Retail Intel Weekly: Amazon, Petco & More

TOPLINE NEWSLinkedIn is out with its Top Companies 2021 list, and several major retailers are on that roster of places at which Americans want to work. Topping this year's list of 50 best places to work for career growth is Amazon. Walmart is ranked ninth while CVS Health is ranked 15th, Target comes in 28th place and The Home Depot trails in the 48th spot.AMAZONAmazon may become an even more attractive workplace as the company is boosting the pay of its more than 500,000 U.S. operations employees by anywhere from 50 cents to as much as $3.50 per hour. The increase will take effect in mid-May through early June. Amazon said it moved up annual pay review for operations positions from fall to this spring.For the first time, Amazon is letting marketers send one-to-one targeted messages, CNBC first reported. The company is piloting a "Manage Your Customer Engagement" service that lets U.S. sellers that belong to Amazon's Brand Registry contact shoppers by email when they opt in to receive brand notifications about new products or promotions (see video below). Staying in record-setting territory during the first quarter of 2021 (ended March 31), Amazon logged a 44% year-over-year revenue increase to $108.5 billion and profits that more than tripled to $8.1 billion. Demand for the company’s e-commerce and advertising businesses drove the gains, with reported year-over-year net sales growth of 40% in North America and Amazon Web Services growth of 32%. North American e-commerce sales in the quarter totaled $64.37 billion, up from $46.13 billion a year, but the company reported a big sales decline at its physical stores. Amazon also confirmed that Prime Day will take place in June.Amazon is expanding Key by Amazon in-garage grocery delivery to everywhere grocery delivery from Amazon is available, providing the service to more than 5,000 U.S. cities and towns. MASSMeanwhile, Walmart is rebooting the InHome service delivering groceries right into fridges while home owners are out that it had paused during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. After debuting in Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Vero Beach, FL, Walmart recently brought InHome to its home turf of Northwest Arkansas, expanded in Southeast Florida and in July will add Atlanta, according to Bloomberg. "Walmart uses its own long-tenured employees, who meet customers (and sometimes their pets) before the first order and get trained on things like how to neatly stock a fridge. Delivery staff wear masks, gloves, booties and body cams, which live stream and record the delivery, and they enter homes (or garages) with one-time access to smart locks. Pets must be kept out of the way, although Walmart is testing letting them roam free in one market. The service costs US$19.95 a month with a 30-day free trial," Bloomberg reported.Walmart detailed the progress of its workforce diversity and inclusion efforts in its 2020 Culture, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Report, noting that representation at the officer level is more diverse year-over-year, with a 1.03% increase for women and a 0.61% increase for people of color. The latter was driven by a 1.97% increase in Black and African American officers. In total, nearly 75% of Walmart employees in officer roles are white. The retailer is also rolling out an expanded early-payment program that it says provides diverse and minority-owned suppliers with convenient and consistent access to reliable funding sources.Walmart has filed papers opposing a 2020 trademark application from Kanye West's Yeezy brand that the retailer says is too similar to its own "spark" logo. The design consists of eight dotted lines around an empty circle resembling "rays from a sun."Target is teaming with plant enthusiast and interior stylist Hilton Carter to launch a new limited-time exclusive collection of live and faux plants and accessories. The Hilton Carter for Target line will range from $5-$130 and encompass more than 65 items such as ceramic pots and planters, propagation vessels, terrariums and watering cans. The collection rolls out to select Target stores and target.com May 14."As people have spent more time at home over the past year, our [shoppers] are increasingly looking for ways to add more comfort and personality to their surroundings," said Jill Sando, Target executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, in an April 27 "A Bullseye View" blog post. "Searches for plants on target.com have increased by more than 300% over the last year — a clear indicator that [shoppers] want to bring some of the outdoors inside to brighten up their space."Target's working with three diverse designers for the second installment of its exclusive, limited-edition Designer Dress Collection. The collection will encompasses more than 70 original dress designs from Christopher John Rogers, Alexis and Rixo. The line rolls out May 16. PETPetco has launched a co-branded credit card and private label credit card that triggers a charitable donation (up to $1 million annually) to the retailer's recently renamed nonprofit arm, Petco Love. Petco Pay, issued by Alliance Data and available exclusively to Pals Rewards loyalty members, will include the Petco Pay Mastercard and the Petco Pay Credit Card. Additional benefits include:20% off the first Petco Pay purchase.8% back at Petco. 2% back on grocery store purchases.1% back wherever Mastercard is accepted.a contactless payment option.the ability to personalize the cards with a pet's picture.a surprise birthday gift for the cardholder.extended Pals Rewards and points balance.Petco has also expanded its Pride collection under the Youly private label it launched last year, and will donate 10% of every qualifying purchase made from April 26 through Aug. 8 to The Trevor Project, the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth. The retailer pledged a minimum of $100,000 to the organization, regardless of product sales.SUPERMARKETAlbertsons Companies has nabbed Danielle Crop to serve as its first senior vice president and chief data officer. Crop most recently held the same role at American Express, where she spent 15 years. At Albertsons, Crop is tasked with building and executing a central data strategy that serves shoppers across channels. Crop’s work will use machine learning and advanced data science capabilities to enhance performance across the retailer’s businesses and markets.Albertsons is continuing to increase its omnichannel offerings by expanding its use of Adobe Experience Cloud, from San Jose, CA-based Adobe, to drive hyper-personalization, inform new services and better harness data. Adobe Analytics enables Albertsons to make sense of disparate sets of data and understand shopper intent as consumers move across channels. In March, Albertsons partnered with Google to develop a wide range of omnichannel services, including hyper-local shoppable maps and predictive grocery list building. Albertsons reported its fourth consecutive quarter of digital growth over 200% on April 26, as online shoppers flocked to the retailer’s grocery delivery services, curbside pickup and mobile apps. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 (ended Feb. 27), digital sales at Albertsons skyrocketed 282% as the company credits a rapid acceleration in online transactions amid the pandemic. Same-store sales grew 11.8%. To keep driving online traffic, the retailer has been investing in boosting its digital capabilities even further. During fiscal 2020, the company spent $1.63 billion in capital expenditures, which included accelerated investment in digital and productivity initiatives, and the completion of 409 store remodels.CLUBBJ’s Wholesale Club has launched a new online shopping experience for BJ’s Optical that allows shoppers to purchase sunglasses and prescription eyewear on optical.bjs.com. The online optical experience provides a one-stop shop for frames, single vision eyewear, non-prescription and prescription sunglasses, and contact lenses. It also offers virtual try-on technology to make it easier for shoppers to find their perfect pair from the comfort of their own home. BJ’s Optical Center in-club continues to offer eye exams and carry a slew of brands.DRUGRite Aid is now offering COVID-19 vaccinations at all 2,500 stores in 17 states on an appointment basis to anyone age 16 years old and older, as well as on a limited walk-in basis in every store. The company is offering Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

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