Blowout Cyber Monday numbers expected at Seeking Alpha. “First Data president Guy Chiarello tells Bloomberg TV that e-commerce traffic was up over 30% Y/Y for the first couple of hours of the shopping event. The strong showing follows the record $5.03B brought in during Black Friday by retailers.” Read more

 

Cyber Monday showdown – Wal-Mart closes in on Amazon in online price war by Nandita Bose at Reuters. “Prices at Walmart.com are now only 0.3 percent more expensive than Amazon on average, according to the study by retail data analytics firm Market Track, which analyzed prices of 213 products in 11 categories over a period of 700 days ending November 7, 2017. By comparison, Wal-Mart’s online prices were 3 percent higher than Amazon’s on average in the first 350 days ending November 7, 2016, according to the study.” Read more

 

Inside the Wal-Mart vs. Amazon Battle Over Black Friday by Sarah Nassauer & Laura Stevens at Wall Street Journal. “The number of people visiting U.S. stores on Thanksgiving and Black Friday fell 4% from last year, according to RetailNext Inc…ShopperTrak found that visits declined a combined 1.6% on Thanksgiving and Black Friday from a year earlier.” Read more (subs.)

 

AirPods and Outerwear Start Out Strong This Holiday Shopping Season by Jonathan Roeder & Lindsey Rupp at Bloomberg. “Macy’s had sold 200,000 coats by 7 a.m. on Friday morning and expects to sell up to a million by the end of the weekend, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gennette said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.” Read more

 

Amazon, in hunt for lower prices, recruits Indian merchants by Vindu Goel at NY Times. Read more

 

NBC Today show finds harmful bacteria in store makeup samples “You could literally be applying and smearing someone else’s fecal matter directly onto your lips,” Bowe said. Some samples from all three stores also tested positive for Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause very serious infections, boils and lesions, especially if you have an open cut on your skin or lips, or it gets in your eyes.” Video/Read more

 

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Retailers’ Emails Are Misfires for Many Holiday Shoppers by Suzanne Kapner at Wall Street Journal. “Two-thirds of companies examined by Sailthru received a score of 50 or less out of 100 based on their ability to personalize their sites, emails, mobile apps, social media and loyalty programs.” Read more (subs.)

 

L.L. Bean expects to sell a record number of duck boots this year at AP via Omaha World-Herald. “The company projects to sell about 750,000 of them this year, company spokeswoman Carolyn Beem said. That would be 100,000 more than last year, and nearly three times the amount sold in 2012. The company has eliminated most of the backlog for boots and doesn’t anticipate problems with availability this holiday shopping season, Beem said.” Read more

 

Amazon says Thanksgiving mobile orders spiked 50% from last year by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. Read more

 

Discarded H&M clothes being used to power electrical plant by Jesper Starn at Bloomberg. “The Vasteras plant burned about 15 tons of discarded clothes from H&M so far in 2017, compared with about 400,000 tons of trash, Neren said.” Read more

 

Amazon working conditions too harsh for some European workers by Andrew Levy at Daily Mail. “…the investigation, by an undercover reporter for the Sunday Mirror who spent five weeks there…He said that some of his colleagues were so tired from working 55-hour weeks that they would ‘sleep on their feet’. ‘Those who could not keep up with the punishing targets faced the sack – and some who buckled under the strain had to be attended by ambulance crews,’ he added.” Read more

 

Poland may phase out Sunday shopping by 2020 via ABC News. “The bill still needs approval from the Senate and from President Andrzej Duda. Poland’s influential Roman Catholic bishops said in a statement they were not fully satisfied and insisted that all Sundays should be free from work for everyone.” Read more

 

Sobeys to axe 800 office jobs across Canada in reorganization of grocery business via Financial Post. “Analyst Irene Nattel of RBC Dominion Securities wrote in a note to clients that the elimination of about 20 per cent of the Sobeys office workforce is a “critical step” towards reducing the company’s operating burden — but she remains cautious.” Read more

 

JCPenney coupon change leaves customers confused at CNN Money. “For the past few years, Stephanie Lugo and Jose Irizarry made JCPenney the first stop on Black Friday. The embattled retailer would typically give out coupons at the door that would save them anywhere between $10 and $500. This year, they were disappointed to find that there were no coupons available.” Read more

 

Macy’s suffers credit card payment glitch at the worst possible time: Black Friday at CNBC. “Hey Macys, just left $300 of items on counter because your credit card machines are down at State St Chicago,” wrote Meghan McCollough.” Read more

 

Amazon Merchants Continue to Find Ways to Cheat by Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. “This stuff has been going on nonstop since we started selling on Amazon,” said Hart, president of VIAHART in New York City. “It’s still the Wild West. There are tons of scams and they constantly evolve to keep gaming the system.” Read more

 

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