“Target Letting Its Geek Flag Fly” by Rick Moss at Forbes.  “Target’s test partnership offering Geek Squad services to its customers began last year in Denver. Given that both companies agreed to extend the trial to more markets is an early indication that the arrangement is working out.  On Target’s fourth quarter earnings call, company chairman, chief executive and president Gregg Steinhafel said that the retailer had received “positive feedback from our guests” in Denver. The retailer rolled out the service to 20 stores in Kansas City beginning on Feb.17. If the next phase goes well, it is assumed, Target and Best Buy will expand further.”  Read more:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/retailwire/2013/03/08/target-letting-its-geek-flag-fly/

 

“Cisco’s Chief Futurist Shares Top 5 Predictions for 2013” and Beyond via @RetailProphet

*  People will live to be 300 years old

*  Retailers will gain unprecedented knowledge about shoppers

*  By 2030, there will be more robots on earth than humans

*  3-D printing will disrupt many industries

*  Education will become democratized

Read full article at:  https://blogs.cisco.com/news/ciscos-chief-futurist-shares-top-5-predictions-for-2013-and-beyond-ioe/

 

“Menards bringing its super-sized stores to St. Louis” by Kavita Kumar at St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  “These initial two stores in St. Peters and O’Fallon, Ill. were to be the first of at least six, but Menards recently slowed its aggressive expansion push here and elsewhere amid the uncertain economy.  Saying that “the great people of the St. Louis area desperately need a better choice for home improvement products,” Menards promises to bring the “lowest prices in the region” on name-brand products.”  Read more:  https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/menards-bringing-its-super-sized-stores-to-st-louis/article_3d84915e-2c73-513a-a603-2274ce4de8ce.html

 

“Walmart and Annie’s keep score of supplier sustainability” by Aaron Tilley at Green Biz.  “Retail buyers play a key role in helping big companies like Walmart make their supply chains more sustainable. Bringing them onboard, however, wasn’t easy, so the world’s largest retailer gave buyers scorecards to assess supplier sustainability. Now 5 percent of buyers’ performance objectives must come from sustainable suppliers.  A couple of tangible tools and metrics have entirely shifted the momentum,” said Brittni Furrow, Walmart’s director of sustainability for food and consumables.”  Read more:  https://www.greenbiz.com/news/2013/03/08/walmart-annies-supplier-sustainability

 

“Cape Cod anti-Lowe’s group launches notolowes.com website”  “While Lowe’s may be acceptable in other regions, it is a threat to Cape Cod’s cultural legacy and economic diversity.”  See the site at:  https://notolowes.com/

 

“Whole Foods to Label Foods With Gene-Modified Content” by Stephanie Strom at NY Times.  “A. C. Gallo, president of Whole Foods, said the new labeling requirement, to be in place within five years, came in response to consumer demand. “We’ve seen how our customers have responded to the products we do have labeled,” Mr. Gallo said. “Some of our manufacturers say they’ve seen a 15 percent increase in sales of products they have labeled.”  Read more:  https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/business/grocery-chain-to-require-labels-for-genetically-modified-food.html?_r=0

 

“Simple Truth brands ‘a huge home run’ for Kroger” at Business Courier – Cincinnati.  “(Rodney) McMullen (CEO) said Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic products, among 588 new private label grocery items it introduced last fall, generated sales that exceeded Kroger’s internal goal by 33 percent.  Products sold under the two labels don’t contain 101 ingredients that some customers have said they don’t want in their food.”  Read more:  https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2013/03/simple-truth-brands-a-huge-home-run.html

 

“Dick’s Sporting Goods Misses 4Q Earnings” at Fox Business News.  “Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results after misjudging demand for cold weather merchandise due to mild temperatures early in the season…Comparable store sales fell 2.2% in the quarter ended Feb. 2. Net income rose to $129.7 million, or $1.03 per share, from $111.1 million, or 88 cents per share, a year earlier.  Read more: https://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2013/03/11/dick-sporting-goods-misses-4q-earnings/#ixzz2NEjwkbPt

 

“J.C. Penney Desperately Needs a Strategy” by Roger Martin at Harvard Business Review.  “The problem with J.C. Penney is that it serves no compelling customer purpose — and neither did Borders. It doesn’t have an aspiration for winning — just for improving from the current pathetic state. It hasn’t made a choice to pursue a distinctive where to play and how to win that makes it a must-have destination for some set of shoppers for some set of goods. This is the heart of strategy: a set of choices that aspires to win against all comers in a certain place by delivering a particular winning proposition.”  Read more:  https://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/jc_penney_desperately_needs_a.html?utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet&utm_campaign=Socialflow

 

Thanks for reading…

 

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