Costco June comp sales +5.4% (U.S. +6.3% / Canada +2.8% / Other Int'l +3.1% / Ecom +15.7%) Press release   Amazon plans to spend $700 million to retrain a third of its US workforce in new skills at CNBC. "The planned program is among the biggest corporate retraining initiatives ever announced, at a cost of roughly $7,000 per worker, or $700 million, the Journal said." Read more   75 Best Large Workplaces for Millennials (Wegmans #16, Publix #34) at Fortune. List   Udelv partners with H-E-B on Texas autonomous grocery delivery plot by Darrell Etherington at TechCrunch. "This initial [...]

  Trump takes to Twitter to support Home Depot: 'Fight for Bernie Marcus and Home Depot!' by Kelly Tyko at USA Today. "They don’t want people to shop at those GREAT stores," Trump continues, because Marcus contributed "to your favorite President, me!" Read more   ...A Home Depot representative told MarketWatch that Marcus retired from the company more than 15 years ago, and therefore “isn’t speaking on behalf of the company. In fact, as a standard practice, the company does not endorse presidential candidates.” Read more   Deloitte: Back-to-school spending will be relatively flat at CNBC. "Consumers shopping for back-to-school [...]

  Amazon's Push in Health-Care Supply Chain Has Faded, UBS Says by Tatiana Darie at Bloomberg. "UBS’s survey found that while hospitals still expect to increase their supply purchases through Amazon over the next three years, the percentage of respondents in talks for sourcing agreements with Amazon has declined to 7% from 11% last year. The bank surveyed 100 purchasing managers." Tiered subs.   Shopping Can Make You Famous by Sanam Yar at NY Times. "Bella McFadden’s thrift-store finds have gained her a following of Gen Z shoppers who hunger for the ’90s they never experienced...Sales...have taken off on the [...]

  Amazon warehouse workers in Minnesota plan Prime Day strike by Josh Eidelson & Spencer Soper at Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance. "...a sign that labor unrest persists even after the company committed to paying all employees at least $15 an hour last year. Workers at a Shakopee, Minnesota, fulfillment center plan a six-hour work stoppage July 15, the first day of Prime Day." Read more   Walmart’s e-commerce biz is reportedly racking up $1 billion in losses at CNBC. "And now the company is reportedly pressuring Lore’s team to sell off some of the digitally native brands it’s acquired in [...]

  Retailers eager to lodge antitrust complaints against Amazon and Google, citing ‘information bottleneck’ by Naomi Nix at Bloomberg via Seattle Times. "The Retail Industry Leaders Association, which also represents Target and Best Buy among others, said it’s prepared to present their concerns to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, which have carved up antitrust oversight of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies." Tiered subs.   Arizona Governor to withdraw Nike financial incentives after shoe company pulls ‘Betsy Ross’ American flag sneakers at CNBC. "Nike has been planning to build a manufacturing plant on metro Phoenix’s west side, which was [...]

  Walmart to invest $1.2 billion in China to upgrade logistics at Reuters. "Walmart plans to invest 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in China over the next 10 years to upgrade logistics, the U.S. retail giant said on its social media account Monday." Read more   PRWeek ranks the most powerful communicators in the industry (Carney/Amazon #4, Bartlett/Walmart #16, Metcalfe/CVS #17) Top 50 list/Tiered subs.   Walmart Turns to VR to Pick Middle Managers by Sarah Nassauer & Chip Cutter at Wall Street Journal. "(Walmart) is using a VR skills assessment as part of the selection process to find new [...]