“Amazon Spends More on Google Search Ads than Walmart/Target/Home Depot Combined” by Tim Petersen at Ad Age. “Amazon spent $157.7 million on Google U.S. search ads in 2013, by far the most by any company…there’s good reason to have expected more stores to make the ranking, considering that search is the dominant digital-ad format for direct-response advertisers like retail brands.” See the rankings / Read more

 

“Savings Catcher returns more than $2 million to Walmart shoppers” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Since inception we have helped our customers capture more than $2 million by using Savings Catcher. Immediately after the August 4 rollout the app was the No. 1 downloaded lifestyle app from the iTunes App store,” said Molly Blakeman, Wal-Mart spokeswoman.” Read more

 

“Dick’s President to Retire – Search is on for Successor” by Teresa F. Lindeman at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Joseph H. Schmidt, who has been president and chief operating officer since 2009 and been with the company since 1990, expects to retire either at the end of the year or whenever works best for the retailer, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it has started a search for a successor to Mr. Schmidt.” Read more

 

Canada: Will Dollarama be the ‘consolation prize’ to loser of U.S. dollar store battle? by Hollie Shaw at The Province. “The raw purchasing power of Dollar General and Dollar Tree ($12-billion and $5-billion of annual purchases, respectively, far outweigh Dollarama at $1.2-billion,” Mr. Petrie said. Dollarama currently trades at to 21.7 times Mr. Petrie’s 2015 forward earnings estimate and about 18.4 times 2016 estimates; its U.S. peers trade at an average of 18.5 and 16.8 times 2015 and 2016 estimated earnings, respectively.” Read more

 

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“Wal-Mart caught charging New Yorkers more for Coke than advertised” by Katie Lobosco at CNN Money. “Wal-Mart tried to get New Yorkers to pay more for Coca-Cola than advertised, and sometimes employees claimed the markup was because of a state “sugar tax.”…The retailer has agreed to pay $66,000 to settle the investigation, Schneiderman announced Tuesday.” Read more

 

Sears:  Return & Exchange Items Without Ever Leaving Your Car “The new integrated retail service, powered by the Shop Your Way mobile app, lets members pick up, return or exchange their purchases for free – guaranteed in five minutes or less – without ever leaving their vehicle.” Read the release

 

“Expert: New Wal-Mart communicator must be ‘battle tested under pressure’ “ by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “(David) Tovar told The City Wire Tuesday (Sept. 16) he has nothing but good things to say about Wal-Mart and he respects the company’s decision. He said 18 years ago, after four years at the University of Delaware he walked in the graduation ceremony, only to find out later than he lacked a few credit hours toward earning his bachelor’s degree.” Read more

 

“Bloomberg Reporter Hits Walmart’s David Tovar” by Chris Roush at Talking Biz News. “In fall of 2013, Tovar accused Dudley of ‘having an agenda’ and told CNBC that ‘we’ve tried to speak with her editors and it seems to fall on deaf ears.’ “In June of 2014, Dudley was told that once again she wasn’t welcome at Wal-Mart’s media week events. “Last Friday, Northwest Arkansas Business Journal reported that Tovar was resigning his corporate communications position. Wal-Mart explained that he was ‘just ready to move on to his next adventure,’ and left it at that. “Dudley, though, got the rest of the story.” Read more

 

“New Walgreen holding company to be incorporated in Delaware” by Peter Frost at Chicago Tribune. “Walgreens is not headed to Europe. But it is going to Delaware…Walgreen, which is currently domiciled in Illinois, will maintain its corporate and operational headquarters in Deerfield.” Read more

 

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