“Home Depot’s Breakfast with Analysts” by Andria Cheng at Market Watch.  “The company sees its 180-store Canada business only has 2 to 3 incremental stores while its 101-store Mexican business is “growing nicely” and on the way to 125 locations…The company has shut its seven larger format China stores after disclosing the plan last year. However, it told analysts it has a small team staying behind and has five small stores selling its Behr paint that “is doing very well,” signaling Home Depot may open small stores to sell U.S.-branded products in China, Schick said.”  Read more:  https://blogs.marketwatch.com/behindthestorefront/2013/06/10/home-depots-meeting-with-analysts-strikes-a-confident-tone/

 

“Amazon adds some twists as it expands grocery service to L.A.” by Amy Martinez at Seattle Times.  “Amazon.com is making its Los Angeles customers a value proposition unlike any other they’ve ever seen from the e-commerce giant.  As of Monday, AmazonPrime customers in several L.A. ZIP codes can receive a free, 90-day trial of same-day and early-morning delivery on 500,000 items, including fresh foods, toys and electronics.”  Read more:  https://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021161414_amazonprimexml.html

 

“Walmart scoops up Inkiru to bolster its ‘big data’ capabilities online” by Dylan Tweney at Venture Beat.  “Inkiru’s “predictive intelligence platform” applies data analysis to a variety of e-commerce needs, including fraud reduction, customer segmentation and targeting, just-in-time recommendations to entice customers to buy more stuff, and more. It incorporates machine learning technologies to automatically improve its algorithms.”  Read more:  https://venturebeat.com/2013/06/10/walmart-scoops-up-inkiru-to-bolster-its-big-data-capabilities-online/#rfiPAV3SiGDqZ3PE.99

 

“Costco to eliminate self-checkout from stores” at Retail Customer Experience.  “Costco CEO Craig Jelinek announced last week the company’s plans to eliminate self-service checkout from its stores.  The reason? According to an article on Business Insider, his employees do a better job.   “[Self-service checkout is] great for low-volume warehouses, but we don’t want to be in the low-volume warehouse business,” Jelinek said.”  Read more:  https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/article/214573/Costco-to-eliminate-self-checkout-from-stores

 

“Grocery Comparison Site mySupermarket Launches U.S. Megastore For Finding Best Prices” by Sarah Perez at Techcrunch.  “The new U.S. version of mySupermarket lets shoppers find the best prices across top stores, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, Walgreens, Diapers.com, Soap.com, and Drugstore.com.”  Read more:  https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/10/grocery-comparison-site-mysupermarket-launches-u-s-megastore-for-finding-best-prices-across-amazon-walmart-target-more/

 

“Wal-Mart distribution centers key to revenue growth” by Kim Souza at City Wire.  “He said if Wal-Mart could have the same inventory management discipline in the backroom of its stores as seen in the distribution centers there would be “an incredible amount value to unlock.’ Simon also said the supercenters have more inventory and warehouse square footage than any of the retailer’s distribution centers.  He said unlocking this value is No. 1 or No. 2 on the list to do for Chris Sultemeier, senior vice president of transportation for Wal-Mart.”  Read more:  https://www.thecitywire.com/node/28208#.UbcFy_nVDpU

 

“Home Depot #1 in Radio Spots” at Radio Ink.  “In our weekly check of top advertisers using radio, The Home Depot logged another week at the top of the charts, airing 57,263 spots, according to Media Monitors…Coming in fourth place was Wal-Mart at 26,292.”  Read more:  https://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2662701&spid=24698

 

“Dollar Tree, Inc. Announces Promotion of Gary Philbin to President and Chief Operating Officer”  “After a thirty year career in the retail grocery industry where he held senior-level positions in both merchandising and operations, Gary joined Dollar Tree as Senior Vice President of Stores in December of 2001. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in March 2007.”  Read more:  https://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&newsId=20130610005786&div=-1245645151

 

“Whole Foods Trims Prices in Detroit” by Elliot Zwiebach at Supermarket News.  “Whole Foods Market last week opened an inner-city store here that is a smaller unit than the chain’s norm, with lower prices and a larger selection of private-label items and frozen and prepackaged foods designed to appeal to budget-conscious shoppers. Similar stores are planned for New Orleans and the South Side of Chicago.”  Read more:  https://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/whole-foods-trims-prices-detroit#ixzz2VuKRZw3t

 

“Lee Clow on Advertising, Then and Now” by Rupal Parekh at Ad Age.  “The reason I’ve been calling what we do media arts for the last five years is because I would like the definition to change and the respectability to come back to big advertising networks. We have to claw our way back to respectability. I keep saying and wishing it’s time for another creative revolution to harness all these new media ideas and execute them in artful ways. It’s not been done yet.” Read more:  https://adage.com/article/agency-news/lee-clow-advertising/241987/

 

“US Small Business Confidence Hits One-Year High in May” at Reuters via CNBC.  “The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its Small Business Optimism Index increased 2.3 points to 94.4 last month, the highest level since May last year. It was the second straight month of gains in the index.”  Read more:  https://www.cnbc.com/id/100805567

 

Thanks for reading…

 

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