Highlights from Walmart’s Vendor Open Call: 

 

‘Taco Plate’ Founder on Walmart’s Open Call:  “One unexpected moment for me was when Bill Simon (CEO of Walmart U.S.) opened the door on our meeting to congratulate me on the order. I was not expecting that.” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. Read more

 

” ‘Bias toward yes’ proves lucrative for some new Wal-Mart suppliers” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “(Bill) Simon, who introduced Gov. Mike Beebe at the morning session, praised Arkansas for being active in trying to recruit suppliers…Gov. Mike Beebe visits with the crowd gathered at Wal-Mart’s Open Call meeting for U.S. suppliers in Bentonville on Tuesday.  He thanked Wal-Mart for entertaining the conversation and also jokingly told potential suppliers that “Wal-Mart likes you better if you manufacture in Arkansas.” Read more

 

CNBC:  Entrepreneurs step into WalMart’s ‘Shark Tank’  See the video

 

“How Home Depot finally discovered the Internet” by Jennifer Reingold at Fortune.  “Frank Blake and I are out for a stroll—really, it’s more of a hike—across the company’s sparkling new, 1.1 million sq. ft. direct fulfillment center in McDonough, Ga. The Locust Grove center, as it’s known, is a humongous warehouse, yes, but it’s also a cathedral built in homage to a customer that the $79 billion-in-revenues company ignored for a very long time…Almost none of those trucks are bound for a Home Depot store. Instead, they’ll be heading directly to your house or mine.” Read more

 

Fortune: Video Interview with Home Depot’s Frank Blake (footage from inside McDonough, GA fulfillment center) See the 2 min 54 second video

 

“5 Insights from Home Depot General Counsel Teresa Roseborough” at Law 360 (Free Subscription).  “We’ve been very actively working with other retailers and retail associations to provide a framework for taxation of pure play e-tailers that mirrors that of brick-and-mortar retailers…On the litigation front, finding the right balance between protecting the rights of inventors and allowing the complexities and cost of patent litigation to drive abuse is a major concern.” Read the interview

 

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Stanford Business on Ron Johnson’s time at JCPenney:  “In retrospect, even as he thinks his plan would have succeeded, he realizes his pace was too fast for such a traditional company. “I think it was kind of arrogance. I just had such — I’d had such success, you know? Most of the things I’d done at Apple and Target worked and so you think, well, this will work too. And the reality is, you know, we moved too quickly.” It was too fast for the board, the customers, employees, and shareholders, he says.” Read more 

 

“Sales per square foot (print) is the new retail metric” by Lee Schafer at Star-Tribune.  “By tacking on “print” to foot, Rubinson is measuring productivity by calculating total sales on all the selling space the company occupies, its entire real estate footprint…(he) decided to include those vast warehouses all of these companies seem to operate…Rubinson pointed to Restoration Hardware as his best example of how misleading it can be to only measure sales per square foot.” Read more

 

“Family Dollar Fights the Billionaires at the Gate” by Phillip van Doorn at MarketWatch.  “Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine on Thursday is likely to face a grilling from analysts over whether the discount retailer is considering selling itself…Analysts polled by FactSet estimate sales per share will increase by 3.1% from a year earlier to $22.98, but that earnings per share will decline to 89 cents from $1.05. Analysts expect same-store sales to dip 2.3%.” Read more

 

“H-E-B to spend $14M on first DFW Plus! store in Burleson (TX)” by Danielle Abril at Dallas Bus. Journal.  “When the renovations are done, the store, 165 NW John Jones Drive, will grow from 88,000 square feet to 115,000 square feet. It will sell merchandise for the electronics, toys, housewares, grilling and outdoor furniture, apparel, party supplies, and plants in addition to groceries.” Read more

 

“Marks & Spencer’s Results Tell a Tale of Two Companies” by Ese Erheriene at WSJ.  “M&S continues to be a tale of two contrasting businesses in the U.K.,” said Himanshu Pal, retail insights director for Kantar Retail EMEA, in a research note. “While M&S Simply Food is delivering good [like-for-like] sales for a 19th consecutive quarter, general merchandise is still struggling.” Read more

 

“Canadian Tire Must Pay $7,000 for Detaining Man Trying to Return Daughter’s Training Wheels” by Paul Delean at National Post. “The customer brought back the training wheels, which were the wrong size, and presented his bill but was denied a refund or exchange by an employee and the manager on the grounds they were no longer in the original packaging. He then threw them on the ground and attempted to leave the premises, but was intercepted by four security guards, who forced him into a room and handcuffed him to a chair until the arrival of police 30 minutes later.” Read more

 

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