Busy Earnings Week - Highlights: 11/18: Home Depot 11/19: Lowe's, Target & Staples 11/20: Best Buy & Dollar Tree   "Target to offer primary care services in new clinic model" by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. "The fact that Kaiser … will be staffing these clinics is a major departure for Target,” said Tom Charland, CEO of Shoreview-based Merchant Medicine, a retail clinic research and consulting firm. “Up until now, they felt their guests should be treated by Target employees.” Read more   "Bulk retailer Costco sees potential growth in demand for Australian produce in international outlets" by Catherine McAloon [...]

  "Walmart Stores Are Now Price-Matching Amazon.com" by Amit Chowdhry at Forbes. "Greg Foran, the president and CEO of Walmart U.S., said that the price-matching plan simply formalized what many of the stores were already doing. “About half of the stores were doing it anyway,” said Foran." Read more   Wal-Mart Q3 2015 Earnings Call Transcript  Read more   "Target Express plans worry people in South Park, San Diego" by Dominic Garcia at CBS 8. "South Park is really unique," resident John Moore said. So when he heard a big box chain was moving into the old Gala Market, "My [...]

  "Walmart Q3 Comp Sales +.5% in U.S." "Sam's Club comp sales, without fuel,1 increased 0.4 percent for the 13-week period ended Oct. 31. Sam's Club increased membership income 10.1 percent for the quarter, and grew operating income more than twice the rate of sales growth. E-commerce sales globally increased approximately 21 percent on a constant currency basis." Read the release   CNBC's Take: "Wal-Mart tops earnings estimates; shares climb" "The retail giant reported a profit of $1.15 a share on revenue of $118.01 billion. Wall Street had expected the company to post earnings of $1.12 per share ." Read more [...]

  NY Times: "Walmart Memo Orders Stores to Improve Grocery Performance" by Steven Greenhouse & Hiroko Tibuchi. "The memo — leaked for public use by a Walmart manager unhappy about understaffing — also tells stores to be sure to “rotate” dairy products and eggs, which means removing expired items and adding new stock at the bottom and back of display cases." Read more   "Walmart Spreads Black Friday Across Five Days" by Craig Giammona at Bloomberg. "The “New Black Friday” will include five days of sales on Walmart.com and in stores, starting at 12:01 a.m. online on Thanksgiving and running [...]

  Happy Veterans Day!   "Target joins the Black Friday early birds" by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. "Black Friday shoppers, set your watches — err, smartphones — for 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. That time is shaping up to be the main event for the big shopping frenzy this year. On Monday, Minneapolis-based Target said it would open then, too, two hours earlier than last year." Read more   "AmEx Costco Card Seen as Crown Jewel Worth 15 Cents EPS" by Elizabeth Dexheimer at Bloomberg. "The lender’s exclusive role as the credit-card provider for Costco’s U.S. stores may generate 20 [...]

  "Wal-Mart Feels Pinch From China Austerity Campaign" by Laurie Burkitt at WSJ. "The Chinese government’s push to clean up excessive consumption at its state-owned enterprises has hit overall consumer confidence and retail, Mr. (Scott) Price said in an interview Sunday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit. “The austerity campaign was broad-based,” he said. “It wasn’t limited to the luxury market.” Read more (Subscription)   "Wal-Mart: Online rivals can’t sway Chinese moms" by Leslie Shaffer at CNBC. "Wal-Mart's rival in the U.S., Costco, is among the competitors wading into China via e-commerce, but the world's largest [...]

  "Target's new elves have a story to tell" by Sabrina Korber at CNBC. "The partnership between the companies began eight weeks ago, when Cornell approached Shechtman at the boutique. She had no idea who he was. "I was wearing sweatpants when I met Brian," she told CNBC. "I was embarrassed at the time, but maybe I should wear sweatpants more often." See the video / Read more   "Whole Foods gets pushback on new store from Hollywood elites" by Michael Theis at Austin Bus. Journal. "The report centers around the passing this week of a Malibu, California, ballot measure [...]

  "Amazon Is Testing Taxis for Deliveries" by Greg Bensinger at WSJ. "Amazon.com Inc. this fall tested package delivery by licensed cab in San Francisco and Los Angeles using taxi-hailing mobile app Flywheel, according to people familiar with the matter. Amazon is studying the broader use of taxis as delivery vehicles, the people said...The Flywheel deliveries were typically done in the early morning when the cabs had fewer fares and were less likely to be noticed by customers and competitors, said the people familiar with the matter." Read more (Subscription)   ...Drivers are picking up multiple packages that are all [...]