“Walmart’s Bill Simon Mentioned as Potential New Target CEO” by Janet Moore & Jennifer Bjorhus at Star-Tribune.  “Some of the more surprising candidates mentioned to head the $73 billion Minneapolis retailer include retiring Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally and former Target CEO Robert Ulrich. But when Wall Street analysts got right down to it, much of the focus centered on retail execs currently in the game, including Glenn Murphy, chairman and CEO of Gap Inc.; Bill Simon, head of Wal-Mart Inc.’s U.S. division; and Greg Sandfort of Tractor Supply Co.”  Read more

 

“Target Canada Could be next on the Chopping Block” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail.  “Some company watchers say Target will have to consider shutting its operations here entirely within the next year or two if their performance doesn’t improve significantly.  “It is conceivable that they will close Canada,” Faye Landes, retail analyst at Cowen and Co. in New York, said in an interview. “I assume with a new CEO, everything will be on the table.”  Read more

 

“Target CEO Search May Take up to 12 Months – Gives Interim CEO John Mulligan a Chance to Audition” by John Vomhof Jr. at Minn./St. Paul Bus. Journal.  “These people aren’t walking the streets. These are passive candidates,” he said. “it’s a tedious process of reaching out quietly and confidentially to top senior-level executives who have the ability to take on this assignment,”. It takes time. Nobody’s unemployed. Nobody’s walking the street, looking for a job.”  Read more

 

“Walmart’s Web Sales Grow Faster than at Amazon (Finally!)” by Shelly Banjo at WSJ.  “Global Internet sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rose by 30% to $10 billion during the year ended Jan. 31, surpassing Amazon.com Inc.’s 20% sales growth during the year ended Dec. 31, according to data from trade publication Internet Retailer.  Amazon still dwarfs Wal-Mart’s Web sales in scale.”  Read more

 

“Deloitte Study:  88% have found several store brands that are just as good as national brands”  “Traditional thinking that targets consumers at multiple price points with good, better or best offerings often misses the mark,” added Conroy. “Given the bifurcation of consumers between higher and lower income levels, brands should instead address different shoppers’ ability and willingness to spend by moving to an OK, better and excellent brand portfolio.”  Read the release

 

“Tweet And Shop: Twitter Teams Up With Amazon” by Levi Sumagaysay at Mercury News.  “Under a new partnership between the two companies, users can follow links to something they want to buy online, tweet a response indicating they’d like to buy it, and later find that item in their Amazon shopping cart ready for purchase.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart acquires Simplexity’s WARP out of Bankruptcy” at The City Wire. “We’ve seen more and more customers choosing where they purchase new smartphones based on where they’ll get the best value for their trade-ins. Now, when they come to Walmart they’ll not only get low prices on the newest phones and exclusive offerings, but they’ll also receive a much quicker process for getting their new phone activated,” Karenann Terrell, chief information officer at Walmart, noted in a corporate blog on Monday.”  Read more

 

“Walgreen’s Same-Store Sales +7.6% in April”  “For the combined March/April period that includes the Easter holiday season impact, comparable store front-end sales increased by 2.1 percent, while customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 0.9 percent and basket size increased 3.0 percent.”  Read more

 

“Office Depot to close 400 U.S. stores” at Reuters.  “Office Depot said it would close at least 400 stores in the United States as shoppers shift their office supply purchases to e-retailers, mass market chains and drugstores.  Office Depot, which also reported a quarterly net loss, said it expects to close 150 stores this year.”  Read more

 

“OfficeMax Q1 Sales Off 3%”  “Total reported sales for the first quarter of 2014 were $4.4 billion compared to $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2013, and were 3% lower than combined pro forma sales of $4.5 billion in the first quarter of the prior year.”  Read the release

 

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