Club & Warehouse

The latest posting from the McMillanDoolittle blog:

Target announced a partnership with Instacart in Target’s hometown of Minneapolis. This is Target’s first experiment with same-day delivery of products, and it coincides with the expansion of their grocery and fresh business.

In the latest move in its battle against Costco, Sam's Club is going to start accepting the very form of payment that Costco rebuffed earlier this year.

Bentonville, Ark. -- In the latest move in its battle against Costco, Sam's Club is going to start accepting the very form of payment that Costco rebuffed earlier this year.

Starting Oct. 1, all Sam’s Club locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico will take American Express cards at checkout. Earlier this year Costco ended its 16-year relationship with American in favor of Visa after the two companies could not come to an agreement on new terms.

San Diego - PriceSmart Inc. demonstrated intelligence when it comes to sales in August 2015. The U.S.-based operator of warehouse club stores in the Caribbean and Latin America increased net sales 13% to $232.7 million from $206.7 million in August a year earlier.

Same-store sales rose 3%. PriceSmart will release fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015 results on Oct. 29.
 

New York – What’s in a name? When that name is Tiffany, as Costco discovered, potentially some hefty financial penalties.

Federal judge Laura Taylor Swain has ruled in favor of Tiffany & Co. in a suit the luxury retailer initially brought against Costco Wholesale Corp. in February 2013. The civil suit sought damages for what Tiffany said were fake “Tiffany” engagement rings Costco sold at one of its stores in Huntington Beach, California.

Columbus, Ohio -- Alliance Data Systems Corp.’s card services business has introduced an EMV-based co-brand credit card solution with tap-and-pay functionality for its retail partners.

The first of these dual-interface chip cards are co-branded with MasterCard and BJ’s Wholesale Club and the Fuel Rewards program. With this new functionality, customers can pay for purchases by tapping their card on a contactless-enabled terminal, making payments simple, easy and fast.
 

Despite reporting ho-hum sales for July, Costco said Thursday that its comps for the fourth quarter and fiscal year were up an impressive 6%.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Sam's Club is taking on Costco in the auto buying program business by teaming up with one of the biggest names in car-shopping.

The all-new Sam's Club Auto Buying Program will now be powered by TrueCar, Sam's Club announced Thursday. Sams Club says members will have access to more than 10,000 TrueCar Certified Dealers nationwide, more than three times the nearest competitor in the warehouse club channel (i.e., Costco).