Kohl’s said 10 of its stores will house Amazon smart home experience spaces. Beginning in October, customers in the Chicago and Los Angeles markets will be able to buy Amazon devices, accessories and smart home products directly from Amazon in select Kohl’s stores in what the retailer called a “first-of-its-kind” experience. The dedicated 1,000-square-foot spaces will allow consumers to have hands-on interaction with smart home products, many powered by Alexa, it said Wednesday. Amazon employees will staff the zones, and customers can schedule an Amazon expert to come to their home, evaluate their needs and install smart home products, Kohl’s said. Customers also can learn more about Amazon Home Services, which offers access to vetted local services professionals in various categories "from cleaning to plumbing," it said.
A CE industry retail boost from a “mini-product cycle” in gaming and market share gains from struggling or bankrupt competitors “is transitory,” wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter in a research note to investors Thursday, ahead of Best Buy’s Tuesday earnings call. Following expected “solid” Q2 results from Best Buy’s gains after Sears store closings and h.h. gregg’s bankruptcy, Pachter expects Best Buy growth to “stall” in the back half of the year, with comps flat to slightly down. A “possibly delayed iPhone 8 launch” could drive second-half declines, said Pachter, along with “aggressive holiday pricing” as Walmart and Amazon battle on price, leaving Best Buy “caught in the crossfire.” Wedbush predicts Amazon will “preemptively strike first and compete aggressively on price beginning on Black Friday, continuing through holiday,” a departure from previous years when the e-commerce giant raised prices immediately following Cyber Monday and held course until Christmas week. “If we are right, price competition will pressure Best Buy margins in the key holiday period,” he said. Wedbush expects Best Buy to post Q2 revenue of $8.72 billion, saying GoPro and Fitbit results in the quarter “imply solid health and fitness results” in the consumer electronics category. But sales and pricing pressure from Amazon’s Prime Day, “particularly on HDTVs,” likely limited revenue gains, he said.
Sprint said Tuesday it plans to add more than 300 new jobs and 44 retail outlets in parts of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and West Texas by year-end. “The new jobs will include a combination of retail, operations and technical experts,” Sprint said in a news release.
Many families still had back-to-school shopping to do when a National Retail Federation survey on seasonal shopping was done Aug. 1-9, said the trade association Tuesday. During the survey period, only 13 percent had completed shopping, and 23 percent hadn’t started, said NRF, which forecast families will spend $83.6 billion on back-to-school this year. The survey found that 61 percent of school supply purchases were influenced by school requirements, down from 64 percent last year, and 41 percent of electronics purchases were dictated by school requirements, down from 45 percent, it said. With schools largely determining which big-ticket items students must buy, parents are putting off spending in hopes of taking advantage of promotions that can help them save money on expensive products such as computers, said Pam Goodfellow, analyst at market research firm Prosper Insights.
Target revised its guidance higher for Q2, citing improved traffic and sales trends in the first two months of the quarter “despite continued challenges in the competitive environment,” said CEO Brian Cornell in a Thursday announcement. The retailer expects to report a “modest increase” in Q2 comparable sales and Q2 earnings per share above the high end of its previous guidance range of $0.95 to $1.15, it said. The company is to report Q2 financial results Aug. 16. Target shares closed 4.8 percent higher Thursday at $53.31.
Back-to-college spending is expected to reach an all-time high this year, while back-to-school spending could hit its second-highest level on record, said a National Retail Federation report Thursday. NRF cited rising consumer confidence and more young people in school as factors driving a projected $83.6 billion season for U.S. school and college spending this year, a 10 percent bump over 2016. Families with children in elementary through high school plan to spend an average $687.72 each, for a total of $29.5 billion, up 8 percent from last year, but down from the $30.3 billion in the record 2012 back-to-school season, NRF said. By category, 95 percent of back-to-school shoppers with kids in elementary through high schools plan to spend a total $10.2 billion on clothing, while six in 10 shoppers will buy electronics totaling $8.8 billion, it said. Parents said they’ll spend an average $238.89 on clothing, $204.33 on electronics, $130.38 on shoes and $114.12 on school supplies, according to NRF's survey. Fifty-one percent of college consumers plan to buy electronics, for a total of $12.8 billion, it said. For the first time, the NRF back-to-school survey asked about specific electronics purchases, finding that among electronics shoppers, 45 percent said they would buy a laptop PC and 35 percent plan to buy tablets and calculators. One in four electronics buyers plans to buy accessories such as a mouse, flash drive or charger, it said.
The National Retail Federation wants the Senate to confirm Customs and Border Protection acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan as the permanent head of the agency, it said Tuesday. “CBP has a distinct role of not only securing our homeland from a multitude of threats but also facilitating legitimate trade and travel to help grow our economy," said David French, NRF senior vice president-government relations, in a statement. McAleenan is “a leader who understands the unique nature of CPB,” he said.
Shares of Amazon retail competitors took hits Monday ahead of Prime Day activities (see 1707100031). While Amazon closed the day up 1.81 percent, Best Buy shares dropped 6.3 percent to $54.23, Walmart slipped 2.8 percent to $73.23, Costco closed 2 percent down to $151, Barnes & Noble fell 4 percent to $7.15 and Target was off 1.7 percent to $50.18.
More than 32,000 RadioShack IPv4 internet addresses will be up for sale when Hilco Streambank, an intellectual property disposition firm, sells the RadioShack assets owned by General Wireless in a stalking-horse auction July 20 (see 1706090051), Hilco subsidiary IPv4auctions.com said in a Monday announcement. The “internal and unused” RadioShack addresses will be offered in 20- to 24-bit “blocks,” it said. Though IPv4 addresses “remain a key component of growing networks,” the “free pool” of IPv4 addresses “reached exhaustion” in September 2015, it said: “Increasingly, organizations in need of IPv4 addresses are turning to private markets where brokerage firms have identified sellers among the thousands of address holders.” Bids for the July 20 auction are due July 18, it said.
General Wireless, which owns the RadioShack brand in the U.S., Canada and many other global markets, hired Hilco Streambank, an intellectual property disposition firm, to sell its RadioShack assets in a stalking-horse auction, Hilco said in a Friday announcement. The auction is scheduled for July 20, with bids due by July 18, Hilco said. Sprint’s 2015 agreement with General Wireless to run co-branded RadioShack-Sprint mobility stores quickly soured, and that became the trigger that sent RadioShack hurtling in March toward its second bankruptcy filing in as many years (see 1703090038).