US retail sales rise more than expected in August at Fox Business. “Retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August, well above analyst expectations of 0.2 percent, on the heels of blowout data in July.” Read more

 

Walmart Is Testing a Fulfillment Service for Vendors to Match Amazon by Matthew Boyle at Bloomberg. “(Walmart) is testing a fee-based service called “Fulfilled by Walmart,” U.S. e-commerce chief Marc Lore said at an industry conference this week. Lore didn’t provide details, but said the service would be an area where the e-commerce arm could generate revenue.” Tiered subs.

 

Whole Foods to cut health-care benefits for 1,900 part-time employees starting next year at CNBC. “In the past, employees needed to work at least 20 hours a week to buy into the health-care plan. Now they will need to work at least 30 hours.” Read more

 

Old Navy plans to open 800 new stores as it prepares to split from Gap by Kelly Tyko at USA Today. “We’ll almost double our fleet to 2,000 stores in North America, predominantly in under-served small markets,” Old Navy CEO Sonia Syngal said.” Read more

 

Dollarama Q2 comp sales +4.7% Press release

 

Kroger Q2 comp sales (ex-fuel) +2.2% “CEO McMullen: Guided by our customer obsession, Kroger delivered our best identical sales, without fuel, result since the launch of our transformation plan.” Press release

 

Walmart’s Vudu adds Family Play feature so viewers can skip sex, violence and substance abuse by Anthony Ha at TechCrunch. “Vudu will skip the relevant scenes, and in the case of strong language, it will mute the dialog. The feature is already supported in more than 500 films.” Read more

 

HBC Q2 comp sales overall -0.4%:  By brand:

Saks Fifth Avenue +0.6%

Saks Off 5th +3.4% 

Hudson Bay -3.4%

Press release

 

Amazon to open new air hub for delivery planes in Dallas area next month by Nat Levy at GeekWire. Read more

 

**A message from X1 Ebike – Up to 37 miles on a single 4-hour charge. Folds into the size of a golf bag in seconds! GPS tracking, VIN # & alarm for security. Video | Website 

 

Todd Harbaugh, Walmart EVP of Supercenters, gives suppliers a glimpse into several technology applications being tested by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Harbaugh also gave suppliers a glimpse into the retailer’s newest format —Walmart Health. He said the first store with this new health clinic is in Dallas, Ga., and the grand opening is slated for Friday (Sept. 13). He said Walmart is already starting to build a second location, though he didn’t say where. “Greg (Foran, Walmart U.S. CEO) calls this new format the second engine,” Harbaugh said.” Read more

 

Duluth Holdings Q2 net sales +10.2% “CEO: ‘I also want to recognize that we have had some growing pains over the past year and a half.  In response, we plan to slow down the pace of our retail expansion in 2020 and direct our focus to improving asset productivity and thus our operating margin rate.” Press release

 

Tapestry Announces Strategic Alliance With Alibaba’s Tmall “Tapestry will be one of the first companies to collaborate with Tmall in adopting the recently unveiled Flagship Store 2.0…the Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman brands will all have flagship stores on Tmall Luxury Pavilion.” Press release

 

Amazon’s crowdsourced Q&A community Alexa Answers goes live for all by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Gap Inc. says it’s opening up its Athleta and Janie and Jack brands to be franchised outside the U.S. at CNBC. “We’ve come to realize there is local expertise that frankly we don’t have,” Roy Hunt, the senior vice president of Gap Inc.’s global franchise and strategic alliances division, told CNBC in a recent interview.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Amazon announces hardware event on September 25th

Walgreens joins Apple Card’s rewards program

Google’s failed online shopping service Google Express is closing

The $400B outdoor industry sounds alarm on Trump’s tariffs

Target’s 20th anniversary collection brings back 20 designer brands Saturday

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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