“WSJ Interview with Walmart CEO Int’l – David Cheesewright” by Shelly Banjo.  “With 80% of retail industry growth that is going to happen over the next 10 years coming from outside of the U.S., I have to be the growth engine for our business. We are disappointed with the growth levels from last year, so that’s going to have to be the priority.” Read more

 

“Dollar General Said to Explore Family Dollar Bid” by David Welch/Matthew Campbell/Matt Townsend at Bloomberg.  “While Dollar General had earlier passed on the chance to bid for Family Dollar, the company is re-evaluating its options out of concern that the smaller retailer may soon be out of its reach for good, two people said. There is no guarantee that it will make an offer, the people said, with one putting the chance of a bid at 50 percent.” Read more

 

“Three Hurdles for Dollar General in Its Family Dollar Bid” by Antoine Gara at The Street via Dallas News.  “As part of their July 28 merger agreement, Family Dollar agreed to pay Dollar Tree $306 million were it to accept an outside bidder. Those three factors will make it much harder and more costly for Dollar General to launch a counterbid for Family Dollar.” Read more

 

Canada: “Target faces steep competition as back-to-school season starts” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail.  “Target is at a disadvantage in not yet having e-commerce in Canada, even as it races to catch up on its digital strategies south of the border, Mr. Baer said…Wal-Mart is selling a 24-piece Crayola crayon for 25 cents, compared with $2 on average at competitors, according to the chain’s research, while it’s touting a Hilroy 32-page exercise book for 5 cents, compared with 35 cents at competitors.” Read more

 

***A message from Orchard Road Canning Co. – Target Millennials to Grow Home Canning Sales. Young female canners are the future of the category and there is untapped potential in the segment.  Orchard Road targets the demographic with a simple and elegant glass jar design and unique package graphics that feature authentic food-filled jars.  See the package design. See the sell sheet. www.orchardroadcanning.com.  Contact info@shiftmarketinggroup.net for more information.

 

“Walgreens nears deal to buy British pharmacy, but won’t invert” by Benjamin Snyder at Fortune. “Walgreens is close to buying a 55% stake in its British counterpart that it doesn’t already own, according to an anonymous source cited by The New York Times. But the company will keep its U.S. citizenship, the report said.” Read more

 

Twin Cities: “TargetExpress coming to Highland Crossing shopping center” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “The Minneapolis-based retailer will open its new small-format location next July in the Highland Crossing shopping center, Target told the Star Tribune Tuesday. The St. Paul store will be about 17,000 square feet, slightly smaller than Dinkytown location, which opened two weeks ago.” Read more

 

Nashville: “Kroger introduces lower pricing” by G. Chambers Williams at The Tennessean.  “But the question is whether Kroger is doing this because of a competitive need, or an opportunity to boost natural and organic food sales,” he said. “Wal-Mart has announced that it is going to get much more active in natural and organics, so that could be part of the impetus for this — sort of a pre-emptive move.” Read more

 

“Walgreens July Sales Increase 6.1 Percent – Customer Traffic in Comp Stores -2.6%”  “Total front-end sales increased 1.4 percent in July compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.1 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 2.6 percent while basket size increased 3.7 percent.” Read the release

 

“Target signs legal brief backing gay marriage” by Jim Spencer at Star-Tribune. “In revealing Tuesday that it had signed a court brief backing marriage equality in a ­pending court case, Target joins other blue-chip names such as Starbucks, Apple and Intel that have sided publicly with same-sex marriage advocates in court cases or ballot issues.” Read more

 

“Shoppers Are Fleeing Physical Stores” by Shelly Banjo and Paul Ziobro at WSJ.  “Aside from a small uptick in April, shopper visits have fallen by 5% or more from a year earlier in every month for the past two years, according to ShopperTrak…On Tuesday, Walgreen Co. said customer traffic in the nonpharmacy section of the store fell 2.6% in July. CVS Caremark Corp. said declines in traffic contributed to a 0.4% decrease in front-of-the-store sales.” Read more

 

“Target Lowers Outlook” by Bob Pisani at CNBC.  “It now expects 78 cents a share for the just completed (July-ending) quarter, well below earlier guidance of 85–$1.00. They cited promotional markdowns and lower than expected sales in Canada; meanwhile, U.S. sales are “essentially flat.” Read more

 

“Wal-Mart’s women empowerment effort exceed goals” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “We met the annual goals in the first two years and our spending since then is $400 million ahead of our goal. We are actively working toward growing our women-owned supplier base,” Lemmon said. Wal-Mart has roughly 1,000 suppliers who made their way on to the retailer’s shelves through the women-owned business initiative.” Read more

 

“Walmart CEO Doug McMillon Attends DC Africa Dinner” by Judy Kurtz at The Hill.  “The official list of attendees sent out by the White House includes former President Carter, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as well as current Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with an extensive list of Democratic lawmakers.”  Read more / See the guest list

 

“Amazon Same-Day Delivery Expanding – “Get It Today” Available in Six More Cities” “Amazon.com has expanded Same-Day Delivery with new “Get It Today” capabilities for customers in Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington DC metro areas…Starting today, customers can order as late as noon, seven days a week and get things…delivered to their home the same day.” Read the release

 

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