Shop Talk

TJX blames Canada … and its Olympics

There is always something getting in the way of rising sales.  In the United States, retailers blamed record-setting snow on the East Coast for curbing a spike in February sales

Up in Canada, people were too riveted watching their athletes win a record 14 gold medals, as well as flying moose and beavers, at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February to go shopping.

Or so said TJX Companies, which operates the Winners chain in the Great White North, in a pre-recorded call on Thursday. Overall, TJX reported that comparable sales rose 10 percent company-wide in February, but only 3 percent in Canada.

Sales there would have been quite a bit higher “were it not for the Olympics keeping Canadians glued to their TVs,” a spokeswoman said on the recording.

She may have a point: The dramatic men’s hockey finale on Sunday, won by Canada in overtime, was the most watched televised event ever in Canadian history, with about 80 percent of the country’s 33 million people catching at least part of the game, and about third of the country watching the entire game.

(Reuters photo)

Wal-Mart’s Black Koi aims to suit Asian shoppers

In Wal-Mart’s rocky attempts to sell trendy clothes a couple years ago it learned some very important lessons — one being that it is difficult to sell a huge volume of skinny jeans to your shoppers when analysts say the average American woman wears a size 12 to 14. 

Since its fashion foray fumble, Wal-Mart has since gone back to the drawing board and is now trying to tailor its stores to meet local demand. 

In Canada, that means Wal-Mart has decided to launch Black Koi, what it calls “the company’s first line of women’s apparel designed specifically for petite Asian customers.” 

The Black Koi collection includes dresses, jackets, shirts and skirts, and is designed “to fit petite customers, 5′ 3″ or under, with tailoring suited specifically to Asian body types.”

Wal-Mart said its merchants have looked at AC Nielsen and census data to identify multicultural population clusters around stores. Some of its Canadian stores already carry Asian food and housewares, while signage is shown in English and Chinese.

The Black Koi line, available in 16 of its stores, comes after Wal-Mart said customer response to its Bollywood Signature line of clothing targeted at South Asian women was so positive, it launched a follow-up collection this fall.

(Photo: Reuters) 

Check Out Line: Rite Aid drags down Jean Coutu results

Check Out poor sales at U.S. pharmacy chain Rite Aid dragging down quarterly results at Jean Coutu Group, the Canadian drugstore chain that owns about a third of Rite Aid and reported its quarterly results today.

Jean Coutu, which is required by Canadian law to include Rite Aid’s results with its own, reported a steep second-quarter loss of 16 Canadian cents a share for the quarter ended Aug. 30, compared with a profit of 3 Canadian cents a share for the comparable quarter last year.  ($1=$1.08 Canadian)

Jean Coutu acquired its Rite Aid stake when it sold its Eckerd and Brooks drugstore chains to Rite Aid last year for $3.4 billion in cash and stock.

Rite Aid, the third-largest U.S. drugstore chain, is still trying to improve results at those Brooks and Eckerd stores. Last week, Rite Aid said its same-store sales of general merchandise rose 3.4 percent in September, but total sales fell 0.8 percent to $1.97 billion.

Also in the basket:

Full of Doubts, U.S. Shoppers Cut Spending (NY Times)

Supreme Court Term Opens With ‘Light’ Cigarette Lawsuit (WSJ)

Saks goes Canadian, eh

Canadian fashionistas will now be able to order from Saks.com, as the luxury department store bids to snatch part of the estimated US$16 billion Canadian market for online retail goods.

This is the first time orders submitted on Saks.com will be shipped outside the United States, says Saks spokeswoman Julia Bentley.

“Being able to ship internationally has been a top priority for saks.com in 2008,” said Roger Scholl, VP of operations for Saks Direct, in a release.

Canadian online spending for retail goods in 2009 is forecast to grow 21 percent and total $16 billion, according to eMarketer.

U.S. fashion brands are looking outside the country to bolster sales during a challenging retail environment, encouraged by a wave of foreign shoppers that has buoyed profits.

(Photo/Reuters)

Check Out Line: Wal-Mart cuts prices in Canada

Check Out Wal-Mart’s price cuts for eggs, milk, butter and bread in Ontario, Canada.

If you are counting pennies but still want that morning coffee and omelet, you can now buy one- and two-liter milk cartons for $1.77 and $2.97 respectively or a dozen large eggs for $1.97, if you shop at Wal-Mart’s Ontario stores.

The world’s top discount retailer said that besides cutting prices for those staple food items in its Ontario stores, it will also slash prices on hundreds of products across Canada in September, after a round of different price cuts in August.

Wal-Mart’s decision is yet another nod to the fact that more and more shoppers are squeezed for money these days.

“With looming back-to-school costs, gas-pump woes, food-price hikes, and a struggling provincial economy, times are tough for many of our Ontario customers,” said Vi Konkle, Wal-Mart Canada’s chief customer officer, in a release.

It certainly looks like Wal-Mart is paying close attention to consumers’ money-saving actions, such as drawing up shopping lists to avoid spending extra money, consolidating shopping trips, avoiding costly items and buying cheaper store-brand products.

Konkle said milk, butter, eggs and bread feature prominently on people’s shopping lists, and that is why they’re getting their prices cut.