Wal-Mart reiterates earnings outlook with plans to grow grocery, digital at CNBC.”Wal-Mart on Tuesday reiterated its earnings outlook for the current fiscal year and announced plans to add 1,000 online grocery pickup locations at its U.S. stores in fiscal 2019.” Read more | Press release

 

Jeff Wilke: The Amazon Chief Who Obsesses Over Consumers by Laura Stevens at Dow Jones/Fox Business. “WSJ: What Whole Foods practices could you see adopting? Mr. Wilke: I hope we’re going to learn about how physical stores work. They know a lot about food, produce — supply chains at a very large national scale. We’re going to learn with them how we can efficiently — and in a high-quality way — deliver groceries to our customers.” Q&A

 

Target CFO: We’re Not Trying to Compete With Amazon by Jen Wieczner at Fortune. “We are going to win when we’re the best Target, and not trying to be a competitor against Amazon or anyone else,” Target CFO Cathy Smith said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C. “That’s what keeps me up at night—just trying to make sure we’re executing, not trying to compete with someone like Amazon.” Read more

 

Neiman Marcus Q4 Comp Sales -0.5% Press release

 

Real estate exec says planned new Wal-Mart HQ could hit $1 billion by Kim Souza at Talk Business. Read more

 

HAPPENING NOW – Walmart’s 2017 Investment Community Meeting Webcast

 

America’s Retailers Have a New Target Customer: The 26-Year-Old Millennial by Ellen Byron at Wall Street Journal. “They’re much more of a ‘Do-It-for-Me’ type of customer than a ‘Do-It-Yourself’ customer,” says Joe McFarland, executive vice president of J.C. Penney stores. “You don’t need a ladder or a power drill, you don’t even have to wonder if you measured your window right.” Read more (subs.)

 

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Amazon’s Sales Tax Fight Is Heating Up as States Crack Down by Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. “Right now, consumers pay tax on goods purchased directly from Amazon, but they don’t in many cases if they buy from third-party merchants on the e-commerce giant’s marketplace. That could change on Dec. 1, when some merchants are expected to start collecting taxes in exchange for partial amnesty from back taxes in about half of U.S. states—among them Florida, New Jersey and Texas.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart promises 30-second returns in stores at CNBC. “For Wal-Mart’s online shoppers, making a return will soon require just two steps. Customers will start the returns process on their phones, using Wal-Mart’s app before heading to the store. Then, using a Mobile Express Lane at a Wal-Mart store, they will scan a QR code, which will prompt a refund to be credited to a shopper’s payment account.” Read more | Press release

 

Hudson’s Bay CEO Says Closing Stores Starts A Spiral That ‘Can’t Be Stopped’ by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “(CEO Gerald) Storch, speaking on Monday at the Shoptalk conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, said his company would instead “play to win” in the radically changing world of retail, and not retrench and close stores.” Read more

 

Target gives the go-ahead on IoT lights at half its stores by Mark Halper at LEDs Magazine. “The world’s largest known deployment of lighting-based indoor positioning is finally going full speed ahead…Drawing on a Target app, the phones will display an interactive map that guides individuals around the aisles, helping them find specific items and providing information about discounts.” Read more

 

Joseph Sheetz Ready for His New Role as NACS Chairman by Tammy Mastroberte at Convenience Store News. Q&A

 

Walmart e-commerce GM outlines digital opportunity at Emerson Group’s Industry Day by Michael Johnsen at Drug Store News. “Money was the currency of the ’80s and ’90s when Walmart really took off. Time, more than anything, is the currency we’re all working on today.” Read more

 

Harris Teeter did not pay employees for some time worked, lawsuit claims by Cassie Cope & Maria David at Charlotte Observer. “A Harris Teeter employee is suing the Matthews-based grocery chain for failing to pay some employees for the time they spent driving to pick up keys from a manager to open the store.” Read more

 

Lidl Stores Gain Little Traction So Far in U.S. by Heather Haddon at Wall Street Journal. “Missteps in store location and merchandise have hurt Lidl’s U.S. rollout, consumer analysts say. In one 15-minute period recently, Christopher Mandeville, a senior analyst for Jefferies & Co., counted only two shoppers entering a Lidl store tucked behind a strip mall in Richmond, Va., with nine other grocery stores including Aldi, Wal-Mart, Kroger and Trader Joe’s located close by, he said.” Read more (subs.)

 

Boy Meets Girl Launches in Macy’s by Lisa Lockwood at WWD. “The brand will be carried in 28 Macy’s stores and macys.com. It is housed in the fourth floor Impulse Sportswear department at the Herald Square flagship.” Read more

 

Boxed says self-driving vehicles work in warehouses, too by Katie Evans at Internet Retailer. “A Boxed in-house team of two engineers developed the autonomous cart in 90 days. Now, Boxed is manufacturing hundreds of the carts (they are starting by naming each cart after a member of the Wu-Tang clan, such as Ghostface Killah and Method Man) to unleash in its warehouses. It plans to roll out between 30 and 40 in its Dallas warehouse in the next several months, Fong says.” Read more

 

Amazon is considering a more serious bid against YouTube, ad industry sources say at CNBC. “The company has had multiple meetings where it suggested it would be launching more advertiser-friendly initiatives. Several people said Amazon suggested it would be more open to giving advertisers more data on what viewers were watching and what they were doing online.” Read more

 

Ikea to sell online on third-party sites at BBC. Read more

 

Lumber lawsuit against Menards dismissed; judge says retailer didn’t lie about its 4x4s by Rick Romell at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “McGuire Law also represents the plaintiff in a similar lawsuit against Home Depot. That case is pending.” Read more

 

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