“Who’s Afraid of Amazon? Not Costco, Says Craig Jelinek” by Nina Shapiro at Seattle Weekly.  “I called Jelinek this week to ask him what’s going on…“We’re going to open about 30 Costcos a year,” Jelinek says…the Issaquah retailer is dabbling in some kind of online delivery service through Uber…”They come in to buy from us sometime,” says Jelinek, who then has second thoughts about making this revelation, adding that he’s not prepared to say any more. And yet, Jelinek does not seem particularly exercised about ramping up Costco’s e-commerce, nor worried about the threat from Amazon. “It has not affected our business at all,” he says of Prime Pantry.” Read more

 

Star-Tribune Interviews New Target CEO by Kavita Kumar.  “Three days into the job, Target Corp.’s first outsider CEO has already shown how different he is simply by being seen. Brian Cornell appeared before thousands of employees in a town hall-style meeting on Wednesday and spoke to hundreds of the company’s suppliers Thursday. He then flew to Canada for a firsthand look at the business unit that, for the moment, is Target’s biggest challenge. On Thursday, Cornell sat down for his first interview since starting work and told the Star Tribune that he is humbled to lead such an “iconic brand.” Read more

 

“Interview excerpts with Brian Cornell, Target’s new CEO” at Star-Tribune. “I think we all know that omnichannel is critically important to our success. I don’t know if that’s priority one, two or three, but it’s certainly not No. 4. Our future as we continue to build this brand is to make Target one of the leading omnichannel retailers of the future.” Read more

 

“Supermarket chains Supervalu, Jewel-Osco in potential data breaches” at CNBC.  “Two major grocery store chains—Supervalu and Jewel-Osco—on Friday said they may have been adversely affected by computer data breaches.” Read more

 

“Supervalu Says Hackers May Have Stolen U.S. Customers’ Data” by Robert Valpuesta at Bloomberg.  “The data may have been stolen from cards used in Supervalu stores from June 22 to July 17 following a network intrusion, the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based company said in a statement today.” Read more

 

“Denver: Wal-Mart provides update on U.S. manufacturing jobs initiative” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “(Michelle) Gloeckler said 200 suppliers attended this year’s summit and 87 component manufacturers were also there with exhibits to help suppliers put the puzzle pieces together. There were 42 state delegations and representatives from Puerto Rico. “We have 359 meetings scheduled for tomorrow (Aug. 15). That’s 20% more than last year,” she said.” Read more

 

“How Much of Walmart Is Really Made in America?” by Susan Berfield at Bloomberg.  “Doug McMillon, the chief executive of Walmart, walked onto the stage at its U.S. Manufacturing Summit in Denver and gave the audience a cheery “Good afternoon.” No response. “At Walmart, we yell back, ‘Good afternoon,’” he said, smiling. The audience obliged…Walmart’s head of U.S. marketing, Stephen Quinn, reminded the suppliers in the audience to put “Made In America” on their products, even if that’s always been the case.” Read more

 

“Walmart’s Recent Open Call Was an ‘Incredible Day’ (Except for Patio Furniture)” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “We held 800 meetings for new products and awarded 15% of them contracts on the spot. Another half of them, we continue to talk about ongoing possibilities,” (Michelle Gloeckler) said.  Many of the new products like Trash Ease, Jen’s Crab Cakes and Taco Plates, because they are made in the U.S., will be in stores by the holidays…The update Gloeckler gave on her efforts to onshore patio furniture manufacturing or assembly was underwhelming. She said after an exhaustive search and more research, most products cannot now be made competitively in the U.S.” Read more

 

“Amazon Announces Plans for Fifth California Fulfillment Center (Touts Wages Higher than ‘Traditional Retail’)” “We are proud to be hiring for more than 2,500 full-time jobs in California that offer wages 30 percent higher than traditional retail stores and include comprehensive benefits on day one, bonuses and stock awards,” said Mike Roth, Amazon’s vice president of North America operations. “We have found great talent in the state and we’re excited to be growing quickly to serve our customers.” Read the release

 

“Nordstrom Q2 Comp Sales +2.7% (Misses 3.1% Estimate)” by Lindsey Rupp at Bloomberg.  “Its full-line department stores saw sales drop 1.2 percent, compared with projections for growth of 1.2 percent.” Read more

 

Consumer Reports: “Amazon Fire smartphone ‘traps’ users” by Michelle Fox at CNBC.  “While the Fire, which wants to be the ultimate shopping phone, taps into all Amazon has to offer, other phones can provide most of those benefits, Mike Gikas, an editor at Consumer Reports, said Thursday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.” Read more

 

“Walmart Canada Eeks Out .2 Comp Growth in Q2” by Marina Strauss at Globe and Mail. “In Canada, where Wal-Mart got a new leader, Dirk Van den Berghe, on Aug. 1, the division “produced solid results in a very competitive environment,” said David Cheesewright, president of Wal-Mart’s international business and a former head of the Canadian operation.” Read more

 

Earnings Call Transcript from Walmart’s Q2 Earnings Call  Read more

 

“Watch out retailers, Wal-Mart takes hit on health care” by Landon Dowdy at CNBC.  “The nation’s largest retailer said Thursday it now expects to spend about $500 million for U.S. health-care costs this year, up from a previous estimate of $330 million.” Read more

 

“J.C. Penney surprises investors with sales gains, slashed losses” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News.  “The company also said that CEO Mike Ullman is recovering from a “surgical procedure” but is expected to be back soon…Analysts on the conference call wished Ullman a speedy recovery but didn’t seem concerned about his absence. J.C. Penney spokeswoman Daphne Avila said the surgery “is related to a medical condition he has had for more than 20 years.” Ullman has a spinal cord injury that affects his mobility.” Read more

 

“Saks Fifth Avenue barks legal threat at dog treat company” by Laila Kearney at Reuters via Chicago Tribune. “But Sarabella said its business as usual for Snaks 5th Avenchew — name and all…”As of now, I’m standing my ground,” said the 32-year-old New York native who lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.”  Read more / See the video

 

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