"The Loyalty Lie" by Doug Stephens at The Retail Prophet.  "Loyalty program members are not, in effect, any more or less loyal. What’s worse, according to the same study, is that 81% of loyalty program members don’t even understand what their rewards entitlements consist of or how they’re paid out, which shouldn’t be surprising, given that the survey also found the average consumer belongs to as many as 18 different loyalty programs!"  Read more   "Amazon Takes Tax Fight to Supreme Court" by Brad Stone at Businessweek via Mashable.  "Amazon clearly dislikes New York’s law. It’s confusing to customers and [...]

  "Industry Trends Might Not Favor Home Depot Much Longer" by Dan Moskowitz at Motley Fool.  "Many investors will point to a strong housing recovery in California as a major positive. However, a large portion of the housing boom in California has been thanks to investment firms (and foreign investors) buying properties, not families looking for starter homes or upgrading to larger dwellings. That being the case, the housing boom in California should be looked at with at least some skepticism when it comes to long-term sustainability."  Read more   "The Home Depot To Present At Goldman Sachs Twentieth Annual [...]

  "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 [...]

  "Wal-Mart hits the brakes on expansion in India" by Andria Cheng at Market Watch via Financial Times.  "Wal-Mart, which has counted on overseas markets to grow, has suffered a setback and is putting its expansion in India on hold, the Financial Times reported.  Wal-Mart hasn’t added a wholesale, or so-called cash-and-carry, shop to its 20-store portfolio since late October, the FT reported, adding it opened its first such location in 2009 in a joint venture with New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises."  Read more   "Don’t Expect Smaller, Urban Costco Stores Anytime Soon" by Chris Morran at The Consumerist.  "Jelinek, who [...]

  "Wal-Mart suppliers get tutorial on SPARC 2.0" by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  "SPARC – the Supplier Portal Allowing Retail Coverage initiative – is being broadly rolled out by Wal-Mart during the next six weeks at roughly 150 stores a day in an effort to raise on-the-shelf availability of products sold by the retailer. Mike Graen, director of strategy and innovation for Wal-Mart, spoke candidly to a room full of suppliers who agreed that one of the most frustrating issues they face is products out-of-stock."  Read more   "Touring the Home Depot Graveyard in China" by Trevor Williams at [...]

  "Dollar Tree 2nd-Quarter Earnings Rise 4.6% on Higher Sales" at the Wall Street Journal.  ""Sales, customer traffic, average ticket, earnings and operating margin all continue to grow," said Chief Executive Bob Sasser. "Customers are responding in record numbers to our outstanding values in both discretionary and consumable merchandise categories."  Read more   "Walmart summit focuses on need for more U.S. manufacturing jobs" by Sandra Pedicini at Orlando Sentinel.  ""I really think we're at a tipping point now for U.S. manufacturing," Wal-Mart Stores chief executive officer Mike Duke said. "Transportation costs are going to continue to rise, so I think producing [...]

  "Top 10 Things Heard on the Lowe's Earnings Call" Robert Niblock (CEO) 1) Comparable sales for the quarter were positive 9.6%, driven by a healthy balance of ticket and transaction growth. As expected, we recovered most of the outdoor sales we missed in the first quarter from unfavorable weather conditions. 2) We expect the (Orchard Supply) deal to close at the end of August and to be funded with operating cash flow. Rick Damron (COO) 3) Our outdoor product comps increased approximately 13% in the second quarter, compared to a decrease of 7% for the first quarter, resulting in [...]

  "Lowe's Comp Sales Climb 9.6%" at Seeking Alpha.  " Lowes today reported net earnings of $941 million for the quarter ended August 2, 2013, a 26.0 percent increase over the same period a year ago...Sales for the quarter increased 10.3 percent to $15.7 billion from $14.2 billion in the second quarter of 2012, and comparable sales for the quarter increased 9.6 percent. For the six month period, sales were $28.8 billion, a 5.1 percent increase over the same period a year ago, and comparable sales increased 4.6 percent." Read more   "Like Home Depot, Lowe's results benefit from housing rebound" [...]