“Tinkerbell To Shine In Walmart Ads for NBC’s ‘Peter Pan’” by Brian Steinberg at Variety. “Walmart will have the heaviest presence in what is a sold-out program, said Dan Lovinger, executive vice president of entertainment ad sales at NBCUniversal…Set to air live at 8 p.m. on Thursday, December 4, NBC’s “Peter Pan” production shows the network doubling down on a gambit that worked well last year – and is gaining traction across the TV-scape.” Read more

 

“Costco November Comp Sales +5%” “Costco today reported net sales of $9.43 billion for the month of November, the four weeks ended November 30, 2014, an increase of seven percent from $8.79 billion during the similar period last year.” Read the release

 

“Walgreens November Comp Front-End +0.8%” “Walgreens had November sales of $6.36 billion, an increase of 4.9 percent from $6.06 billion for the same month in fiscal 2014.” Read the release

 

“Sears Q3 Comp Sales -0.1%” at Reuters. “Sears reported a quarterly net loss of $548 million, smaller than the range it had estimated last month, as the retailer cuts costs after years of sluggish sales.” Read more

 

“Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot Most Efficient Advertisers” by Sarah Mahoney at Marketing Daily. “Walmart’s massive $70.7 million investment on TV advertising during the holiday period earned it a 38% share of store visitor traffic, the highest for any retailer. As a result, its visitor acquisition cost was the lowest, at $1.9 million per share point…Target, which spent $61.6 million, more than twice its 2013 budget, only attracted a third as many shoppers, getting a 13.2% share; it spent $4.7 million per share point.” Read more

 

NY Times: “Bass Pro Shops to Add a Memphis Pyramid to Its Business Empire” by Richard Fausset. “For years, Memphis has been haunted by its Riddle of the Pyramid: What do you do with an empty 32-story glass-and-steel monument that was supposed to be this city’s answer to the Eiffel Tower or the Gateway Arch?…The much-maligned building…is scheduled to officially reopen in late April or early May as an outpost of the Bass Pro Shops empire.” Read more

 

CNBC’s Julia Boorstin speaks to Rosalind Brewer  See the video

 

“Best Buy to Exit China” by Laurie Burkitt at WSJ. “Best Buy is exiting the China market except for its sourcing operations, and that the sourcing of its private-label products—everything from tablets and cords to televisions—is projected to grow.” Read more (Subscription)

 

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“Lowe’s Exec: Here’s The Real Reason People Will Start Caring About Smart Home Gadgets” by Lisa Eadicicco at Business Insider. “Connectivity brings a new dimension [to safety],” he said…”When you’ve got an 80-year-old parent living on their own, what do they need a smart stove for?” Meagher said. “Every day of the week I’d pay [extra] for a smart stove that would switch things off.” Read more

 

“Target wins Corporation of the Year honor from supplier-diversity group” by Sophia Khori at Minn./St. Paul Bus. Journal. “Minneapolis-based Target spent $1.3 billion with diverse vendors in fiscal year 2013, 31 percent more than the prior year, said Luke Witt, manager of supplier diversity at Target. The retailer has increased its spending with diverse suppliers at a 7 percent compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, he said.” Read more

 

“Carrie Underwood Teams with Dick’s Sporting Goods to Launch Clothing Line” at Fox News. “Underwood’s athletic wear, which will be available in March 2015, features capris and pants that will average $60 to $85 and tops that average $30 to $35 and can be easily mixed and matched…Underwood said her focus was outfitting today’s busy woman, who is juggling her career, her family and friends and her active lifestyle.” Read more

 

“Grand Theft Auto 5 banned by Australian chain due to violence against women” by Keith Stuart at The Guardian. “The Australian retail chain Target has removed the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto V from sale in its stores.” Read more

 

“The Google misery index: The times of year we’re most depressed” by Christopher Ingraham at The Washington Post. “Averaging out each day over the past year, Tuesday and Wednesday are tied for the most miserable day of the week, with Monday and Thursday not far behind.” Read more

 

“Reporter Wishes OSHbot was More Witty” by Cyrus Farivar at ARS Technica. “It couldn’t parse Ars’ very first query: “I’m looking for Phillips head screwdrivers…Once that glitch was taken care of, the OSHbot located the screwdrivers on a floor plan of the store and even offered to escort me to that section. I leisurely strolled along with it at its pretty slow pace of 1.5 meters per second—sadly, it couldn’t tell me any jokes to pass the time or even attempt some witty Siri-like repartée. Heck, it couldn’t even tell me where the bathroom was.” Read more

 

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