Wednesday Tipsheet: WMT & 309 in Can. | Target Ticket Dead | Academy Attacks Tampa
Wal-Mart says to invest C$340 million in Canada at Reuters. “Wal-Mart said on Wednesday it would spend about C$230 million of the planned investment to complete 29 supercenters, including the expansion of several stores to add full grocery departments…Wal-Mart had planed to spend C$500 million in Canada in the last fiscal year…The newly announced supercenters…will boost its supercenter count in Canada to 309 by the year ending January 2016.” Read more
Target Agrees To Pay $4 Million Settlement For Overcharging Customers at KPIX 5 SF Bay “Since 2008, the retailer was allegedly charging more at the register than the price posted on the shelf. Apparently the expired shelf tags were not getting changed out, so now the retailer must now designate one person to inspect every price tag in the store after they are swapped out each weekend.” See the video / Read more
Target pulls the plug on its digital video service less than 18 months after launch by Paul Lilly at Tech Hive. “(Target) has decided to end all services offered on Target Ticket effective March 7, 2015.” Read more
Amazon’s Newest Tool Lets Anyone Host Giveaways Online by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “Amazon announced a new self-service tool…that allows customers to host giveaways on its website. Anyone is eligible to run these sorts of promotions on the platform.” Read more
Dick’s in sponsorship deal with United States Olympic Committee by Kris Mamula at Pittsburgh Business Times. “Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. and the United States Olympic Committee on Tuesday announced a sponsorship agreement, which allows the Findlay-based retailer to become the official sporting goods retail sponsor to the USOC and Team USA.” Read more
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Wal-Mart’s small format push not new by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “One of those historians is retired Walmart executive Andy Wilson…Wilson said in the early 1980s he was on the management team that traveled to large urban areas like Atlanta and Chicago and there were 30 small urban formats on the board that far back… “David Glass had a vision for a small store format,” Wilson said. “We had been trying the Hypermarts and they were not profitable, but we knew there could be money made in grocery back then.” Read more
CVS Health Kicks Smoking Habit And Still Has Record Sales by Bruce Japsen at Forbes. “In the company’s fourth quarter – the first full three-month period without tobacco sales – CVS said net revenues increased 12.9 percent to a record $37.1 billion…The CVS decision has also put pressure on other retailers like Walgreens and Wal-Mart “It’s opening up some doors to some unique opportunities,” (Larry) Merlo told analysts.” Read more
Costco Cancels Plans for Auburn Store, Senior Center Relocation Up in Air at Fox 40 Sacramento. “The Senior Center’s Executive Director, Barbara Crowell, is distraught. “Is there a sense of relief? No. It doesn’t settle anything. We still have to move,” adding that Costco agreed to give the Senior Center $530,000 to relocate. Since Costco canceled its plans, that money must be returned.” Read more / See the video
Amazon worker says vandalized car a sign of tech backlash by Joel Moreno at KOMO News. “The man, who doesn’t want to be identified, said the vandal tried to scrape off an Amazon team sticker and also scratched up the paint job on the car. Worse was the note the owner found under the windshield wiper. “It said, ‘Amazon go home,'” he said. “I feel targeted.” Read more
Academy Sports to enter Tampa Bay area market by Richard Mullins at The Tampa Tribune. “Academy Sports already has 190 locations, many in the Southeast, but has only recently started to expand deeper into Central Florida.” Read more
Alibaba’s AliExpress Sets Its Sights On Indonesia’s Promising E-Commerce Market by Catherine Shu at TechCrunch. “(Alibaba) announced today that AliExpress, one of its e-commerce sites, has signed a strategic agreement with DOKU, Indonesia’s largest online payment provider. It also launched a website and customer service line in Bahasa and English.” Read more
Nearly 40% of all large US retailers plan to support Apple Pay by the end of next year by Dave Smith at Business Insider. Read more
Link to Obamacare? Staples cracks down on worker hours by Dan Mangan at CNBC. “A number of Staples store managers are now threatening to discipline part-time workers—”up to and including termination”—if they clock in for more than 25 hours on the job per week, a new report reveals.” Read more
U.S. creates new agency to lead cyberthreat tracking by Warren Strobel at Reuters. “Obama will host a “cyber summit” with industry and government leaders at Stanford University in California on Friday.” Read more
Rite Aid to Acquire Leading Independent Pharmacy Benefit Manager EnvisionRx for $2 Billion Read the release
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