Today’s Tipsheet: Wmart Labor Demands Discount | Sinegal Mansion for Sale | REI CEO Grilled | Target Cart Post Goes Viral
Wal-Mart Labor Activists Demand Employee Discount on Food by Shannon Pettypiece at Bloomberg. “For the world’s largest retailer, that could cost more than $400 million. Wal-Mart currently offers workers a 10 percent discount on all merchandise except the vast majority of food. Fruits, vegetables and some snacks are the only food items included in the promotion, unless they’re on sale. Read more
How a Target shopping cart changed a Missouri family’s life at Fox 2 St. Louis. “Her husband Adam’s post expressing gratitude to Target’s Facebook page has gone viral with over 100,000 likes.” Read more
Walmart Buys “Deep”, Releases Black Friday Plans “Walmart will never be the retailer that broadcasts a great price on Black Friday and then ends up only having a few in stock,” added (Steve) Bratspies. “We bought deep on televisions, toys and more to ensure hundreds of customers in a store – not tens of customers – get the gift they want.” Read the release
REI CEO Grilled on Reddit Chat over Membership Tactics by Molly Brown at GeekWire. “…It got kind of nasty from there, with even customers getting in on the thread. From Gazorp: “As an REI customer, it’s incredibly irritating to be constantly pushed to buy a membership by every employee I encounter. A checkout employee laughed in my face yesterday when I told him I didn’t have a membership.” Read more
Buyout firms expected to bid more than $4B for Petco by Josh Kosman at NY Post. “The auction sale of the nation’s No. 2 pet-supply chain is turning into a real dogfight…The well-heeled groups, one with KKR & Co. and Hellman & Friedman, and the second with CVC Capital Partners and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, are expected to each bid more than $4 billion for the chain. That would be less than 10 times Petco’s $480 million a year in Ebitda, a source said. Buyout firm BC Partners paid a roughly nine times Ebitda for the better-performing PetSmart.” Read more
Dick’s launches new ecommerce site for Field & Stream brand by Tim Schooley at Pittsburgh Business Times. “Dick’s operates FieldandStreamShop.com in-house, as it does for its Golf Galaxy chain.” Read more
Costco’s Sinegal looks to offload Bird Rock mansion at San Diego Reader. “This is the first time the home has been offered on the open market in nearly 20 years, though public records indicate the property was purchased via private sale in 2012 for $12,000,000 by the Sinegal family of Hunts Point, Washington.” Read more
Kroger deal to buy Roundy’s ‘a strategic masterstroke,’ analyst says by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. Read more
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Macy’s may be a takeover target by Fred Imbert at CNBC. “They’re trading at $40 a share; all those guys at your conference thought they were worth $60, $70, $80, $90 just on the real estate,” Kniffen said.” Read more
Why this robot may soon be cruising down your grocery store’s aisles by Matt McFarland at Washington Post. “The 38-inch tall Tally is programmed to navigate a store while stopping to take photos of shelves. These are uploaded to the cloud and compared against an idealized representation of the store to see if products are where they should be, and are properly priced.” Read more
Amazon Studios Chief Adds Oversight of TV, Film Licensing by Natalie Jarvey at The Hollywood Reporter. Read more
Here’s How Procter & Gamble Is Thinking About the Smart Home by Stacey Higginbotham at Fortune. “P&G is testing a relatively new wireless protocol that went live on Wednesday with its public certification. The protocol is called Thread and it was created by a group of companies that include Nest, Samsung, Freescale, Silicon Labs, and Big Ass Fans.” Read more
Sears Spoof Ad on Jimmy Kimmel (Sears – Technically Still in Business) via Chicago Crain’s See the video
Former Gen. McChrystal speaks at Wal-Mart Veterans day event by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 2015, Wal-Mart held its annual Veterans Day event at its home office in Bentonville. “The time and date of this event isn’t coincidental, it’s in keeping with the original Armistice Day first observed in 1919,” said Gary Profit, senior director of military programs for Walmart.” Read more
Amazon Opens Pickup Location in Isla Vista (CA) via KEYT 3 “Amazon@IslaVista is the fourth pickup location that the company has opened in 2015. “ Read more
No empty nest: Young women live with Mom & Dad like it’s 1940 via Chicago Tribune. “A Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data found that 36.4 percent of women between the ages 18 and 34 lived with parents or relatives in 2014.” Read more
Angie’s List rebuffs $500M IAC proposal, sees shares jump by Reem Nasr at CNBC. Read more
Tipsheet Extra
Bloomberg: Farm-to-Table Dog Food Is Now a Thing
The 10 Most Watched Ads on YouTube in October (Barbie #1, Squatty Potty #4)
How Birchbox Discovered the Beauty Consumer Everyone Else was Ignoring
Sam’s Club Chief Member Officer Praises Disney for Digital and Physical Integration
Amazon to open office in downtown Chicago
Contact: Jason Long, jlong@eyeonretail.net