US productivity up 1.7% in 2019, best gain in 9 years at AP. “The Commerce Department said Thursday that productivity grew at an annual rate of 1.4% in the October-December quarter, a significant improvement from a 0.2% drop in productivity in the third quarter.” Read more

 

Costco January comp sales +6.6% “For the twenty-two weeks ended February 2, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $68.56 billion, an increase of 7.6 percent from $63.70 billion during the similar period last year.” Read more

 

China to halve retaliatory tariffs on hundreds of US goods worth about $75 billion at CNBC. “After the cut, duties on U.S. crude will be reduced to 2.5%, from 5%, and the tariff on soybeans will be trimmed by 2.5%…China said that the next adjustment will depend on how Sino-U.S. trade ties evolve.” Read more

 

Walmart U.S. restructures central operations division by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “John Furner said he plans to shift some of the duties from central operations to a newly created product team that will report to Chief Customer Officer Janey Whiteside. ‘We are standing up this product team – to be led by Meng Chee, EVP and Chief Product Officer – to design great technology products and customer and associate experiences with the end-user in mind.'” Read more

 

White House trade adviser claims Bezos won’t meet with him about online counterfeits by Emily Birnbaum at The Hill. “Navarro said Bezos in January agreed to meet with the White House about the scourge of fake products on his platform, but about a month later the company has only offered up senior executives for a sit-down rather than the Amazon founder himself.” Read more

 

Global shipping has been hit by the coronavirus. Now goods are getting stranded at CNN. “Still more vessels are idling in “floating quarantined zones,” as countries such as Australia and Singapore refuse to allow ships that have called at Chinese ports to enter their own until the crew has been declared virus-free, added Sand. Platten said he knew of at least one crew that is running low on food because their ship has been idled for so long.” Read more

 

Walgreens Boots Alliance Appoints Richard Ashworth President of Walgreens Press release

 

94% of Americans surveyed read online ratings and reviews prior to making purchases at Field Agent. “Online R&R activity is high for electronics and even health/beauty supplies, while relatively lower for groceries and household consumables (e.g., cleaning supplies, toilet paper).” Read more

 

**A message from Sweets & Snacks Expo. Save the date: May 19-21, 2020 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Your year starts here. Website/Register

 

7-Eleven Tests Cashierless Store At North Texas Headquarters at CBS DFW. Read more

 

JC Penney revamps women’s clothing brand, focusing on denim in bid to boost sales at CNBC. “We have been spending a lot of time with customers,” said Michelle Wlazlo, executive vice president and chief merchant. “One thing that came out loud and clear was … they didn’t look at us as a place to buy casual.” Read more

 

Amazon paid a 1.2% tax rate on $13,285,000,000 in profit for 2019 by Kristin Myers at Yahoo Finance. Read more

 

The Apple Watch is killing the Swiss watch industry at Fast Company. “Apple shipped a total of 30.7 million Apple Watch units in 2019, while the entire Swiss watch industry only shipped a total of 21.1 million units worldwide last year. What’s more is that Apple Watch shipments grew an astounding 36% from the previous year, while Swiss watch shipments shrank 13%.” Read more

 

Pictures from inside the most popular Costco store in South Korea by Kate Taylor at Business Insider. Pics/Read more

 

Coty Q2 net revenue decreased 6.6% Press release

 

‘The classics in blackface’: Barnes & Noble suspends reissues of classics via USA Today. “Barnes & Noble is withdrawing a planned line of famous literature reissued with multicultural cover images that has been met with widespread criticism on social media…The author Adriana Herrera had called the books, scheduled to be launched this week, “the classics in blackface.” Read more

 

Barneys wins bankruptcy court approval of its Chapter 11 plan at Bloomberg Law. Tiered subs.

 

…My family founded Barneys. Now the great department store is closing. by Maris Kreizman at Vox. “Early in his career, my great-great-uncle was known as the “Cut-Rate Clothing King,”…Barneys initially made its fortune by selling brand-name men’s clothing at heavily discounted prices and focusing on innovative advertising…” Read more

 

Struggling Subway lays off over 300 at its headquarters by Josh Kosman at NY Post. “The cuts, which sources say represent about a quarter of Subway’s staff, are so steep the Milford police were on hand to provide security at the company’s offices on Wednesday, a local TV station reported.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Prada reaches settlement with NYC over ‘racist iconography’ in window display

New High of 90% of Americans Satisfied With Personal Life

AT&T’s low-band 5G now live in 13 more cities

Cornell study says adding more grocery stores will reduce food waste

Man gains remote, online access to his old car four years after his lease ended

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