Strategy

On a recent trip to Seattle, my luggage was lost and I found myself without anything to wear except for the clothes on my back. I urgently needed a suit for a business meeting and decided Nordstrom was the best place to start given I was in the retailer’s hometown.   

In light of Target shares dropping 15% after their latest earnings announcement, Target CEO Brian Cornell said executives would be detailing moves for greater pricing aggressiveness and increased merchandise differentiation, both tactics that Target has been known for historically. Cornell’s pricing reference led to speculation about a price war with Walmart, which many experts surmise Target simply can’t win. Speculation aside, is a price war poised to erupt between these two mega-retailers?    

Going local is the big trend in retail center food and beverage options, so why not for retail brokerage houses?   That’s the tack CBRE is taking in its Seattle office with the hiring of two long-time leasing pros from Washington State-based Wallace Properties, which lays claim to scouting out the best locations from “Olympia to Bellingham and from Seattle to Spokane.”  

Retailers may soon have a voice when it comes to disclosing surcharges related to card payments.    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, March 29, that First Amendment free speech rights should be considered when determining how merchants disclose to their shoppers that credit card swipe fees can drive up the price of merchandise.   

Cumberland Farms, a convenience store fixture in New England and central Florida for half a century, once fielded more than 1,000 stores. Today it has pared down to 600 stores as it transforms itself from a strip-center and gas station dairy store to a chain of freestanding, modern C-stores providing food service and gasoline, along the lines of Quik Check and Wawa.  

Amazon is getting is shutting down one of its units after it failed to turn a profit.   The company pulling the plug on Quidsi, parent company of diapers.com, soap.com and several other shopping sites, which it purchased in 2010. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.   

A growing supermarket retailer in the Adriatic region has deployed a solution to better manage its disparate inventory levels.   Konzum, part of the 2,000-store Agrokor group with 2,000 stores in the Adriatic region, has been expanding its footprint through accelerated acquisitions have accelerated Konzum’s growth.  But the strategy has created a diversified store network, each with different store layouts and inventories. These issues also force the grocery chain to manage disparate inventory files, and deal with order exceptions.

On March 7, Edward Stack, CEO and chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods, announced the company is dropping 20% of its brand offerings. This news is part of a larger redirection for the sporting goods retailer, one designed to optimize its inventory for increased sales.  

Retailers looking for a competitive advantage in these competitive times should consider their restrooms.  

Later this week, the nomination of Alexander Acosta to be the next Secretary of Labor will likely be voted out of the Senate HELP Committee and head for confirmation on the Senate floor. The administration made headlines just prior to his confirmation hearings outlining cuts to the Department of Labor budget in the neighborhood of $2.5 Billion or roughly 20%.