Wal-Mart Nears Web Deal with Lord & Taylor by Suzanne Kapner & Sarah Nassauer at Wall Street Journal. “The world’s biggest retailer is near a deal with Lord & Taylor that would give the department store dedicated space on walmart.com, according to a person familiar with the matter. Such an agreement would be the first step in creating an online mall that shoppers could access from Walmart’s website, this person said.” Read more (subs.)

 

Walmart Labs now employees around 6,000 people around the globe by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “(CTO Jeremy) King was the afternoon keynote speaker at the Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit held in Rogers on Tuesday (Oct. 17)…King said he was tech geek from early on but also loved water polo and swimming. Today, he’s a mountain biker and has suffered from 14 broken bones over the years.” Read more

 

90M or 50M? – CIRP study says Prime hits 90M U.S. households, representing 63% of Amazon customers by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Moody’s put the number much lower, closer to 50 million. Michael Pachter, a research analyst for Wedbush Securities, told GeekWire that the study was “flat out wrong.” He put Amazon’s Prime membership at about 52.5 million.” Read more

 

Supervalu beats analyst estimates, buys Associated Grocers co-op for $180M by Mark Reilly at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “At Supervalu’s retail operations…total sales were nearly flat at $1.02 billion, though same store sales…fell 3.5 percent during the quarter…The company is spending about $180 million for Associated Grocers…a 72-year-old company that supplies South Florida, the Caribbean, and other international markets.” Read more | Acquisition release | Earnings release

 

Kohl’s says it’s not trying to get acquired by Amazon — but traders are preparing just in case by Joe Ciolli at Business Insider. “When asked whether Kohl’s is looking to get bought, (incoming CEO Gass) simply said, “I don’t think so, no.” But traders are taking no chances. If Amazon does purchase Kohl’s, it would likely be for a large premium over its current stock price.” Read more

 

Walmart’s Shawn Townzen – VP & DMM Personal Care – Speaks at Conference by Dan Mack at Drug Store News. “The line review is the epicenter of the assortment decision-making process. Suppliers must show up with ammunition to win the moment. The best manufacturers are introducing true innovation – not product renovation. It’s important to know the difference” added Townzen.” Read more

 

Anthem teams with CVS to run its own drug-benefits plan by Reed Abelson at NY Times via Boston Globe. “The insurer said it will start the new business in 2020, after its contract with Express Scripts expires, estimating the savings from the new arrangement to be about $4 billion a year, the bulk of which it said would flow to customers in the form of lower drug prices.” Read more

 

eBay is having a pretty bad day by Matthew Lynley at TechCrunch. “The company said it added an additional 2 million active buyers and now says it has 168 million global active buyers. But even with buyer numbers as large as that, it seems that eBay may still face an uphill battle trying to change the perception that it’s a company that was a powerhouse.” Read more | Earnings release

 

Amazon Has Honed Its Site-Hunting Expertise With In-House Team by Laura Stevens & Shayndi Raice at Wall Street Journal. “Amazon is a kind of unique situation,” said Mark Sweeney, senior principal with McCallum Sweeney Consulting…”Most companies, even large companies, don’t build an automobile facility or an aircraft facility every year.” Read more (subs.)

 

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Blue Apron Is Laying Off 6% of Workers After a Tough Few Months by Jonathan Vanian at Fortune. “The company said earlier this year that it had a little over 5,000 employees, so a 6% cut would equate to roughly 300 employees.” Read more

 

Amazon doubles Dash buttons available to UK members to more than 100 by Natasha Lomas at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Triple storm dubbed ‘The Big Dark’ to slam Pacific Northwest at NY Post. “A dramatic satellite image shows a series of rain and wind storms rolling across the ocean from China to the Seattle region and British Columbia.” Read more

 

Scientists claims breakthrough in link between sugar and cancer by Ashley May at USA Today. “The research “is able to explain the correlation between the strength of the Warburg effect and tumor aggressiveness,” Thevelein, from KU Leuven in Belgium, said in a release. “This link between sugar and cancer has sweeping consequences.” Read more

 

Longtime AmEx CEO Kenneth Chenault is stepping down at CNN. “American Express said on Wednesday that Chenault, 66, will be replaced by Stephen J. Squeri, 58, on February 1 of next year.” Read more

 

75% of online shoppers said they rarely or never buy groceries online, according to the survey of nearly 8,600 adults from Aug. 12 to Sept. 1.  via CNBC. Read more

 

Break Out the Barbecues, American Backyards Are Growing Again by Patrick Clark at Bloomberg. “The typical home completed so far this year included 7,048 square feet of outdoor space, according to a new report from Trulia. That marked the third straight year that yard sizes have grown, breaking with a 25-year trend toward smaller outdoor spaces.” Read more

 

$1,000 Bagel Is Back in New York City (Limited Time – Tax and Tip Included!) at NBC 4 New York. “The bagel…will be dressed in Alba white truffle cream cheese, topped with goji berry-infused Riesling jelly and flaked with golden leaves…”Considering how pricing has risen in the past decade (bagel made its debut in 2007) this bagel at its introductory cost is nearly a deal,” says the (Westin) hotel.” Read more

 

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