Walmart fights back against Amazon with one-day shipping in some U.S. markets at Reuters. “The Walmart deal will be available to online shoppers in Phoenix and Las Vegas and then expand to Southern California in the coming days, the head of its U.S. ecommerce service, Marc Lore, told Reuters in an interview…plan to reach approximately 75% of the U.S. population this year, which includes 40 of the top 50 U.S. metro areas, Lore said.” Read more

 

Walmart International CEO Says It’s Moving On After a Major U.K. Setback by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “Life moves on fast, and that’s really what it’s all about for us now,” McKenna said at the World Retail Congress in Amsterdam on Tuesday…“That was a bold move. We genuinely believed that creating this combination from a unique, one-off opportunity would have allowed us to accelerate lowering prices for all our customers,” said McKenna.” Read more

 

Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber on ‘Mad Money’ at CNBC. “Laura Alber said Monday that the company shuffled its operations over the past year in anticipation of high tariffs on imports from China…“And so we’re hiring (in the U.S.)… 500 people, and we’ve got 140 right now in Tupelo. We need to hire more, and we need to hire more on the coasts, as well.” Video/Read more

 

Trader Joe’s opening first South Side Chicago location in Hyde Park at Crain’s Chicago Business. “…will take over part of the former Treasure Island Foods location in the Hyde Park Shopping Center.” Read more

 

Ex-Family Dollar CFO Takes Charge for Now at Bed Bath & Beyond at CNN. Read more

 

**A message from 2019 Sweets & Snacks Expo – 800+ exhibitors, 2,000+ new product launches, 45 new product awards. The can’t miss show of the year is nearly here! Join us at Chicago’s McCormick Place May 21-23 to discover the latest innovations in products, merchandising and retail solutions. Register Now | Website

 

Amazon is rolling out machines to automate a job held by thousands of its workers: boxing up customer orders at Reuters. “Amazon has considered installing two machines at dozens more warehouses, removing at least 24 roles at each one, these people said…That would amount to more than 1,300 cuts across 55 U.S. fulfillment centers for standard-sized inventory.” Read more

 

Teens Smuggle Burner Phones to Defy Parents by Julie Jargon at Wall Street Journal. “All the sudden she’d stop asking for her phone back and we’d be like, ‘That’s weird,’” said her dad, Patrick, who runs a recruitment firm. “In almost every high school across the country there is a kid who sells burner phones from their locker,” said Rich Wistocki, a retired detective.” WSJ subs.

 

Walmart Thursday Earnings Call: Wall Street expects comp sales of 3.1% overall with Walmart U.S. producing comp sales growth of 3.4%. by Kim Souza at Talk Business. Read more

 

U.S. retailers revamp loyalty schemes for Amazon era at Reuters. “(Beroe’s) report “Loyalty Big Picture” based on an international survey of 1,200 loyalty plan providers and some 4,500 members said 69 percent of executives reported a rise in spending on royalty schemes over the past two years, and 55 percent expected a further increase in investment in the next two years.” Read more

 

Amazon employees who quit their jobs to start their own package delivery companies will be eligible for up to $10,000 and three months pay at GeekWire. Read more

 

Doug McMillon speaks at Arkansas’s 2019 Stock Market Game awards luncheon in Little Rock at Arkansas Business. “The second lesson (Ray) Hobbs taught him was to double stack thin paper cups in the cafeteria that held coffee, so as to not burn his hand, McMillon said. But the third lesson really stuck…Ray told me a very important principal about being a business leader and about being a buyer for Walmart, both. And that is: You’re responsible for everything,” he said.” Read more

 

Petco to Open First In-Store Health and Wellness Kitchen for Dogs in NYC at NBC 7 San Diego. Read more

 

The two-year quest to rebrand Ikea for the digital age by Katharine Schwab at Fast Company. “This new logo system, called Fönster, which is Swedish for “window,” maintains the lettering and iconic oval inside a rectangle form of the Ikea logo but abandons its color scheme. Instead, an all-white version of the logo sits on top of any video or photo…” Video/Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Will political correctness kill classic movies?

Have sex marathons daily, Jack Ma tells Alibaba employees

CEOs name Game of Thrones their top TV guilty pleasure

Juror Tells Roundup Weedkiller Lawyer to ‘Get Up and Drink It’

Macy’s strike ‘could happen at any time,’ union says

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

**

Eye on Retail Tipsheet is must-read material for retail execs every weekday morning. Tipsheet stories are carefully curated bright and early every morning to ensure fresh and unique content.

 

Subscribe to Eye on Retail Tipsheet here

 

Contact us: Send story tips, press releases and advertising inquiries to info@eyeonretail.net

 

Website: eyeonretail.net