Home Depot names Ted Decker president and chief operating officer, effective October 5, 2020 “Ann-Marie Campbell named EVP of U.S. stores and international operations…Jeff Kinnaird promoted to EVP of merchandising…Michael Rowe has been promoted to president of The Home Depot Canada…Richard McPhail, EVP & CFO, will assume the additional responsibility for the company’s corporate strategy and strategic business development.” Press release

 

Sam’s Club CEO Kathryn McLay speaks with Fortune “McLay, an Australian who became Sam’s Club CEO in November after a few years at Walmart, recalled that it was on a March tour of a store in Chicago that she realized how serious the COVID crisis would be, noting anxiety on customers’ faces as they panic-shopped. It was so hectic, she found herself helping bring carts back to the front of the club, as the chain calls its stores, in an all-hands-on-deck moment.” 2:18 video/Read more

 

Walmart sells Asda to billionaire British brothers and TDR for $8.8 billion at Reuters. “The new owners want to drive growth at Britain’s third-biggest supermarket chain by expanding its presence into smaller neighborhood shops to add to its large supermarket format, bringing it more in line with competitors Tesco and Sainsbury’s which offer both.” Read more

 

…Walmart expects to post $2.5 billion non-cash loss on Asda sale at Reuters. Read more

 

Amazon says 19,000 employees tested positive for COVID-19 at GeekWire. “(Amazon) compared rates to the general population…Amazon said that if the rate would have been the same among its employees as it is for the general population, it would have seen 33,952 cases among the workforce. Instead, its figure of 19,816 was 42% lower.” Read more

 

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Walmart’s Open Call event held yesterday – number of applicants increased 44% this year at Talk Business. “If Open Call is any indication, then ingenuity is alive and well in the U.S. as the number of applicants increased 44% this year to 4,800 and we scheduled 67% more meetings because we were not constrained by space. We value entrepreneurs. We were founded by one,” McMillon said in his opening remarks.” Read more

 

…Snoop Dogg had a cameo plug for his Indoggo “Gin and Juice” – coming soon to Walmart stores Read more

 

Lack of oversight and transparency leave Amazon employees in the dark on Covid-19 at NBC News. “On the evening of Sunday, Aug. 9, workers at the MKE1 Amazon fulfillment center in Kenosha, Wisconsin, received an alert from the company via text message: More of their colleagues had tested positive for the coronavirus…The next day, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the county. Managers ushered hundreds of employees into windowless rooms where they huddled shoulder to shoulder for half an hour, waiting for the storm to pass.” Read more

 

What Robots Can Do for Retail at Harvard Business Review. “Consider a hypothetical scenario of a retail robot scanning grocery store aisles and detecting that supplies of sugar-free peanut butter are diminishing at twice the rate of regular peanut butter. That real-time discovery then triggers an automated order…That’s not unlike what happens in high-frequency trading, which uses algorithms to detect and capitalize on small, momentary discrepancy in stock prices, which can aggregate into huge profits over time.” Read more

 

Amazon can’t be held responsible for teen’s powdered caffeine death, court rules at NY Post. Read more

 

Walmart vs. Amazon Prime food deliveries: TODAY puts them to the test at NBC News. “NBC investigative and consumer correspondent Vicky Nguyen set out to see which does better in terms of value, variety and speed.” 4:44 video

 

Tipsheet Extra

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Purple Heart veteran receives free car at Walmart ceremony

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