“Target’s interim CEO does not want job permanently” by Jim Finkle at Reuters via Chicago Tribune. “Target Corp interim Chief Executive John Mulligan said he has no interest in becoming the company’s chief executive, though that will not undermine his ability to help the company recover from its massive data breach and missteps in Canada.”  Read more

 

“A Q&A with Target’s Interim CEO John Mulligan” at A Bullseye View.  “This isn’t about me; it’s about the entire leadership team, and we all agree that we cannot pause. As an interim CEO, I am not simply keeping the ship afloat. We need to accelerate our growth and that means we all have to move faster and empower the people around us to do the same.”  Read more

 

“Costco store bans smiley faces on customer receipts (but then reverses itself)” by Kristen Hampton at WBTV-3 (Charlotte).  “Blake Hartwick went to the Tyvola Road store in Charlotte with his 3 year old daughter and the usual smiley face was not on the receipt.  Blake says his daughter asked the man at the door to draw one, “He looked at us and said I’m sorry I can’t draw a smiley face on the back of your receipt.”  Blake says two Costco employees told him a new corporate policy banned the practice. “I was stunned,” Blake said.”  See the video / Read more

 

“Whole Foods Q2 Comp Sales +4.5% (+6.9% LY)”  “Average weekly sales per store were $742,000, translating to record sales per gross square foot of $1,000. Operating income was $231 million, or 7.0% of sales, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $318 million, or 9.6% of sales.”  Read the release

 

“Retail’s game of musical chairs is likely not over” by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC.  “The skill sets needed to be a good merchant are often different than the skill sets needed to be a CEO,” he said. “Merchants tend to be right-brain people, and good [CEOs], particularly nowadays, tend to be someone a little more left-brained. … You don’t find [that] combination of skills that often.” Read more

 

“Apple Jumps to Second Place in Online Retail (Costco Appears in Top 15 for First Time)” by Shelly Banjo at WSJ. “Making its first appearance in the top 15 largest online retailers was warehouse club operator Costco.  The wholesale club chain, which increased its Internet sales by 48% to $3.1 billion last year, surpassed electronics retailer Best Buy…Online sales represented close to 3% of Costco’s $103 billion in revenue last year.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart acquires Adchemy” at The City Wire.  ““Walmart isn’t a retailer in Silicon Valley, we’re building an Internet technology company inside the world’s largest retailer. We are 2,100 strong and growing,” King noted in his May 6 blog entry.  Adchemy is WalmartLabs twelfth acquisition since Labs’ creation, and one of the largest to date in terms of people.”  Read more

 

Alibaba IPO: “eBay, Amazon and Google should be scared” at Mercury News.  “With its entry into the U.S. stock market, Alibaba — often described as a combination of eBay, Amazon and Google — will have a valuation estimated at $150 billion to upward of $200 billion, giving it an immediate market value greater than Facebook and Amazon.”  Read more

 

“Tesco Challenges Aldi by Taking Page from Amazon Playbook” by Gabby Thesing at Bloomberg.  “Clarke is modelling Tesco on the tech giants, building a digital one-stop shop centered around its Hudl tablet that includes everything from movies to banking. A smart phone will join the stable later this year. The aim? Lock in customers by incentivizing them with loyalty points to buy everything from mortgages to grapes.”  Read more

 

“Home Depot Still King of Radio” at Radio Ink.  “The Home Depot is averaging over 64,000 spots per week on radio, according to Media Monitors. At that consistent level, they are by far radio’s biggest advertiser, and have been for seven straight weeks now.” Read more

 

“Sears chief: Store closings will continue” by Alexia Elejade-Ruiz at Chicago Tribune.  “Citing examples of companies that have successfully undergone transformations despite seemingly damning financials, Sears Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert told shareholders Tuesday that “sometimes you need to go backwards to go forwards.”  Read more

 

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