By Jason Long (jlong@eyeonretail.net)

 

Target now shipping to Canada, but shoppers dismayed by cost by Sophia Harris at CBC News. “Considering Target’s track record in this country, marketing expert, Mandeep Malik doesn’t believe the site as it exists now will win any hearts in Canada. “My instinctive reaction [is] that this is something that we will collectively laugh about, like really?” says the McMaster University professor.” Read more

 

Tractor Supply Q3 Comp +2.9% at MarketWatch. Read more

 

King’s Hawaiian Bakery sues grocery giant Aldi for ripping off its sweet rolls by David Allison at Atlanta Business Chronicle. “In a lawsuit filed Oct. 21 in federal court in Gainesville, Ga., King’s Hawaiian Bakery Southeast Inc. says Aldi…is selling sweet rolls in packages intentionally designed to look like King’s Hawaiian.” See the package / Read more

 

Amazon Tested Package Delivery by Newspaper Trucks by Greg Bensinger at WSJ. “The experiment, which enlisted Tribune Publishing Co. trucks in Chicago, lasted just a week or two, according to the people. For Tribune, which publishes the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers, tax issues related to its newspaper couriers was an apparent roadblock to continuing the package delivery test, said one of these people.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Target Sets Up ‘Peanuts’ Audition. Guess Who Tried Out? at Ad Age. See the TV spot

 

**A message from Hot Shot Insecticides – While you’re away, what creepy-crawlies are at play? Be the hero with Hot Shot(R) Insecticides — our household bug solutions root out hidden insect pests before they move in and multiply. It’s the clear advantage at home and in the checkout line. Save the day! See our videos | Visit us on Facebook

 

Toys R Us Aims for the Heart and Parents’ Wallets With Its New Holiday Campaign at Adweek. “The anthem ad “Tree,” which debuts next month on broadcast TV, includes no toys, games or other consumer goods. Instead, it sends a more emotionally resonant message about inclusiveness and generosity with a young girl and an older neighbor who seems at first to be a classic “bah, humbug” curmudgeon.” See the spot / Read more

 

Fortune: 25 Best Medium Workplaces (Etsy #6), 25 Best Small Workplaces (Radio Flyer #1)

 

Supervalu shares slide on earnings miss by Nick Halter at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “Same-store sales at the company’s Save-A-Lot chain were down 1.6 percent. It’s retail food segment’s same-store sales were down 3.3 percent.” Read more

 

Time Inc.’s People Launches “People Shop” E-Commerce Destination Read the release

 

eBay Beats Q3 Earnings Expectations in First Report After PayPal Spinoff by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “EBay’s stock surged more than 8 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday as the online shopping marketplace posted better than expected earnings results.” Read more

 

Walmart: Bentonville a litmus test for store density by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “A retired Wal-Mart executive officer recently told The City Wire that the Bentonville market has been a litmus test to see what the tolerance level is for the store density…The expert said a well run supercenter has the potential to do five times the sales volume of a smaller Neighborhood Market in the same region.” Read more

 

Under Armour just had its first billion-dollar quarter via Yahoo Finance. Read more

 

“Package-Gate”: Web-Shopping Deluge Boxes In Landlords by Laura Kusisto at WSJ. “Camden Property Trust, the 14th-largest U.S. apartment operator by number of units, stopped accepting parcels at all of its 169 properties nationwide this year…“Ultimately, this was going to eat our lunch,” said Keith Oden, president of Camden. He refers to the situation as “package-gate.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Target Takes Heat for Selling T-shirt that Replaces Princess Leia with Luke Skywalker by Kipp Jones at Breitbart. “Franchise fans know the moment well, and were shocked last week upon seeing an image of the famed encounter revised to include Skywalker (Mark Hamill).” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

“People of Walmart” costume has Louisiana principal in hot water

The One Thing Tesco’s Big Data Algorithm Never Predicted

Ben & Jerry’s is making craft beer ice cream

What You Need to Know About YouTube’s Subscription Service, YouTube Red

Gatorade’s CMO Wins Adweek’s Top Honor as 2015 Grand Brand Genius

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet is created early every weekday morning and read by retail merchants and executives worldwide. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail. See our website at www.eyeonretail.net