COMPANY NEWS
AMZN - Amazon to Begin Sunday Deliveries, With Post Office's Help
(http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304868404579190091121691258)
- "Amazon.com Inc. will begin delivering packages on Sundays in the nation's two largest cities later this month with...the United States Postal Service."
- "Amazon said Sunday delivery will begin on Nov. 17 in Los Angeles and New York and expand next year to Dallas, New Orleans, Houston and Phoenix, among others. Amazon will bring packages from its warehouses to Postal Service locations on Saturday evening or Sunday morning. The agency will then deliver them to doorsteps."
- "Sunday delivery will be available for all Amazon customers in markets where the program is available at no additional cost. Customers won't specify Sunday delivery; eligible items will show up on Sunday if that is when they are ready."
Takeaway: This is a win, win, win. Consumers win, for obvious reasons. Amazon wins, as it can advertise Sunday delivery for the first time ever, and does so on the cheap by taking advantage of the USPS when it's on the ropes. And the Post Office wins, because this is a cash flow stream -- albeit a minor one -- that helps prolong its inevitable demise.
Alibaba - Alibaba Breaks Sales Record on China Singles Day Amid Discounts
- "Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said transactions on its websites today surpassed last year’s single-day sales of 19.1 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) as discounts fueled demand on China’s biggest online shopping day."
- "Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba’s two main platforms, broke last year’s sales in the first 13 hours of the 24-hour period…"
- "Tmall’s vendors, starting midnight, began cutting prices by 50 percent or more on selected products from 20,000 Chinese and international merchants, including GAP Inc. and Steven Madden Ltd…"
Takeaway: Alibaba is like Amazon on steroids. Not only is it bigger and more profitable, but it also does a much better job of branding high-end product. Even brands like Ralph Lauren are considering going with Alibaba in China instead of opening up their own site.
RH - RH (Restoration Hardware) Announces the Launch of RH Contemporary Art
(http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20131108-908720.html?mod=WSJ_qtpressrel_pressrel)
- "RH Contemporary Art...announces the opening of its first art gallery, located within a six-floor, 28,000-square-foot building at 437 West 16th Street in New York City's Chelsea art district. The gallery encompasses recently renovated spaces devoted to exhibitions and programming."
- "Along with the premiere gallery space opening in Chelsea, RH Contemporary Art will include an online gallery featuring original content and a series of artist documentaries produced by RH Contemporary Art, as well as an art journal, which will be written by a roster of acclaimed curators, critics and artists. RH Contemporary Art plans to open a second RH Contemporary Art gallery space in Los Angeles in 2014."
Takeaway: Not a revenue event for RH, but more of a brand builder. The company is channeling the $35mm that they are saving (had been wasting) from the Fall sourcebook into things like Art and Music -- things that they are getting flack about from investors. But in the end, we estimate that they're only spending in the neighborhood of $10mm on these initiatives.
UA - Threat to Under Armour Headquarters Called Hoax
(http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304644104579190503763812172)
- "Baltimore police gave the all-clear at Under Armour Inc.'s headquarters late Sunday after an apparent hoax led to a lockdown for several hours."
- "Police SWAT teams spent more than four hours combing Under Armour's 530,000-square-foot headquarters in the Locust Point section of Baltimore after receiving a phone call Sunday afternoon with an unspecified threat to the building."
- "News reports speculated earlier Sunday that there might be an armed gunman at the headquarters. Lt. Kowalczyk said that was never the case."
- "Under Armour spokeswoman Diane Pelkey said in an email that the company has received clearance to re-enter its premises."
KER, GES - Guccio Gucci SpA Wins Trademark Case in China
(http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/china-win-7271186?module=hp-topstories)
- "The Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court of China sided with ...Gucci SpA...Wednesday in a dispute with Guess over trademark infringement and unfair competition activities in China. Gucci claimed that Guess and affiliates were imitating its collections and image, to the detriment of the Italian luxury brand."
- "This is the second international jurisdiction in which Gucci has won a lawsuit against Guess, following the June 2012 ruling of a U.S. court that awarded Gucci $4.7 million in damages. Other verdicts are pending in Italy and France; in June, Gucci appealed a Milan ruling that Guess’s Quattro G-diamond pattern was unrelated to Gucci’s interlocking double-G pattern."
Takeaway: In the world of copyright infringement, it's so rare for two major brands to go head to head (actually, Nike and Adidas do it all the time -- but aside from them, it's rare).
PVH - PVH Licenses IZOD and Van Heusen Brands to BH in the Philippines
(http://apparel.edgl.com/news/PVH-Licenses-IZOD-and-Van-Heusen-Brands-to-BH-in-the-Philippines89338)
- "PVH Corp. and BH Fashion Retailers Inc. have entered into license agreements under which BH Fashion Retailers will market and distribute certain apparel and accessories for the IZOD and Van Heusen brands in the Philippines. The initial term of the license agreement runs through December 2018."
- "Under the license agreement for PVH’s IZOD brand, BH Fashion Retailers will market and distribute sportswear, golfwear, dress shirts, neckwear, outerwear, swimwear and certain accessories. Under the license agreement for Van Heusen, BH Fashion Retailers will market and distribute sportswear, outerwear, dress furnishings and accessories. BH Fashion Retailers is planning to open free standing IZOD and Van Heusen stores, as well as developing shop-in-shops at better department stores throughout the Philippines."
SCC - Sears Canada Announces Sale of Certain Joint Ventures
(http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=117881&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1874638&highlight=)
- "Sears Canada Inc. announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with Montez Income Properties Corporation to sell its 50% joint venture interest in eight properties it owns with The Westcliff Group of Companies for approximately $315 million."
- "The transaction is scheduled to close on January 8, 2014. The properties involved are comprised of four regional shopping centres, two strip centres and two open-format retail centres. Westcliff will continue as 50% owner and exclusive manager of the properties."
- "Sears stores that are currently situated on these properties will remain in operation; there will be no impact on customers or associates in these stores as a result of this transaction."
Takeaway: Anything Sears-related continues to be front and center for monetization.
LVMH - Louis Vuitton Opens a 'Townhouse' at Selfridges
- Louis Vuitton has opened a new store in London, the "10,000-square-foot, three-story shop-in-shop known as the Townhouse that features a revolving glass elevator inside a double helix, and an interactive 'digital atelier' — has opened at Selfridges."
- "For the first time at Selfridges, Louis Vuitton has united all of its collections under one roof, including the collections by men’s style director Kim Jones, which had not been carried at the London department store until now. The new Vuitton store has its own entrance, next door to the main Selfridges one on Oxford Street."
INDUSTRY NEWS
Q3 E-comm Sales Up 13 Percent YoY
(http://apparel.edgl.com/news/Q3-E-comm-Sales-Up-13-Percent-YoY89339)
- "comScore, Inc. released its estimates of Q3 2013 U.S. desktop-based retail e-commerce sales. Q3 2013 sales grew 13 percent year-over-year to $47.5 billion…"
- "M-commerce spending on smartphones and tablets added $5.8 billion for the quarter, up 26 percent vs. year ago, for a total digital commerce spending total of $53.2 billion in the third quarter."
- "The top-performing online product categories were: Digital Content & Subscriptions, Apparel & Accessories, Consumer Packaged Goods, Consumer Electronics and Jewelry & Watches. Each category grew at least 14 percent vs. year ago."
- "E-commerce accounted for 9.4 percent of consumers' discretionary spending, the highest third quarter share on record."
- "Of the additional $5.8 billion in mobile commerce (m-commerce), purchasing using smartphones accounted for 62 percent vs. 38 percent from tablets."
