Mass Merchant

Amazon knows Thanksgiving weekend shoppers are typically bargain hunters, yet the company became increasingly less price dynamic as the weekend wore on.    That’s according to an infographic from 360pi, which examined the promotional and pricing strategies of Amazon, Walmart and Target, among others, during Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.   

The nation’s largest maternity clothing retailer failed to meet sales and earnings expectations in the third quarter amid changes designed to focus on its core operations.     Destination Maternity reported a net loss of $1.5 million in its fiscal third quarter.   On a per-share basis, the company said it had a loss of 11 cents. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 9 cents per share.   

Costco Wholesale Corp. has been playing catch up with its competitors in the online space — and its efforts may be starting to bear fruit.      The retailer has been adding more higher-end brands to its online merchandise mix and also improved stock levels for high volume items, Bloomberg reported.   

When it comes to retail operating costs, energy is one of the top three expenses. Lighting is of course a component of this, accounting for 50% of energy costs for non-food retailers. Each square foot of a typical retail store costs roughly $0.71/SF/year – a cost that quickly adds up at the store and chain level.^{1, 2, 3}  

(Ed. note: Neil Saunders, CEO of Conlumino, comments on Sears Holdings’ third-quarter results.)   In the movie Titanic there is a line where, realizing chaos is about to en-sue, one character helpfully notes “it’s starting to fall apart; we don’t have much time”. Such a sentiment could well be applied to Sears. The analogy with Titanic is also apt; not least because while Sears was once a titan of US retail, it now looks set to sink.  

Costco Wholesale Corp. a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped partially by lower fees to credit card partner Visa.   Costco, which completed its switch to Visa from American Express during the fourth quarter, said net income rose to $545 million, or $1.24 per share, in the first quarter, ended Nov. 20, from $480 million, or $1.09 per share, in the year-ago period. (The retailer’s profit in the latest quarter included a $51 million gain from a legal settlement.)  

A store transformed — that’s how Target refers to its Baton Rouge East (Louisiana) store which has re-opened its doors after sustaining massive damage from the floods that devastated the area in August.  

Hoping to lessen the hustle and bustle of the holidays, Sears Holdings and Uber are expanding its Rider Rewards program to 23 new markets.   The service, which launched this fall in New York City and Chicago, enabled Sears Shop Your Way loyalty shoppers to link their memberships to their Uber accounts. Every Uber ride they take earns them $2 in loyalty points.