Retail Dive | June 1, 2020 Over the weekend, several retail chains nationwide sustained damage during protests, some peaceful, some violent in response to the senseless police killings of Black Americans.​ Target and Nordstrom closed stores after locations were damaged, but focused their statements on support for the protestors' cause. Target closed 2 Minneapolis locations, along with stores in Oakland, California, Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia until further notice. "We a

A Bullseye View | May 29, 2020 Target's CEO, Brian Cornell, released a statement regarding Target's response to the senseless killings of Black individuals leading to protests across the country. "We are a community in pain. The murder of George Floyd has unleashed the pent-up pain of years, as have the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. We say their names and hold a too-long list of others in our hearts. As a Target team, we’ve huddled, we’ve consoled, we’ve witne

Retail Dive | May 1, 2020 Walmart on Thursday announced a two-hour delivery service called Express Delivery, rivaling Amazon's Prime Now. The retailer "accelerated the development of the service in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic," according to a press release. It piloted the service at 100 stores in mid-April and will expand to nearly 1,000 stores in early May, followed by 2,000 stores in the weeks after. Walmart's team of personal shoppers will pick orders in store,

Retail Dive | April 29, 2020 In May, Best Buy will begin"consultation services"in about 200 U.S. stores,where customers will be able to schedule appointments, according to a corporate blog post Tuesday. Each customer will have a dedicated sales associate, so there will be a limited number of people in the store "at any one time to ensure appropriate social distancing," the company said. That followed a notice to customers from CEO Corie Barry, ​saying that Best Buy's Geek S

CBS | April 28, 2020 “Clearly, as people spent more time at home and were getting advice to avoid being out in public, we started seeing digital sales soar,” Brian Cornell said. “In March, they grew over 100%, but in April, growing over 275%.” Cornell says it’s part of changes that consumers are making right now as they combat the virus and focus on their own health and safety.As far as safety of Target’s employees during the pandemic, Cornell says the company has made big in

Retail Dive | April 13, 2020 E-commerce has boomed as consumers worldwide practice social distancing and self-quarantining, leading online retailers and marketplaces like Amazon to amp up their supply chains to cope with increased demand. Amazon hired 100,000 employees over the last month, and the company plans to hire for an additional 75,000 roles as it continues to see increased demand. The additional warehouse workers will focus primarily on stocking and shipping of essen

Retail Dive | January 31, 2020 Amazon reported that fourth quarter net product sales rose year over year to $50.5 billion from $44.7 billion. For the full year, net product sales rose to $160.4 billion from $141.9 billion in 2018. Net online store sales in the quarter rose 15% year over year to $45.7 billion from $39.8 billion a year ago, as physical store net sales fell 1% to $4.36 billion, according to a company press release. Third-party seller services rose more than 30%