Target brings Express format to West Coast

RELATED MEDIA

Gallery: Target trials small Express footprint

After introducing its first small footprint store at the University of Minneapolis this July, Target Corp. announced plans on Tuesday to open two Bay Area TargetExpress stores in San Francisco and Berkeley, Calif., next March.

At 18,000 and 12,000 square feet, the new locations will be even smaller than the pilot 20,000-square-foot TargetExpress in Minneapolis.

"From listening to our guests at the two San Francisco CityTarget stores, we know the smaller format of TargetExpress will fit right into the busy San Francisco Bay Area lifestyle and enable us to cater to each community’s needs,” said Kamau Witherspoon, Target's senior director of store operations, in a media statement.

The San Francisco location, for instance, will offer an expanded grab-and-go prepared food offering and a Starbucks.

Why Walgreen Won't Stop Selling Tobacco Like CVS Health

CVS Health (CVS) rival Walgreen (WAG) isn’t going to stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products anytime soon.

Walgreen certainly has myriad financial reasons to keep selling cigarettes. It is faced with cutting costs as it consolidates various functions in its merger with European drugstore giant Alliance Boots. It decided against an “inversion” and will keep its headquarters in the U.S. There have been reports the ousted top finance executive made a major financial reporting error that cost the company more than $1 billion. And this morning, Walgreens reported “customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 1.7 percent” in August.

But Walgreen isn’t using financial excuses as a reason it won’t stop selling cigarettes in its official corporate statement issued following CVS’ announcement that all tobacco products were removed from store shelves.

Rather, Walgreen doesn’t seem to think retailers are to blame for Americans wanting to continue to smoke. But they can be a solution even while selling tobacco, according to a lengthy statement the company made in response to reporter inquiries about CVS’ removal of all tobacco products yesterday from store shelves.

“We believe that if the goal is to truly reduce tobacco use in America, then the most effective thing retail pharmacies can do is address the root causes and help smokers quit,” Walgreen said.

“With about 250,000 retail establishments selling tobacco products in America today, retail pharmacies comprise only 4 percent of overall tobacco sales,” the company’s statement continued. “As a result — as many health experts and even a recent doctor survey have noted — a retail pharmacy ban on tobacco sales would have little to no significant impact on actually reducing the use of tobacco. Our goal is to help get the U.S. smoking rate, which has leveled off at around 18% of the adult population for a decade, moving lower again. ”

CVS, however, points to another study it touted in its arsenal of public relations’ materials preceding the announcement about its name change to CVS Health and its removal of cigarettes a month ahead of schedule. CVS said “enactment of policies policies to eliminate the sale of tobacco products at retailers with pharmacies in San Francisco and Boston was associated with up to a 13.3 percent reduction in purchasers of tobacco products.”

Both companies are stepping up promotion of their smoking cessation programs.

Walgreen will just offer the effort to quit while selling tobacco.

Amazon, Costco, Macy's, Gap Shoppers Forecast Bright Outlooks For Holiday Spending

With the back-to-school season winding down, it’s about that time of year for shoppers to look forward to the winter holidays. And while it may seem premature to preempt Halloween with the holiday discussion, last year one in five began their shopping prior to October, so many consumers are already planning their budgets for this all-important spending season. In July, we asked consumers to share their preliminary thoughts on holiday spending, and it appears that retailers may be in for a brighter holiday season compared to 2013.

According to the Prosper Spending Score, the overall outlook* for holiday gift spending in 2014 is up more than 8% from last year. While celebrants planning to spend more on gifts are relatively stable year-over-year at 9.1%, those budgeting less for gifts dropped 11% from 2013 to 38.0%. The majority of consumers (52.9%) are planning to keep budgets in line with the previous year. Directionally speaking, our preliminary Spending Score has served as a relatively accurate bellwether for consumers’ holiday intentions; last year’s lackluster score in July foreshadowed a nearly 3% drop in planned gift spending (released by the National Retail Federation the following October). Similarly, bullish preliminary outlooks for holiday spending preceded spending increases in 2010 and 2012.

On the outset, it appears that this year’s more positive outlook is driven by upper income households. Those earning $75,000+ per year maintain a Spending Score for holiday that is 13.2% higher than the overall average, while middle ($35,000-$74,999) and lower (below $35,000) income households fall 4.4% and 15.3 below the baseline, respectively. What’s interesting, though, is that middle income households recorded the most positive outlook compared to 2013 (up 7.3%), while upper (+5.3%) and lower (+5.7%) income earners maintain slightly less aggressive outlooks year-over-year, echoing a similar trend we saw in our latest Consumer Spending Forecast.

But how does the holiday outlook pan out for individual retailers? We examined shoppers for a select group of retailers from the 150+ merchants Prosper tracks each month, indexing them to the overall average Score for adults 18+ (baseline index = 100.0) to identify potential winners and losers for holiday 2014. Among this grouping of 15 retailers, shoppers from Gap (index to average = 121.8), Amazon.com (115.5), Costco (115.0), and Macy’s (110.8) proved to be the most bullish in their holiday gift spending outlooks this year, with Spending Scores tracking more than 10% above the overall average. Not only did these shoppers maintain some of the biggest holiday gift budgets last year, but they also exhibit the trifecta of positive indicators for spending (versus average): high household incomes, security in personal savings, and strong confidence in the economy. Sam’s Club (107.7) and Nordstrom  (107.0) shoppers also logged above average expectations for holiday gifting this year, while Target (102.2), Sears (101.3), Best Buy  (100.5), and TJ Maxx (99.8) loyalists were more in line with the general public.

The JC Penney  (96.2) and Kohl’s (92.5) shopper groups both maintain slightly lower outlooks for holiday gift spending versus overall. While these two segments track slightly above average in terms of income and savings security, they lack confidence in the economy, typical for the heartland states in which these shoppers are concentrated. The holiday spending outlook for Walmart shoppers (94.4) is also tracking below average, as are results for Kmart (84.4) and Dollar General (60.8) customers. Not surprisingly, the commonalities between these three segments are sub-par levels of income, savings security, and economic confidence.

 

Much remains to be seen between now and November/December, and while consumer spending may perk up this year, many uncertainties remain regarding the economy, employment, and personal finances aren’t likely to lead to blockbuster levels of spending from consumers this holiday season, once again leading to a very competitive environment for retailers. Retailers boasting shoppers with brighter outlooks certainly have jumped the first hurdle, but will need to effectively reach, communicate, and resonate with these shoppers in order to win the race this holiday season.

7 Master Commitments Of A Sales Leader

Everyone knows that it is a leader’s job to provide vision, mission, and strategy. But there is more that a leader must do.

1. A Leader is a Believer

Napoleon said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” A leader must believe that there is a way forward. She must believe that her organization can accomplish the greater vision she’s laid out. If her belief isn’t strong and unwavering, no one else will believe.  A leader believes a better future is possible, and leads her organization towards that future.

2. A Leader is a Teacher

A leader teaches values and strategy. A leader teaches personal growth and professional development. A teacher is one who nurtures others, who ensures they grow. The fact that a leader is a teacher is the starting point for their building a leadership engine. That engine churns out more leaders and allows the organization to grow in the future.

3. A Leader Answers Questions

People want meaning, values, and purpose. The leader provides the “why”. Without a compelling reason why, people are not moved to give their best, to give their all. The leader provides that reason, and every day they lead by example.

4. A Leader Trusts Their People

It is this trust that enables them to use their own resourcefulness, their own imagination, and their own creativity to overcome the obstacles and challenges in their way. A great leader trusts their people to do what is right and what is necessary without having to tell them exactly what to do and exactly how to do it. This is how they gets the best performance from their team, and how they drive engagement.

5. A Leader Builds and Protects Culture

There are not too many things more important for leader to do than building and protecting a culture. If an organization is going to have a healthy culture, one that is built on execution, excellence, and accountability for living their values, the leader is going to have to be the starting point for that culture. The leaders also going to be responsible for ensuring that that culture is not damaged by outside forces, or by inside forces who would disrupt, destroy or diminish that culture.

6. A Leader Faces the Ugly Truths

They must face reality. As Anthony Robbins says, a leader sees things as they are, but not worse than they are. It’s only when you see things as they are that you can see what must be done to make them better. A leader isn’t afraid of the ugly truth. He’s afraid of not facing the ugly truth and by not doing so failing the people who are counting on him.

7. A Leader is Dispensable, not Indispensable

A leader knows they have done their job when they have brought up other leaders who can step in and grow the organization after they are done leading. A leader who has not built a pipeline of future leaders has failed in the role as a leader. Part of your job is obsolescence.

These are the absolute musts for a leader. This is the list a leader follows if they want  to be an exceptional leader. It’s all about people, and it’s all about caring.

Macy's to invest $1B in CapEx as omnichannel grows

August 27, 2014 | By Laura Heller

Macy's (NYSE:M) is putting its money where its mouth is, promising to invest up to $1 billion in technology and infrastructure to support online and omnichannel efforts.

"Internet-generated demand continues to grow rapidly and we believe that will continue, particularly now that we have rolled out Buy Online Pickup In Store, which some people refer to as click and collect, to all the Macy's and Bloomingdales stores," CFO Karen Hoguet told analysts during a conference call.

Macy's rolled out a buy online, pick up in-store feature to 675 full-line stores in early August. And while the program was too new for Hoguet to comment on, she highlighted the initiative as one that holds big promise for the holiday season.

"We haven't even marketed this capability yet, and we are already finding that many customers like this option," Hoguet said. "Once in the store, these customers are often buying other items as well. We are excited though by what we have seen so far and expect it to be a help in the holiday selling season. Omnichannel strategies are clearly enabling us to accelerate growth and we are just at the early stages of exploring all the opportunities."

Macy's is investing primarily in technology that builds out omnichannel programs.

"Behind the scenes, we are also managing expense prudently, so we can continue to invest to advance the progress in our core strategies," she said. "We are taking a more holistic view of inventory, so we can effectively and efficiently fulfill customer demand from all directions. We are applying our $1 billion-plus annual CapEx budget to projects that will continue to build our infrastructure for growth."

The department store chain is among a growing group of retailers to report growing sales through online channels. Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and DSW (NYSE:DSW) both announced higher online sales even as those at stores open for at least a year struggled. But unlike Macy's, Best Buy plans to focus its investments in customer facing initiatives to improve the in-store experience, while DSW has formed a partnership with eBay to expand fulfillment capabilities.

CVS Renames Itself CVS 

Health as It Ends Sale of 

Tobacco Products

Retail Chain Hopes Move to Drop Cigarettes 

Will Help It Win Other Business

By

PAUL ZIOBRO 

CONNECT

Updated Sept. 3, 2014 7:37 a.m. ET

The company's new name is CVS Health. Pictured, a CVS in February. Andrew Hinderaker for The Wall Street Journal

CVS Caremark Corp. emerged from its seven-month purge of tobacco products with a new corporate name: CVS Health.

The retail chain and pharmacy-benefits manager unveiled the new moniker Wednesday, coinciding with the sale of its last tobacco product at its 7,700 pharmacies, one month ahead of schedule. In February CVS said it would rid all of its stores of tobacco products by Oct. 1, forgoing around $2 billion in annual sales.

The financial risk was balanced by the hope that being the first major pharmacy chain to stop selling tobacco would create a public relations halo. CVS is banking that the distinction can help it win business in other parts of the company, like administering prescription-drug programs for clients, and position it as a broader provider of basic health services.

"While there's never a right time to walk away from $2 billion in revenue, this was the right time," CVS President and Chief Executive Larry Merlo said in an interview. "Eliminating this obstacle will allow our company to grow over the long term."

It is unclear whether the move has yielded any financial benefits to the pharmacy chain. None of the other national pharmacy chains have followed CVS to drop cigarettes.

Walgreen Co. , the largest pharmacy chain in the U.S., said that just 4% of tobacco products are sold at pharmacies, and believes that not selling tobacco will have little effect on use since shoppers can go to places like dollar stores, which have added cigarettes in recent years. As it continues to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products, Walgreen said it will focus on offering products and programs that help people quit smoking

CVS, in a study released Wednesday, said that in Boston and San Francisco, where tobacco sales were banned at retailers with pharmacies, the number of people buying tobacco fell 13.3%, showing that a widespread effort is more effective at getting people to quit.

CVS plans to use the space vacated by tobacco products behind the cash registers to advertise the fact that it is no longer selling the products, Helena Foulkes, president of the pharmacy division said. Some of that space will also be used for products that help smokers quit.

One product CVS doesn't plan to carry is electronic cigarettes. "We don't think it's consistent with everything that we've talked about," Mr. Merlo said.

Why online grocery is the next frontier in eCommerce

Sep 2 2014

• 5,188Views
• 130Likes
• 46Comments

• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Facebook
• Share on Google Pluse
• Share on Twitter

Transforming online grocery to make it omnichannel, relationship focused and centered on the brand and customer experience

Omnichannel. Multichannel. Convergence. Continuous Commerce. Whatever you call it, the seamless integration of end-to-end experiences across multiple channels is the prize, and one of the biggest untapped opportunities in eCommerce lies with online grocery.

US online grocery sales reached $6.5 billion last year, accounting for 1.2% of today’s market. But in 10 years, online shopping will account for as much as 17% of all grocery sales.Despite its growth, online grocery shopping has not exhibited the same levels of growth and engagement as the retail industry at large: 92% of survey respondents reported having the option to online shop, while only one percent actually consider this as their major mechanism for grocery shopping.Supermarkets must plan for the future, especially in the face of increased competition from warehouse clubs and drugstores.

Up until now, grocery retailers in the US have been reluctant to invest heavily in multichannel digital marketing and customer engagement activities. Some have used third-party enabling solutions to give them a digital foothold but retailers globally have struggled with the basics of running a profitable online grocery business.

AmazonFresh and Walmart have started to address this and are driving significant uplift with their own unique propositions. Retailers recognize that times are changing and that they need to position themselves more advantageously against the competition. The physical and digital worlds have converged, and major advances in technology and science have created disruption in grocery retailing.

Eighty-five percent of Americans still think grocery shopping could be better. As they have become more empowered and digitally enabled, they expect more from retailers. They demand commerce experiences that are seamless. They want fast, rewarding, personalized – and they want it all at once. They want retailers who will engage with them on their own terms and deliver superbly over and over again.

Leaders in eCommerce agree that the key to success lies in three engagement principles:

• Provide anytime, everywhere access to products and purchases and information and services across digital and physical environments
• Ensure seamless, consistent, individualized experiences with the brand, across and within all touchpoints
• Build trusted, mutually beneficial relationships that go beyond one-time transactions

Grocery shopping is already part of consumers’ daily routines. If a grocery store could provide an experience that makes the daily routine easier, more convenient and more enjoyable, people would continue buying from that store. And they would buy more.

Imagine if shoppers got reminders from the grocery store about special offers, possible savings and recommendations based on their shopping history. What if they were able to review freshness ratings and were given the option to pickup in-store so as to save time and money? What if shoppers were notified whenever someone else in their household started a new shared grocery list, allowing them to add items?

Now imagine allowing shoppers to ask retailers questions, and sending them special recipes and ideas. And letting them redeem coupons as they check out online. When they choose to pick up their groceries, their pick-up time is confirmed. And when they arrive at the store, they receive more special offers. After shoppers receive their groceries, they can subscribe to receive certain items on a regular basis, making their lives even easier.

If stores could provide omnichannel solutions that are synched to the rhythms of daily life, they could deliver personal experiences and become a meaningful, valuable part of consumers’ lives. The result would be long-lasting and profitable relationships. And since even a 5% increase in customer retention can increase profitability by 75%, the time for retailers to get started is now. The next frontier in eCommerce awaits.

View the video: