Read more (Subscription)
Kohl’s Nabs Ex-Walgreens Exec for Ecom Role by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “(Sona) Chawla will oversee the integration of Kohls’ stores and digital business, an appointment that instantly makes her one of two leading candidates to be the retailer’s next chief executive officer.” Read more
Toy Industry Unveils Finalists for 2016 Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards Read the release
Facebook plans epic rooftop park, with walking trails and giant fire pit, at new Seattle office by Jacob Demmitt at GeekWire. “Facebook confirmed the plans, but declined to share photos or renderings of the outdoor spaces. A Facebook spokesman did confirm the amenities and said there will be a total of three rooftop areas full of local trees and plants.” See the blueprints / Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Activists petition Walmart to stop selling livestock truck toy
Forbes: Why Warren Buffett Wants Children To Be Entrepreneurs (Interview)
Inside Tesla’s $5 Billion Gigafactory
NY Times: How Amazon’s Long Game Yielded a Retail Juggernaut
Campbell’s Is Doing Something Pretty Amazing With Leftover Peaches
Walmart Q3 Earnings Call Highlights
Doug McMillon, President & CEO
On a constant currency basis, our total revenue would have been $122.4 billion. That’s growth of $3.4 billion or 2.8%.
- I call this out because I don’t want the currency impacts to obscure the strength of our business. We are a growth company and we’re growing.
We’ve seen that customers who start using online grocery spent nearly 50% more than similar customers who shop only in stores.
- This is the customer we’re going after. The shopper in our sweet spot who accesses Wal-Mart in multiple ways.
We expect more than 210 million visits to our app in November and December up from 18 million in 2012.
I was pleased that SamsClub.com continued to deliver strong growth.
Sam’s Club: We were pleased with the growth of membership income but we can do better with our overall results.
Greg Foran, President & CEO US
All formats in our portfolio had positive comps this quarter.
Supercenters: continued traffic growth and positive comps across all areas except entertainment.
We accelerated our online grocery pickup offering to 85 additional locations. We now have almost 140 locations across 25 markets.
E-commerce sales and traffic were softer than we would like.
E-commerce sales contributed approximately 15 basis points to our comp.
We saw growth across most of the store, particularly in our apparel, hardlines, home and seasonal businesses.
Mid-single-digit comps in Health and Wellness.
In Food, we saw our best top line results of the year despite minimal inflation.
While warmer weather somewhat slowed performance in October, solid back to school and Halloween seasons, along with new launchers such as Pioneer Woman and STAR WARS drove mid-single-digit comps across each of these departments.
Entertainment: it will take time to get this department where it needs to be.
For the 13-week period ending January 29, 2016, we expect the comp sales increase of around 1%.
Rosalind Brewer, President & CEO Sam’s Club
Unless otherwise noted, today’s financial discussion will exclude fuel for purposes of comparability…
Health and Wellness and Consumables: comp sales increased 0.4%.
We were pleased with the growth in membership income during the quarter, which increased 5.4%.
Our Fresh, Freezer, Cooler business faced significant headwinds as deflation in key areas, including fresh meat and dairy weighed on our comps.
We were pleased with our performance in produce.
We believe comp sales without fuel for the 13 week period ending January 29, 2016, will be flat to up 1%.
Read the full transcript via Seeking Alpha
Home Depot Q3 Earnings Call Highlights
Craig Menear, President & CEO
Every region posted positive comps in the quarter as did all of our top 40 markets.
Canada: 16 consecutive quarters of positive comps.
Mexico: 48 quarters in a row or 12 years of positive comp growth for our Mexican business.
All of our merchandising departments posted positive comps.
Online sales grew approximately 25% in the third quarter and represent approximately 5.1% of overall sales.
About 42% of all online orders are picked up in our conveniently located stores.
We now have the capability to reach 90% of US customers in two business days or less with parcel shipping.
Ted Decker, EVP Merchandising
Comps:
- double-digit: power tools, commercial lighting, HVAC, fencing, power tool accessories, watering, water heaters, ceiling fans, air circulation, hand tools and generators
- above company average: appliances, tools, plumbing, decor, lighting, hardware, building materials, indoor garden, flooring tools and materials, siding, concrete, fasteners, roofing, builders hardware, compressors, wet drive VACs, wiring devices, pipe and fittings, ladders, special order window coverings, vanities, in-stock kitchens, fixtures, grills, soils and mulches, pressure washers and cleaning
- positive but below company average: outdoor garden, kitchen and bath, electrical, millwork, flooring, lumber and paint
Transactions for tickets under $50 representing approximately 20% of our US sales were up 3.6%.
Transactions for tickets over $900 also representing approximately 20% of our US sales were up 7.8%.
Market share: on a rolling 12 through September was 56 basis points up.
Carol Tome, CFO
comps: 2.6% in August, 7.6% in September and 5.2% in October.
US comp: 4.6% in August, 10.1% in September and 7.1% in October.
In the US if you assume Labor Day fell in the same fiscal month as last year our comps were 6.9% in August, 7.8% in September and 7.1% in October.
During the third quarter we opened three new stores in Mexico for an ending store count of 2,273.
Read the full transcript via The Street
Dick’s Sporting Goods Q3 Earnings Call Highlights
Edward Stack, CEO
Same store sales increased 0.4%, below our guidance range largely due to performance in a couple of key categories.
At the conclusion of back-to-school, our comps were running at the higher end of our guidance; however, as the quarter progressed, record warm weather across the majority of our markets negatively impacted sales and traffic.
The outdoor category comped relatively flat in the quarter.
We saw strength in lifestyle camping, paddle sports, and sport games offset by a decline in hunting.
With Nike, we opened up six Brand Jordan shops during the third quarter and have opened an additional four this quarter.
Under Armour, we’re working to create a next-generation shop concept that we plan to roll out next year.
Opening 75 Polo shops this year.
Calia remains well positioned to become our number three women’s athletic apparel brand by the end of 2016.
Ecommerce penetration grew to 8% of net sales in the third quarter compared to 7.3% in the third quarter of 2014.
Turning to the fourth quarter, we’re off to a slow start.
To address this situation, we are working with key vendors to return slow-moving product as well as cancelling some orders.
A new store that we opened in Las Vegas and another one that we opened in an L.A. suburb, we built a footwear deck in conjunction with Nike …it does for the footwear business what the Pinnacle shops did for the apparel business. It’s only been open for a few weeks.
Footwear business was good and it comped positively in the quarter.
We’re cautiously optimistic about the golf business but it’s still not going to be a big growth area for us, Robbie. It’s just we think we’ve stopped the bleeding, so to speak.
Teri List-Stoll, CFO
Q4: We expect same store sales to be in the range of negative 2% to positive 1%.
Read the full transcript via Seeking Alpha
Contact: Jason Long, jlong@eyeonretail.net