"Kroger raises outlook on stronger 1Q profit" at USA Today.  "The Cincinnati-based company, which also owns Ralphs, Fry's and Food 4 Less, said sales at stores open at least a year rose 3.3% during the period, excluding fuel."  Read more:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/06/20/kroger-raises-outlook/2441337/   "Kroger execs talk double coupon impact on earnings call" by Steve Watkins at Cincy Business Courier.  "“We invested the monies that were saved from double coupons into lower everyday pricing,” President and COO Rodney McMullen said on the call. “So if you look in total, it actually had no effect on gross margin. What we found was [...]

  "Home Depot's Fetish For Amazon Is Coming At The Expense Of Shareholder Return" at Seeking Alpha.  "Home Depot's management has begun to view the world as full of constraints, not opportunities, by spending too much time looking over its shoulder at Amazon.  Instead, and given Home Depot's ability to execute, it should be aggressively opening new stores to the benefit of shareholders and customers alike. Put another way, management's current focus on integrating online sales into the channel mix to fend off Amazon is not an excuse for neglecting the brick-and-mortar portfolio."  Read more:  https://seekingalpha.com/article/1510442-home-depot-s-fetish-for-amazon-is-coming-at-the-expense-of-shareholder-return?source=google_news   "Kroger Releases Q1 [...]

  "Wal-Mart Faces Steep Climb to Dominate Online Retailing" by Shelly Banjo at WSJ.  "Until recently, a warehouse in Carrollton, Ga., west of Atlanta, was Wal-Mart's only company-owned U.S. distribution center dedicated to online orders.  By contrast, Amazon has spent 15 years building its e-commerce network, with more than 40 U.S. warehouses within 35 miles of major cities.  Figuring out how to get Web orders to online shoppers "has become a critical battleground," said Eric Best, chief executive of e-commerce technology firm Mercent Corp. "As Amazon's bets on infrastructure pay off, it can sell products at lower costs and puts [...]

  "Sam’s Club ‘Sensory Lab’ tests holiday products" by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  "Roughly 80% of the food tested meets the minimum standard, but Hebert said just 15% makes into the clubs.  “We have two test panels a day with four foods in each panel. Between 65 to 100 people come down to take part in the tests each day,” Hebert said.  The panel tests rate the products on a range of attributes from taste to texture and panel participants are allowed to share any suggestions to improve the product further."  Read more:  https://www.thecitywire.com/node/28277#.UcA8cfnVDpU   "Lowe’s bid for [...]

  "Lowe's Agrees to Buy Orchard Supply Hardware" by Mattioli and Glazer at WSJ.  "Under the agreement, Lowe's would acquire at least 60 of Orchard's 91 stores, plus an option to buy the rest, the people said. They said Orchard is expected to propose the deal Monday in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing...The deal would helpLowe's diversify into a smaller-box format, a strategy that other big-box retailers are trying as more sales move online. Orchard stores average 36,000 square feet of selling space, the people said. Lowe's stores average about 113,000 square feet of selling space. Lowe's plans to keep [...]

  "HD Supply may raise up to $1.3 billion in IPO" at AP via Businessweek.  "The company plans to sell 53.2 million shares priced between $22 and $25 each...Home Depot remains its largest customer and accounted for $296 million in revenue last year.  HD Supply reported a loss of $543 million on revenue of $7.03 billion in its most recent fiscal year."  Read more:  https://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-06-13/hd-supply-may-raise-up-to-1-dot-3-billion-in-ipo   "Will AmazonFresh Kill Online Grocery Startups?" by Gabrielle Karol at Fox Business.  "The service, known as AmazonFresh, has been operating in Seattle since 2007. To use AmazonFresh, consumers need to pay a $299 annual [...]

  "Retail sales beat expectations as automobiles surge" at Reuters.  "Retail sales rose more than expected in May as households stepped up purchases of automobiles and bought other goods, suggesting the economy was squeezing out of a recent soft patch.  The Commerce Department said on Thursday retail sales increased 0.6 percent after edging up 0.1 percent in April."  Read more:  https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/13/us-usa-economy-retail-idUSBRE95C0IF20130613   "Leverage game promotes savings and growth at Wal-Mart" by Kim Souza at City Wire.  "“Leverage is a key word, a corporate reminder that they are to continue to make the most out of what they have …  Not [...]

  "How Costco saves taxpayers money" by Eleanor Bioxham at Fortune.  "Paying well ultimately saves Costco money. The company gets tons of applications and can afford to hire selectively. And it also doesn't incur the high costs of turnover that other companies must deal with. In fact, turnover at the company runs just 10% overall for hourly workers and 6% if they stay longer than one year, he told me. Those figures are miniscule compared to overall turnover rates of 67% for part-time staffers and 24% for full-timers, according to statistics from the Hay Group."  Read more:  https://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/06/11/costco/?source=cnn_bin   "Wal-Mart [...]