Less than a week after Amazon announced it had reached a deal with the world’s largest book publisher over sales, the company announced it would begin a new payment system for some authors: paying by the page read rather than the book purchased. [More]
Retail Services
At Target And Walmart, Save More Money By Not Buying In Bulk
By 6.22.15
Target has its own special variety of math, where putting an item on sale means raising the price, and buying in bulk means that you pay more per unit. This strange method of calculating prices isn’t exclusive to Target, though: you can find it at other retailers, too. [More]
Two Women Steal Merchandise Worth $7,000 In 1-Minute Sunglass Heist
By 6.19.15
How long does it take to scoop up $7,000 worth of merchandise from a Sunglass Hut store while employees aren’t looking? According to this surveillance video released by the police in San Francisco, about just over a minute. Two suspects working together were in and out of the store in that amount of time, slipping pricey merchandise into their tote bags and then zipping out the door before employees could stop them. [More]
Amazon’s Deal With Marvel Adds 12,000 Comics To The Kindle Store
By 6.19.15
Kindle users who’d rather pick up a comic book than a literary tome will now have 12,000 more options with a new deal between Amazon and Marvel. The e-commerce giant announced a partnership last night that will allow fans to download single issues of the publisher’s comics directly from its store. [More]
Walmart Tries Moving Greeters Back To The Entrance
By 6.18.15
A few years ago, Walmart tried an experiment with their staff greeters who stood at the doorway of every store: they moved them away from the front door. Sure, they would still greet people who they encountered, but their jobs also involved directing customers to an open register, or performing tasks inside the store at a time when Walmarts were catastrophically short-staffed. Now Walmart is testing the idea of maybe reversing that decision. [More]
Amazon, Penguin Random House Avoid Dispute, Reach Deal For Physical & Online Book Sales
By 6.18.15
Public feud avoided. Less than a month after reports began swirling that Amazon and the world’s largest book publisher Penguin Random House could potentially come to blows over a new contract for online book sales, the two entities have reached a long-term agreement. [More]
RadioShack Sells Last Thing Of Value It Owns: $50 Million Worth Of Property
By 6.18.15
In its bankruptcy auction, RadioShack has sold its store leases, the merchandise in most of its stores, and even key intellectual property assets like its customer mailing lists and “TheShack.com.” Now the company has found buyers for its last multimillion-dollar assets: property in Texas and regional facilities in Maryland and in California have been sold, taking in about $50 million that will go to the company’s creditors. [More]
Price Tags Might Be A Strange 150-Year Anomaly In The History Of Commerce
By 6.18.15
In the past, most recently in 2013, Coca-Cola has experimented with the idea of vending machines that adjust prices according to the temperature. The idea really bothers some people, but fixed prices that are always the same for everyone haven’t historically been the norm. We may be coming to the end of a weird century-and-a-half experiment with the practice. [More]
Olay Shrink Rays Soap Bars, Users Remain Ageless And Beautiful
By 6.17.15
Jacob doesn’t buy soap very often, since his preferred brand is available in a 6-bar bulk pack. He discovered the last time he stocked up that the bars have considerably less bulk in them than they used to, though: each bar is now one quarter of an ounce lighter, for a total of one and a half ounces less soap in the bulk pack. [More]
Restoration Hardware Expands Into Modern Furniture, Modern Doorstops
By 6.17.15
Restoration Hardware is a service that delivers free doorstops to people in wealthy zip codes. They apparently also sell furniture, and managed to thrive during the recession by selling pricey items to rich people instead of bothering to discount their products for the masses like other furniture stores. Now they’re launching a sibling brand, RH Modern, that you won’t be able to afford, either. [More]
Four Years After Reaching Deal With Regulators, Six Banks Still Haven’t Fixed Foreclosure Problems
By 6.17.15
Back in 2011, several of the nation’s largest banks entered into a settlement with federal regulators that required the institutions to correct widespread foreclosure abuses that helped to trigger the housing crisis. While the agreement was revised in 2013 to make things a bit easier for the offending banks, regulators today announced that six of the lenders – including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo – still haven’t met requirements and face new restrictions on their mortgage operations. [More]
Study: Walmart Has $76 Billion In Assets Sitting In Offshore Tax Havens
By 6.17.15
A new report says Walmart owns more than $76 billion of assets, but it’s not sitting around anywhere in the United States. Rather, the assets are held by at least 78 offshore tax havens around the world, none of which are mentioned in U.S. securities filings. [More]
Etsy Launches Pilot Crowdfunding Program To Help Sellers Grow Their Businesses
By 6.16.15
While Etsy has long been a marketplace where sellers could launch small businesses, the site has not had a Kickstarter-like crowdfunding platform for sellers to raise money to grow their businesses. Today, Etsy announced it is finally giving crowd-sourced funding a shot with the launch of a new pilot program. [More]
Consumers Love Designer Brands, Hate Products Splattered With Logos
By 6.16.15
The luxury goods industry has a problem: its customers now prefer subtlety. That means that bags that serve as walking billboards yet cost thousands of dollars just don’t sell like they used to. The global rich are now more interested in subtlety and craftsmanship, or they’re tired of feeling like they’re showing off. Maybe both. [More]
Walmart Accused Of Using Its Charitable Foundation To Build More Walmarts
By 6.16.15
There are more than 4,500 Walmart stores in the U.S., but the nation’s largest retailer continues to expand. The company, once associated with rural communities, has recently made pushes into urban markets. And a new complaint to the IRS accuses Walmart of wrongfully using its tax-exempt Walmart Foundation charity to get a foothold in those cities. [More]
Amazon Reportedly Working On New Shipping Service That Turns Ordinary People Into Couriers
By 6.16.15
Looking to pick up a few dollars while making your way around town? Then Amazon’s latest attempt to quickly and cheaply deliver packages might be right up your alley, that is if the consumer-turned-courier program comes to fruition. [More]
UPS Making It More Expensive For Retailers To Ship Your Large Purchases
By 6.16.15
When online retailers like Amazon began making a big splash with free or discounted shipping, a lot of what customers bought were books, DVDs, video games — items that didn’t take up much room. But now people are buying TVs, refrigerators, grills, furniture, and other large items online, and UPS is apparently tired of giving retailers a discount on these shipments. [More]
Forget Fingerprints, Amazon Working On Ear-Unlock Feature For Phones
By 6.15.15
Could answering your phone in the future be as simple as pressing it to your ear? It could be if Amazon’s latest patent ever makes it to the real world. [More]
