“Walmart kicks off online holiday deals today” by Dhanya Skariachan at Reuters.  “Wal-Mart is kicking off its online deals on Friday, a month earlier than usual – underscoring worries that intense discounting aimed at luring budget-conscious shoppers could result in the most tepid holiday spending rise in four years…Morgan Stanley analyst Kimberly Greenberger expects this holiday season to be the most promotional one since 2008. She sees ecommerce accounting for about 12 to 13 percent of overall holiday retail sales versus last year’s 11 percent.”  Read more

 

“Target Pins Its  Hopes on Pinterest This Holiday Season” by Christine Champagne at Fast Company.  “A study by Curalate that was commissioned by Social@Ogilvy revealed Target was the most shared brand on Pinterest last December…Target worked with Pinterest last spring to pilot Rich Pins, a technology enabling pins enhanced with product information like price and availability. These Rich Pins were a hit, resulting in a 70% increase in visits to Target.com from Pinterest, according to Jeff Jones, who says that huge bump in traffic from Pinterest–as well as the aforementioned study–gave Target the confidence to partner more heavily with Pinterest this holiday season.”  Read more

 

“India Minister snubs Walmart chief Scott Price, cancels meeting” at Economic Times.  “Sources said the Walmart has not clearly spelt out their India plans and the policy support they require for that.  “Walmart officials have met us several times and have always raises one or other new issue. They are not conveying what exactly they want,” the source added.”  Read more

 

“Top Amazon reviewers get thousands of dollars in free swag” by Tim Sampson at The Daily Dot / Salon.  “It turns out not all Amazon customer reviews are written by people who are, technically, customers.  NPR’s Planet Money this week shed new light on a little known Amazon program that provides free products to the site’s top reviewers. In some cases, top-rated reviewers will rake in thousands of dollars worth of free stuff.”  Read more

 

“Best Advice from Karenann Terrell-Walmart EVP & Chief Information Officer” at Fortune.  “Summary: Embrace feedback & pick your boss”.  Watch the short video

 

“Brick & Mortar Retailers Dinged In Consumer Reports Ratings Of Electronics Stores”  “Costco was the lone walk-in retailer to earn a top rating for prices, though it suffers from sub-par selection and is only average for buying ease.”  Read more

 

“Here’s What The Store Of The Future Will Look Like (Hint: Not Amazon)” by Clare O’Connor at Forbes.  “79% listed “instant ownership” as the most appealing attribute of any retailer, online or off. “In other words, Amazon still can’t compete with, ‘I can just get in my car and go get it now,’ said Peterson…However, when the data was sliced across age groups, it became apparent that online retailers have a huge edge with Millennials, who ranked “unlimited options” and “customer reviews” as their top two shopping ideals.”  Read more

 

“Walmart Announces Suppliers Committed to US Manufacturing”  “Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today announced at the SelectUSA 2013 Investment Summit that three suppliers have made new domestic manufacturing commitments that will create 385 jobs.  Elan-Polo, Louis Hornick & Company and EveryWare Global, Inc. will produce footwear, curtains and glassware, respectively.”  See the full list

 

“Morgan Stanley:  Holiday-season retail sales look bleak” by Tiffany Hsu at LA Times.  “The report anticipates that during the fourth quarter, retailers will see a scant 1.7% increase in sales at stores open at least a year…Strip out struggling J.C. Penney Co., which researchers predict will roll out deep discounts early in the season, and projected sales growth slips to 1.6%…That’s less than half of last year’s 3.5% expansion, according to Morgan Stanley.”  Read more

 

“Sears Is Not A Retail Story, It’s A Holding Company Holding A Fire Sale” by Laura Heller at Forbes.  “As a retailer, Sears is pretty much done.  All that’s left is to ravage the bones. Or, as Lampert is doing, sell off the parts.  Gone are Sears Hometown and Outlet stores. Gone is nearly half its ownership in Sears Canada with four more locations sold, including a flagship store in Toronto. Gone, soon, may be Lands End and Sears Auto Centers.”  Read more

 

“Harris Teeter Same-Store Sales Up 2.2% in Q4” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com.  “Ahead of its acquisition by Kroger, Harris Teeter reported Thursday a $108 million annual profit – up more than 30 percent from a year ago…same-store sales – a key measure of retailers health that excludes new stores – rose 2.2 percent, compared with 4 percent a year ago.”  Read more

 

“Rite-Aid Same-Store Sales Up 2.1% in October”  “October front-end same store sales decreased 0.6 percent. Pharmacy same store sales, which included an approximate 85 basis points negative impact from new generic introductions, increased 3.4 percent.”  Read more

 

“True-Value Same-Store Retail Sales Up 4.5% in Q3”  “Revenue was $346.5 million, an increase of 2.0 percent or $6.9 million from $339.6 million a year ago. Comparable store sales to core domestic hardware store outlets were up 2.8 percent at wholesale and 4.5 percent at retail for the quarter.”  Read more

 

“Container Store Raises $225M in IPO” at Fox Business.  “The 35-year-old retail chain will have a market valuation of about $827 million at the offering price.  The company operated 62 stores in 22 American states and the District of Columbia as of Oct. 1.”  Read more

 

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Have a great weekend!