October pending home sales fall unexpectedly, as high prices take their toll on buyers at CNBC. “Pending home sales fell 1.1% month-to-month in October but were 20.2% higher compared with October 2019…“The housing market is still hot, but we may be starting to see rising home prices hurting affordability,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.” Read more

 

Black Friday shopping in stores craters 52% at CNBC. “For the six key weeks of the holiday season this year, traffic in retail stores is expected to be down 22% to 25% year over year, an earlier forecast by Sensormatic Solutions said.” Read more

 

Adobe: Black Friday 2020 online shopping up 22% to record $9 billion at TechCrunch. “Smartphones continued to account for an increasing proportion of online sales, with this year’s $3.6 billion up 25.3%, while alternative deliveries…also continued to grow, with in-store and curbside pickup up 52% on 2019.” Read more

 

…Adobe predicts Cyber Monday 2020 will see spending of between $10.8 billion and $12.7 billion

 

Cyber Monday set to be biggest online shopping day in U.S. history at Reuters. “New consoles, phones, smart devices and TVs that are traditional Black Friday purchases are sharing online shopping cart space this year with unorthodox Black Friday purchases such as groceries, clothes and alcohol, that would previously have been purchased in-store.” Read more

 

The Luxury E-Commerce Wars Heat Up at NY Times. “According to data released last week by Bain & Company, online luxury purchases were worth $58 billion in 2020, compared with $39 billion in 2019, nearly doubling the sector’s share of the market for global luxury sales to 23 percent from 12 percent. “Luxury e-commerce is now in an environment of rapid mutation,” said Claudia D’Arpizio, a luxury consultant at Bain.” Tiered subs.

 

Canada’s Ag ministers to launch probe into grocery store fees on suppliers at Financial Post. “Bibeau said the working group will “circumscribe the issue, consult experts and industry, and identify actions that can be taken, both at the federal and provincial level,” with a report on recommendations delivered by July 2021.” Read more

 

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Mexico opens anti-monopoly probe against Wal-Mart de Mexico at AP. “It was not clear what the supposed practices involved, but as Mexico’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart has significant leverage with suppliers.” Read more

 

NY authorities fine Total Wine over out-of-state gift cards at NY Post. “Total Wine is owned by the Trone family, whose members include US Rep. David Trone (D-Maryland). It has had an especially bumpy ride in New York, getting shot down by the agency as it has tried to open several stores.” Read more

 

Whole Foods CEO slams socialism as ‘trickle-up poverty’: ‘It doesn’t work’ at Fox Business. “Mackey: ‘They talk about trickle-down wealth, but socialism is trickle-up poverty. It just impoverishes everything. That’s my fear, that the Marxists and socialists, the academic community is generally hostile to business. It always has been. This is not new.” Read more

 

Amazon workers at German warehouse to strike again at Reuters. “Scheduled to begin on Monday’s night shift and finish at the end of Tuesday’s late shift, the strike follows a three-day walkout between Thursday and Saturday last week in which more than 500 workers took part, Verdi said.” Read more

 

Topshop retail empire of tycoon Philip Green may die amid COVID-19 at AP/NY Post. Read more

 

Group of Black Atlanta entrepreneurs pays for over $40k in groceries at Kroger at Fox 5 Atlanta. “We all just took our own individual lanes,” Brad Giles said. “Each of us took a lane to take up as many registers as we can and let people know, ‘Look, groceries are on us.'” The takeover lasted about two hours, leaving shoppers in tears and others dancing with joy.” Read more/Video

 

‘Porch pirate’ dresses in Amazon driver garb to steal packages from stoop at Fox News. Read more

 

‘Costco Queen’ loses her job, but keeps neighbors’ shelves stocked at Vancouver Sun. “It started when I was laid off in late March or early April. I had nothing to do, and I thought this was something I could do to help people.” — Katlyn Carter, who does a Costco run for up to 100 people every week.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Sales of chess sets have spiked by 87 percent in the United States

Amazon prevails over eBay in lawsuit accusing Amazon of poaching third-party sellers

Walter Isaacson likens Bezos to Einstein and Jobs

As Americans avoid flying, airport shops face economic disaster

Tecate beer masquerading as Mexican, lawsuit claims

Snoop Dogg’s commentary won the Mike Tyson fight

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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