Wal-Mart to Discount One Million Online Items Picked Up in Stores by Matthew Boyle at Bloomberg. “Wal-Mart will first cut prices on about 10,000 web-only items such as Britax car seats and Lego toys, according to a statement. The Pickup Discount program, which starts on April 19, will expand to more than a million so-called “long tail” items by the end of June, the company said.” Read more

 

Amazon Said to Mull Whole Foods Bid Before Jana Stepped In by Spencer Soper & Craig Giammona at Bloomberg. “The e-commerce giant considered internally whether Whole Foods would help invigorate its nearly decadelong push into groceries, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations were private.” Read more

 

Walmart suppliers pushed for ‘best price,’ more in-store demos by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “If you want to be featured in the tab, on the floor, etc., you must have price leadership,” (Tony) Rogers said…Rogers encourages suppliers to bring forward their marketing and retailtainment ideas even if Walmart has said “no” before…He said there are 5,500 event specialists signed up to date, but Walmart hopes to have 12,000 by the end of the year.” Read more

 

Former Harris Teeter & Gap CEOs playing role in Whole Foods drama by Katherine Peralta at Charlotte Observer. “Jana’s proposed board nominees, including Dickson, have bought their own stakes in Whole Foods. Other proposed board members include Mark Bittman, a former food writer and columnist for The New York Times, and Glenn Murphy, Gap’s former CEO.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart is cutting hundreds of jobs to slash costs by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “The layoffs span the company’s international, technology and Sam’s Club divisions. They follow Wal-Mart’s decision to eliminate some 1,000 corporate positions earlier this year, including 200 in its e-commerce division.” Read more | WSJ article (subs.)

 

No Major Hiccups for Target’s Beckham Launch – Turnout at Redcard Pre-Launch Parties Low by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Target had expected to get 200 guests at each event. But the Nicollet Mall store in downtown Minneapolis, for example, only had a bit fewer than 100 customers for the 11 p.m. event after the store closed…”There is a learning curve for us with this,” said Thomas, adding that the team is taking a look at whether to adjust the times for such events in the future.” Read more

 

The Body Shop attracts bids from 15 firms by Ruth David at Bloomberg via Toronto Star. “…CVC Capital Partners, Carlyle Group LP and South Korea’s CJ Group…Bidders for the next round will be shortlisted this week, the people said…BC Partners, Bain Capital and Advent International Corp. were also among the firms that submitted bids, they said.” Read more

 

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Glassdoor: Top 25 highest-paying U.S. workplaces (Amazon Lab126 #10, Walmart eCommerce #20) by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. Top 25 list

 

Toys R US announces combination Of its Japan and Asia businesses via Reuters. Read more

 

Gymboree Set to Be Next Retailer to Seek Bankruptcy Protection by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “The company operates nearly 1,300 stores and has lost hundreds of millions in the last few years: it hasn’t reported an annual profit since 2011.” Read more

 

HIGHEST PENETRATION – 95% of US consumers made at least one trip to Walmart last year (Target 84%, Walgreens 77%, Dollar Tree 71%) at Quartz. Top 25 list

 

HBR: We Tracked Every Dollar 235 U.S. Households Spent for a Year, and Found Widespread Financial Vulnerability by Jonathan Morduch & Rachel Schneider. “It turned out that households experienced an average of five months per year with either a spike or dip. In other words, incomes were far from average almost half of the time. Income volatility was more extreme for poorer families, but middle class families felt it too.” Read more

 

Diplomat Pharmacy names former Walgreens, Sears exec as CFO at Chain Drug Review. Read more

 

The top 20 most visible paid search advertisers in Google US at netimperative. “Paid search – There are far fewer retail focused sites in the top 20 than in 2012. Then there were 11 retail focused sites included among the top 20…In 2017 there are only 5: amazon.com, bestdeals.today.com, jet.com, overstock.com and jcpenney.com.” Read more

 

Amazon gains wallet license to boost its business in India by Jon Russell at TechCrunch. “Currently, Amazon customers must go through two-factor authentication processes for each purchase that they make.” Read more

 

The great apparel slump is changing the way JC Penney and other retailers do business by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “While diversifying their businesses is a good strategy to grab incremental dollars, there is risk, Hogan said. Namely, the fact that multiple chains are chasing the same categories could eventually lead to a similar saturation that’s occurring in apparel.” Read more

 

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