DATATRAC

Personnel Updates

• Jo-Ann Stores announced the hiring of Steve Miller as Director of Loyalty & CRM effective 2-17-2016, and Janet Duliga as Senior VP Human Resources.

• HHGregg announced the departure of the company’s President and CEO Dennis May and has named CFO, Robert Riesbeck as the Interim CEO until a permanent replacement for Dennis May is found.

• Toys “R” Us announced the promotion of Joe Venezia from Senior VP Store Operations to Executive VP Global Store Operations.

• Target (Headquarters) announced the promotion of Stephanie Lundquist from Senior VP Human Resources to Executive VP Chief Human Resources Officer. Stephanie Lundquist will be replacing Jodee Kozlak who is leaving Target after 15 years.

• Target announced the hiring of Arthur Valdez Executive VP Chief Supply Chain and Logistics Officer.

• Walmart announced the promotion of several executives into new roles: Mark Ibbotson, Executive VP Central Operations; Jesica Duarte; VP Walmart Neighborhood Market; Kristen Evans, Senior VP Corporate Marketing; Kerry Robinson, Senior VP Bakery and Deli; Shawn Baldwin, Senior VP Produce Global Food Sourcing; Dorn Wenninger, VP Global Food Sourcing (Latin America); Jeff Thorpe, VP Global Food Sourcing (North America); Al Dominguez, Senior VP Adult Beverage; Scott Neal, Senior VP Meat Quality Control and Meat Sourcing Strategy; Ashley Buchanan, Senior VP Packaged Goods; Julie Barber, VP DMM Snacks; Zach Simpson, VP DMM Beverages; John Laney, VP DMM Breakfast and Baking; Silvia Azrai Kawas, VP DMM Dry Grocery; Scott Bayles, VP DMM Stationery; Steve Ronchetto, VP DMM Cook and Dine; Marcus Osborne, VP Health and Wellness Transformation; Navin Chandler, VP Merchandising Project Management and Blake Huff, VP Merchandising Solutions.

• Wayfair announced the hiring of Sharif Sleiman VP Supply Chain Operations effective immediately.

Industry Insight

• Amazon has added San Diego, CA to the restaurant meal delivery service. This is part of the “Prime Now” service. Which is currently free. Amazon promises that the food will be delivered within an hour, so far Amazon delivery time is 39 minutes.

• Amazon listed 230,800 employees as Fiscal Year End (FYE) 2015. This is not counting 100,000 seasonal employees that are hired for the holidays. This is approximately a 50% jump from FYE 2014.

• Amazon has raised the free shipping purchase amount for non-Prime members from $35 to $49.

• Best Buy has closed their online marketplace. The U.S. marketplace was launched in 2011 but since the launch the marketplace has not had the results that Best Buy expected. The Best Buy Canada online marketplace will continue.

• Kmart has a new merchandise strategy. The company will be buying products from bankrupt and mass liquidation companies to stock their shelves. Kmart has not confirmed what type of products will be available.

• RadioShack has launched a new exclusive line of electronic products. The new product line named “NCREDIBLE” is the collaboration of Chief Creative Officer Nick Cannon. The first product to be available in the line is NCREDIBLE 1 Bluetooth headphones and will be available at RadioShack’s more than 1,700 stores, dealers and online.

• Sam’s Club announced the company will be putting more emphasis on their food brands and to also open new Sam’s Club locations in higher income areas. Sam’s Club will also give regional buyers more say, especially when it comes to the gourmet and natural food lines.

• Walmart announced a new program for improving the fresh food sections at the U.S. locations. The company is planning to create hundreds of Field Manager positions over the next three years to train workers how to improve the fresh food offerings in the stores.

• Walmart will be opening approximately 200 academies around the country. Each academy will have dedicated teaching staff and the students will be department managers and assistant store managers from Walmart Supercenters and Walmart Neighborhood Markets. The academies are planned to open by the end of 2017. Walmart expects approximately 140,000 employees to participate in this program each year. This initiative has been launched to improve customer service, which consistently has been rated low.

Real Estate

• Family Dollar will be opening a location in Phenix City, GA at the Phenix Plaza. The new location will be located at 844 Veterans Pkwy and will be approximately 8,320 sq. ft. The location is slated to open in the second half of 2016.

• Meijer plans to open nine new supercenters in 2016. The new locations will be located at Ownesboro, KY; Evansville, IN; Indianapolis, IN; Round Lake Beach, IL; Flossmoor, IL; Sturgis, MI; Flat Rock, MI; Sussex, WI and Waukesha, WI. Meijer also plans to remodel 32 existing locations in 2016.

• Michaels will be opening a location in Ft. Myers, FL at the Market Square located at US 41 & Daniels Pkwy. The location will be approximately 20,092 sq. ft. and will open later in the year. Also opening at Market Square is Cost Plus, Dollar Tree and Petco.

• Office Depot will be closing another 50 stores by the end of 2016. In 2013 when Office Depot bought OfficeMax the company planned on closing 400 stores by 2016. The company closed 168 stores in 2014, 181 stores in 2015 and with the closing of 50 in 2016 this will bring Office
Depot to their goal of 400. At the end of 2015 Office Depot had 1,564 stores in North America.

•O’Reilly opened 205 new stores in 2015 and in 2016 the company plans to open 210 new locations. There are also five new distribution centers opening; one in each of the following cities Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Greensboro, SC, Lakeland, FL and San Antonio, TX.

•Target will open a new “flexible format” location in Closter, NJ. The location will be approximately 45,000 sq. ft. and will be located at Closter Plaza on Vervalen St. Target expects to open the new location by spring of 2017. Target also has plans to open a location near Penn State and several other locations near colleges in the Boston area in 2016.

•Wayfair will open a new customer service center in the spring of 2016. The new customer center will be located in Bryan, TX.

Financial Focus

•Advance Auto Parts announced sales of $9.737 billion for Fiscal Year End (FYE) 1-2-2016. The company operates 5,293 locations, which include 4,102 Advance Auto Parts, 184 Autopart International, 12 B.W.P. Distributors, 873 CARQUEST and 122 WORLDPAC.

•Best Buy announced sales of $39.528 billion for Fiscal Year End (FYE) 1-30-2016. The total number of locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico is 1,632 as of 1-30-2016.

•Dollar General announced sales of $20.4 billion for Fiscal Year End (FYE) 1-29-2016 this is a 7.7% increase over last fiscal year. The company had 12,483 locations as of 1-29-2016.

•Dollar Tree announced sales of $15.498 billion for Fiscal Year End (FYE) 1-31-2016, which include sales for Dollar Tree of $9.336 billion and Family Dollar of $6.162 billion. The total number of locations is 13,851. There are 5,954 Dollar Tree and 7,897 Family Dollar locations as of 1-30-216.

•Office Depot announced sales of $14.485 billion for Fiscal Year End (FYE) 12-26-2015. The total number of locations in the U.S. and International is 1,711as of 12-26-2015.

•Target announced sales of $73.785 billion for Fiscal Year End (FYE) 1-30-2016; this is a 1.6% increase over last fiscal year. The company has a total of 1,792 locations as of 1-30-2016.

•Walmart announced sales of $482.130 billion for Fiscal Year End (FYE) 1-29-2016; total sales for Walmart U.S. $298.378 billion, Walmart International $123.408 billion and Sam’s Club 56.828 billion.

Green Initiatives:

•Walmart Canada has started to sell their reusable bags for a discounted price of 25 cents. They are also selling their plastic bags for 5 cents each. Walmart Canada realizes this is asking their customers to change their shopping habits. This will also get Walmart Canada to their goal of zero waste.