Walmart goes to the cloud to close gap with Amazon by Nandita Bose at Reuters. “It has made a big difference to how fast we can grow our e-commerce business,” said Tim Kimmet, head of cloud operations for Walmart. He said Walmart, for example, is using cloud data to stock items frequently ordered by customers via voice shopping devices such as Google Home.” Read more/Video

 

Home Depot Battles Tight Labor Market With Easy Application by Matthew Townsend at Bloomberg. “…applying was cut to 15 minutes, from about an hour, and applications surged 50 percent. Now, this spring, people can complete pre-screening and choose an interview time through Home Depot’s mobile website. A digital map even shows them how to get the interview.” Read more

 

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Can’t Beat Washington, So He’s Joining It at Bloomberg. “Amazon’s most-recent effort focuses on music. It’s supporting the Music Modernization Act…Steve Boom, vice president of Amazon Music, worked the halls of Congress on the bill at the end of January. Amazon also hosted a meeting in a congressional office building where the sponsor of the legislation, Georgia Republican Representative Doug Collins, thanked the company for its months of work, a person familiar with the event said.” Read more

 

JAN. RETAIL SALES MIXED – Department store sales rose a solid 0.8% while a broader category that includes big-box retail stores such as Walmart, rose a smaller 0.2% Read more

 

Can the Nordstrom Family Outrun Retail’s Woes? by Suzanne Kapner at Wall Street Journal. “About the worst thing that could happen is to be known as the generation at Nordstrom that screwed it up,” Pete Nordstrom, 56, a great grandson of the Swedish immigrant who co-founded the company a century ago, said in a recent interview.” Read more (subs.)

 

Sam’s Club Offering Free Shipping by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “…the bulk of items it sells online will qualify and that there will be no minimum order size for customers who have a “Plus” membership, which costs $100 annually. Exceptions will include merchandise that is only available for curbside pickup such as fresh and frozen food, bulk items, and products sent directly to customers by a third party.” Read more

 

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Best Buy scrubs phony Huawei phone reviews from website by Dan DeBaun at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “(Best Buy) removed more than 100 bogus reviews of Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro device from its e-commerce store on Tuesday, after tech-news website 9to5Google linked the slew of five-star posts to a promotional campaign by Huawei.” Read more

 

H&M Writes Off Hopes of 2018 Recovery as Markdowns Mount by Anna Molin & Hanna Hoikkala at Bloomberg. “H&M said it expects online sales to rise at least 25 percent this year. It said sales from e-commerce and non-H&M formats like COS, Weekday and newly launched Arket will nearly triple from last year’s level by 2022, but those labels currently account for less than one-tenth of sales.” Read more

 

Walmart claims to be more Millennial than Amazon by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Walmart claims 42% of Walmart.com and 65% of Jet.com customers are Millennials (ages 22-39) compared to 38% at Amazon. Generation X (ages 40-51) is a toss-up at 16% for Walmart.com and Amazon.” Read more

 

JC Penney to shut Milwaukee distribution center, cut 670 jobs at Reuters. Read more

 

Cramer on CNBC: “[Walgreens] may not be as smart as they think they are” considering Amerisource, Cramer said. “These companies are going to be squeezed by that [Bezos] venture and squeezed by others that have to compete.” Read more/Video

 

Dollar General appoints Tim McGuire and Ralph Santana to its board of directors Press release

 

EBay will roll out new augmented reality features this year to make buying and selling goods on the website more engaging at Bloomberg via Fortune. “EBay announced Tuesday that it hired data scientist Jan Pedersen to run its artificial intelligence efforts that will bring new shopping experiences to the marketplace.” Read more

 

When It Comes to Millennials’ Fashion Buys, Price and Convenience Trump Sustainability by Arthur Zaczkiewicz at WWD. “The researchers found that “only 34 percent of those Millennials surveyed reported that they are driven to make a fashion purchase because the apparel or accessory was eco-friendly and sustainably produced.” Read more

 

Walmart to Trim Store Management Ranks by Sarah Nassauer at Wall Street Journal. “The retailer this week is eliminating two department manager positions in some of its 4,700 U.S. stores, including managers who oversee cellphone departments and online-grocery pickup areas, according to a person familiar with the plans.er at Wall Street Journal.” Read more (subs.)

 

James Harden’s sneakers are now immortalized in candy form by Ananth Pandian at Rockets Wire. “Releasing exclusively at 7-Eleven in March…Shaped like the adidas Harden Vol. 1, the candy comes in both left and right shoe shapes and like real shoes, they can sit on their soles if placed on a hard surface.” Pic/Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Target upgraded because of same-day delivery rollout, tax reform

C-store’s error leads Kansas woman to $30,000 lottery win

Amazon’s curious job postings hint at live-streaming video ambitions

Bloomberg Created a Video Game to Document the Demise of the Mall

7th Circuit weighs Costco’s liability for customer’s harassment of worker

French sports goods salesman caught armed to the teeth, customs says

Sears Home Services business could be a hidden gem

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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