Costco December comp sales (ex fuel & f/x) +6.2%: US +6.3% / Canada +6.0% / Other Int'l +5.6% / Digitally Enabled +18.3% Press release   H-E-B and Market Basket Top dunnhumby’s Ninth Annual U.S. Grocery Rankings (Costco #4, Winco #6, Amazon #8) Top 10 list/Press release   Albertson's Companies Inc. Q3 ID sales +2.4% Press release   Walmart Opens Up Ads in Gen AI Shopping Agent Sparky at Adweek. "...(Walmart) is actively testing ads within Sparky, its AI shopping agent, after an initial test last fall. Sparky is an AI shopping assistant within Walmart’s mobile app...Search is the most popular [...]

  The Curious Cult of Aldi at Bloomberg. "A cross-section of Brooklynites stretched down several city blocks—a Birkenstocked hipster, a school custodian, health-care workers, people receiving government-provided food assistance benefits...You don’t have to squint too hard to see the commonalities between Aldi and TJ’s: Both are known for compact stores, limited selections, fanatical shoppers and low prices..." Bloomberg subs.   Instacart Returns to the Super Bowl at Adweek/Yahoo. "Instacart is working with its internal creative agency Local Produce as well as BBDO and McCann on the campaign." Read more   Sweeping Minimum-Wage Hikes Take Hold Across the Country at WSJ. [...]