Walmart elevates merchants, marketers and operators via Chain Store Age. “Ashley Buchanan was named senior VP of packaged goods, after previously serving as senior VP of dry grocery, a move that aligns snacks, beverage, dairy and deli under his leadership. Reporting to Buchanan are Julie Barber, VP/DMM for snacks, Zach Simpson, VP/DMM for beverages and John Laney, VP/DMM for breakfast and baking.” See all the changes here

 

2016 Temkin Experience Ratings: (Sam’s & BJ’s beat Costco, Lowe’s tops Home Depot) See the full list

 

Dick’s CEO Vows to Go After Sports Authority ‘Aggressively’ by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “We’re going to be pretty aggressive to try to capture some of that displaced market share,” Dick’s CEO Ed Stack told Wall Street analysts on a call to discuss its financial results.” Read more

 

Amazon inks deal with Air Transport Services to serve its U.S. customers by Ciara Linnane at MarketWatch. “The deal includes the leasing of 20 Boeing 767 freighter aircraft to Amazon, the operation of the aircraft and logistics services.” Read more

 

Toys R Us Poaches Best Buy Exec by Joan Verdon at North Jersey. “Toys “R” Us…today announced that it has hired Best Buy executive Amy von Walter as its executive vice president for global communications and public relations.” Read more

 

Target Doubles Down on Healthy, Eco-Friendly Products by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “…items have topped $1 billion in annual sales….“When you take all of those things collectively, that’s what helps to share the understanding that Target is committed to wellness,” Target Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Jones told Fortune in an interview.” Read more

 

Yesterday: Home Depot Presents at Raymond James Investor Conference See the PowerPoint | Webcast Replay

 

**A message from PaintPincher – Never Waste Paint Again! The PaintPincher is an ingenious 8-in-1 paint can spatula that recovers paint, stain, adhesives and more from gallon and quart cans, leaving them 99.9% clean. The PaintPincher is great for Pro and DIY painters and can save up to a cup of paint per gallon! See the video | See the sell sheet | Packaging pic | paintpincher.com Retailers request a sample at info@eyeonretail.net

 

Jeff Bezos lifts curtain on Blue Origin rocket factory by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. “Today’s tour was incredibly fun for Bezos – who spent about three hours showing 11 journalists around the factory, and spent another hour answering questions over lunch…When one reporter asked how rocket engines were delivered from the Kent factory to Blue Origin’s test range in West Texas, Bezos joked that the shipment might be eligible for two-day Amazon Prime delivery.” Read more

 

Canada: TJX & Gap seek rent breaks in wake of Target exit by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “TJX and Gap want retailers to be able to invoke their so-called co-tenancy rights to get rent breaks and even permission to leave a mall without a penalty as a result of Target’s closing.” Read more

 

Aldi Names Third Co-President “Brent Laubaugh has been promoted to co-president of ALDI in the US, joining David Behm and Chuck Youngstrom, who continue in their roles as co-presidents.” Read the release

 

Amazon’s Seattle footprint now equals around 16% of the city’s total inventory of premium office space by Marc Stiles at Puget Sound Business Journal. Read more

 

True Value Appoints Ex-Scotts Exec as Chief Merchandising Officer Read the release

 

Home Depot To Pay at Least $19.5 Million For Data Breach via Fortune. “Home Depot also agreed to improve data security over a two-year period, and hire a chief information security officer to oversee its progress.” Read more

 

Texas A&M Professor: U.S. tariffs on imported women’s apparel, on average, are 26% higher than on menswear by Cheryl Hall at Dallas Morning News. “The pink tax is more than a catchy phrase, says Lori Taylor, a professor at Texas A&M…“Silk shirts are a biggie,” Taylor says. “The tariff on women’s silk shirts is six times the tariff on men’s.” Read more

 

Amazon Is Launching a Live QVC-Type Show as Part of Push Into Fashion by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “The most Amazon-y piece of the experience, though, will be a product carousel showing viewers the stuff related to the show that they can purchase on Amazon.com.” Read more

 

Startup vet launches Package Guard to deter crooks who swipe packages from front porches by Madeline Vuong at GeekWire. “It sits on your doorstep and when UPS or Amazon or FedEx puts a package down on top of it, it lets you and your neighbors know with e-mail and text alerts that you’ve gotten a delivery. If someone tries to take a package, they get scared off because the packages cover the device, so they don’t know it’s alarmed. Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Meet the People Who Sell Used Clothing to Rihanna & Amal Clooney

Harvard Business School Launches New Program For Senior Leaders In Retail

Cargill Foundation is giving a half-million dollars to build a new grocery store in Minneapolis

Variety: Amazon, Retail Behemoth, Taking Smaller Steps Into Hollywood

Marla Malcolm Beck Sold Bluemercury To Macy’s For $210 Million, Now She’s Betting On Vegan Cosmetics

Hawaii: Sneak peek at Nordstrom’s new Ewa Wing store

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

Dick’s Sporting Goods Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

Edward Stack, Chairman & CEO

• eCommerce business – for the full year increased approximately 19% to over $748 million.
• The results for the quarter were significantly impacted negatively by performance of cold weather-related categories…they were down double digits.
• Looking outside the cold weather categories, the balance of our business performed very well, topping up nearly 3%.
• …guns and ammunition comped positively.
• CALIA will be expanded to all doors and it remains well positioned to become our third largest women’s Athletic Apparel brand by the end of this year.
• On footwear: we’ve got more of an elevated presentation and assortment than Kohl’s does
• On Sports Authority: we are going to be very aggressive to go after that displaced market share so it comes to us versus another competitor.
• On Field & Stream: we’re very comfortable with the growth rate right now, and don’t see that accelerating any time in the next year or two.
• We think the Golf business has stabilized.
• Would you consider taking any of the leases over that are coming up for auction from TSA? Well, we’re certainly going to take a look at some of those.
• If we’re playing golf in Pittsburgh on December 15, it’s going to be a relatively tough quarter. And they were playing golf in December in Pittsburgh.
• How many Field & Stream stores can market support? We’re not sure yet, but I can tell you that it’ll be well north of 55 stores.

Teri List-Stoll, CFO

• Our eCommerce business grew 13% (in Q4)
• In 2016, we expect to open up approximately 36 new DICK’S stores and relocate approximately nine DICK’S stores.
• We also expect to open approximately two new Golf Galaxy stores and nine new Field & Stream stores with all but one of those in the combo store format.
• For the first quarter…consolidated same-store sales are expected to be approximately flat to up 1%.
• Due to the fact that Golf Galaxy is only approximately 3% of our total sales, 2016 will be the final year we will disclose Golf Galaxy same-store sales.

Read the full transcript via Seeking Alpha