“Target testing new baby store concept in Illinois” at The Chicago Tribune via Reuters.  “Target Corp is testing a baby section with trained staff at 10 Illinois stores in a push to gain a bigger share of the shrinking but highly competitive market for baby gear…Households with children spend about 20 percent more each year at Target than patrons without children, said Trish Adams, Target’s senior vice president of merchandising.  “We kind of are a store for families, and particularly young families, and we just think there is further opportunity to capture a larger share of their wallet,” she said.”  Read more

 

“Whole Foods Profit Rises, But Sales Miss Estimates” at RTT News.  “Whole Foods Market Inc. Wednesday reported a 21 percent increase in third-quarter profit, aided by demand for its natural and organic food items, while costs were restrained. Whole Foods’ quarterly earnings topped Wall Street estimates, while sales came in short of expectations…On a same-store basis, sales increased 7.5 percent during the quarter.” Read more

 

“An Interview With Jim Sinegal, Co-Founder of Costco” at Motley Fool.  “Byrnes: Could you walk us through how a new product gets onto Costco’s shelves?  Sinegal: Let me just say that, in many instances when we want to try and test a product, and perhaps we’re going to buy less than a trainload or a boatload, we’ll price the product as though we bought it right, just to determine whether or not we think it has the ability.  We’re going to put it in one or two or three locations and test it out and we want to know whether or not, if we’re pricing it right, we can really move it in quantity.”  Read more

 

“J.C. Penney Shares Tumble on Report of Credit Clampdown” by Matthew Rocco at Fox Business.  “J.C. Penney shares abruptly fell 10.2% Wednesday after a report surfaced that commercial lender CIT Group stopped supporting deliveries from smaller manufacturers to the struggling retailer’s stores.”  Read more

 

“What Are Target’s Next Markets For Expansion?” at Trefis.  “The most viable options appear to be big Latin American markets such as Mexico and Brazil. Although there are no concrete plans yet, Target had stated in 2010 that its international expansion will most likely start with Canada, Mexico and other Latin American countries.”  Read more

 

“The Pinterest Roadmap Revealed” by Josh Constine at Techcrunch.  “Looking forward, Pinterest has five big projects its working on:  Building The Interest Graph: Unlike other social networks, Jenkins says that “Pinterest isn’t fundamentally about connecting people to other people. It’s about connecting people to interests.”  For years you had little but your own brain and the boards you browsed to find pinspiration. But now Pinterest is lending a helping hand thanks to a ton of data analysis.”  Read more

 

“For Canadian Tire, Small Is Big” by Karen Johnson at WSJ.  “On Thursday, it will open the doors on a 6,100-square-foot Canadian Tire Express store in Toronto’s bustling Greektown neighborhood. The store, formerly an outlet under the chain’s Mark’s Work Wearhouse banner, is much smaller than the company’s traditional outlets. A Canadian Tire store two miles away spans 70,000 square feet.”  Read more

 

“Sam’s Club & Family Dollar Kick-Out Energizer” by Greta Weiderman at St.Louis Bus. Journal.  “A source close to Energizer said the company lost its accounts to supply batteries to Family Dollar and Sam’s Club, and Family Dollar Spokesman Bryn Winburn confirmed that Family Dollar has decided to switch its battery offerings from Energizer to Duracell.  Early last year, Energizer lost shelf space for batteries at Wal-Mart.”  Read more

 

“You Are Probably Underestimating The Value Of At-Home 3-D Printing” by Kit Eaton at Fast Company.  “3-D printing the 20 chosen objects cost only about $20 and took around 25 hours. In a store, depending on the quality of the products chosen, the same items would cost between $300 and about $2,000.”  Read more

 

“Global Consumer Spending to Grow a Third by 2020” at CNBC.  “”The past few decades have seen explosive growth in the middle class in emerging markets, as shoppers with new levels of disposable income are ready to spend and are optimistic about their future,” the study said.”  Read more

 

“RadioShack’s New Prototype Store” at Twice.  See the pictures

 

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