Wednesday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: Target’s ‘immaterial’ Digital Sales | Tweet & Sell | Rite Aid’s Winning Strategy?
“Web Sales Remain Small for Many Retailers” by Shelly Banjo & Paul Ziobro at WSJ. “Target, for instance, has highlighted its online performance, telling investors last week that its digital sales have grown by double-digit percentages and that it is “moving quickly to ensure we stay relevant in an increasingly digital marketplace.” Asked by the SEC to quantify its online results, the discount retailer said in June that “digital sales represented an immaterial amount of total sales.” Read more
“Twitter hires former Ticketmaster CEO to lead online commerce” by Jessica Guynn at LA Times. “Hubbard said in an interview that Twitter was aiming to “get people in the moment to buy and to act on their passions.” “That to me is the opportunity. I look at Twitter as one of the greatest discovery and distribution platforms in the world,” he said. He said Twitter would form partnerships with merchants and offer them tools to sell goods and services inside tweets.” Read more
“I worry about JC Penney-Sears model: Retail pro” at CNBC. “After the Bill Ackman blowup at J.C. Penney and another tough quarter at Sears, turnaround expert and entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis told CNBC on Tuesday he’s “not sure the market can handle both of them.” Read more
“Amazon Adds Ability to Buy Goods From Within Mobile Apps” by Danielle Kucera at Bloomberg. ““Imagine a developer of a nutrition and fitness app can now offer their customers the ability to purchase vitamins, supplements and fitness gear within the app, directly from Amazon,” Mike George, Amazon’s vice president in charge of games, app store and cloud drive, said in the statement.” Read more
“Commander-in-cheap: US is a bargain manufacturer” by Kiran Moodley at CNBC. “According to the Boston Consulting Group, the U.S. is fast becoming one of the lowest-cost countries for manufacturing in the developed world…The report states that export manufacturing in the U.S. is a unsung hero of the economic recovery, noting: “Despite all the public focus on the U.S. trade deficit, little attention has been paid to the fact that the country’s exports have been growing more than seven times faster than GDP since 2005.” Read more
“Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like Costco” by Megan McArdle at Bloomberg. “Costco has a tiny number of SKUs in a huge store — and consequently, has half as many employees per square foot of store. Their model is less labor intensive, which is to say, it has higher labor productivity. Which makes it unsurprising that they pay their employees more.” Read more
“Consumer Reports Finds Private-Label Foods Often Meet Or Eclipse National Brands In Quality” at Sacramento Bee. “CR’s expert taste-testers judged 33 of 57 store-brand foods to be as good as or better than the big name brand. In categories such as ice cream, trail mix, mozzarella, mixed vegetables, and more, Consumer Reports found at least one store brand from the national grocers Costco, Kmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, and Whole Foods that was equal in quality to the national brand.” Read more
“Has Rite Aid Found a Winning Strategy?” by Robert Hanley at Motley Fool. “Perhaps one of Rite Aid’s best moves was partnering with retail health giant GNC for store-within-a-store shops that leverage GNC’s strong brand name in the vitamins and nutritional supplements area. There are currently over 2,100 shops in Rite Aid’s national network, roughly 47% of its overall store base, with plans to roll out the format to additional stores in the future.” Read more
“Retail Innovation Shines at Sears Startup + Developer Challenge” at WSJ. “Sears announced the winners of its Startup + Developer Challenge, the retailer’s latest code-a-thon designed to foster digital innovations that further enhance the Shop Your Way member experience and strengthen the company’s long-standing relationships and develop new ones in the technology community of Silicon Valley. More than 150 participants competed over three days for the chance to see their application brought to life by Sears.” Read more
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