Costco September Comp Sales Flat (+8% Excluding Gasoline & Foreign Exchange) "Costco reported net sales of $10.75 billion for the month of September, the five weeks ended October 4, 2015, an increase of two percent from $10.57 billion during the similar period last year." Read the release   Target's Kristi Argyilan on What 'In-House Programmatic' Really Means by Alexander Bruell at Ad Age. "Advertising Age: Are you spending more on programmatic? Ms. Argyilan: Yes, definitely...We have our own exchange and private marketplace, and in that marketplace we have every channel represented, including some experimental video and TV...Ms. Argyilan will be [...]

  Home Depot opens 1,000-employee Marietta tech center by Kimeko McCoy at Marietta Daily Journal. "The Home Depot on Tuesday opened a 200,000-square-foot technology center in Marietta, which houses 1,000 information technology associates...plans to add another 500 positions in the future...leasing a four-building campus on New Market Parkway near the corner of Cobb Parkway and Franklin Road." Read more / See the ribbon cutting   Costco Sells Record Amount of Cage-Free Eggs Despite Feud by Jade Scipioni at Fox Business. "In 2015, we sold 2.9 billion eggs and 763 million of them were cage-free. That’s 26% of our total sales,” [...]

  Walmart is retesting Scan & Go in select stores by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "We can’t say how many stores are testing it this time, but it is underway in Rogers and it’s part of Wal-Mart’s efforts to ensure its stores are fast, clean and friendly,” said John Forrest Ales, corporate spokesman for Wal-Mart...The City Wire tested this new service in the Rogers store on Monday (Oct. 5)..." Read more   Amazon Is Absolutely Eviscerating Other Retailers Online, New Survey Shows by Jason Del Rey at Recode. "In a survey of 2,000 online shoppers in the U.S., [...]

  Kroger tests ‘smart shelf’ technology by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati Enquirer. "Kroger’s test is expanding from a few shelves to most of its Cold Spring store on Crossroads Boulevard. The company is completing the installation of 2,200 Edge shelves...future applications could include providing on-demand nutritional info when shoppers touch the shelf below an item. Kroger officials can easily see a day when the shelves can talk to shoppers’ smart phones. See it in-store / Read more   Target uses Minnetonka store for tests while grocery makeover is in progress by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "Target officials say they need [...]

  Walmart gears up for baby-related sales in effort win Millennial dollars by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "Over the past year or so we have added 20 brands to our baby department after listening to what young parents want,” Diana Marshall, vice president of Walmart’s baby division told The City Wire...it’s committed to lead the baby industry in the areas of product safety, national brands at low prices, and baby-clock shopping – a term Wal-Mart has coined to describe the moment parents find it most convenient to shop." Read more   Target Rolling Out Apple Watch To US [...]

  Wal-Mart to cut hundreds of jobs at headquarters by Nathan Layne at Reuters. "Fewer than 500 employees are expected to lose their jobs and an announcement could be made as early as this Friday, according to one of sources, who declined to be named because the move had not been made public." Read more   ...Sources: HR reserves rooms for Friday - Wal-Mart department directors told to cancel travel this week or make sure they come to the office on Friday by Sarah Nassauer at WSJ. Read more (Subscription)   FY' 16: Costco to Build 32 New Stores in [...]