Overcharging customers $0.50 might not seem like a huge deal, but when the lower price was circulated in an advertisement, well, that constitutes false advertising. Such was the case for Walmart stores in New York recently. [More]
Retail Services
What Is Alibaba, And Can I Use It To Buy 280 Pairs Of Pants At A Time?
By 9.16.14
If you’re like most Americans, you’ve never heard of Alibaba or Taobao, even though they’re the biggest e-commerce sites in the world. That was the case for Bloomberg’s Sam Grobart, who was curious about the site because of its upcoming initial public stock offering, which experts think will be the biggest ever. So Grobart did what all business reporters do to learn about an unfamiliar company: he hired a factory in Pakistan to make $2,500 worth of hideous pants. [More]
Some Costco and Safeway Tomatoes Recalled For Possible Salmonella Contamination
By 9.16.14
If your garden’s plentiful supply of tomatoes is running low and you thought, “Hey, I’ll just run to Costco to stock-up on some Fresh Roma tomatoes,” then you better rethink that strategy. A California produce company recalled a lot of tomatoes, and the salad kits they come in over the weekend, you know, because salmonella doesn’t make them taste any fresher. [More]
Limited Re-Release Of Coca-Cola’s Surge Sells Out Within Hours On Amazon
By 9.15.14
Do you remember Surge? Caffeine addicts of a certain age will know exactly what we’re referring to, but younger readers may only know the product’s name from online campaigns to bring it back. Now that the product’s biggest fans are young adults with disposable income and credit cards, Coca-Cola has brought the beverage back into production, sold exclusively on Amazon. The first batch sold out within hours. [More]
Nearly 1,100 Authors Say Amazon Feud With Publisher Has Hurt Sales By Up To 90%
By 9.15.14
A month after more than 900 authors signed a letter sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking him to resolve his company’s ongoing contract dispute with book publisher Hachette, an even larger group of writers has written to Bezos and members of the Amazon board of directors to explain how this standoff has hurt authors. [More]
Man Goes To 7-Eleven For Some Milk, Creates Drive-Thru
By 9.15.14
Drive-thru convenience stores exist. They are not popular, which is sort of surprising. Would the American public really resist a way to become even lazier? The 7-Eleven in Lombard, Illinois doesn’t have a drive-thru, but somehow acquired one yesterday when a man drove through a wall while stopping at the store to get some milk. He says that his brake pedal was stuck. [More]
How Corporations Got The Same Rights As People (But Don’t Ever Go To Jail)
By 9.12.14
In every common-sense, everyday way, a corporation is not a person. Corporations don’t date, don’t have families, don’t go catch a movie on Friday night. They also don’t go to jail when they do something criminal. But in the eyes of the law, corporations enjoy many of the same rights — including free speech and religious expression — and protections afforded to individuals. [More]
Walmart, Best Buy Won’t Accept Apple Pay At Their Stores
By 9.12.14
Though the highways and byways of America may be dotted with their stores, customers shopping at Walmart and Best Buy won’t be able to pay for stuff using the new Apple Pay system announced this week. Both retailers are eschewing the near-field-communication (or NFC) method of payment in favor of another mobile wallet application. [More]
Walmart Focus Group Of 1,000 Kids Tells Us What Toys To Buy Them
By 9.11.14
Walmart started a new holiday tradition last year. It starts in the summer: the company invites a test panel of 1,000 children of all ages to play with a variety of toys, then rate how fun they are. About a quarter of the toys make the chain’s annual list of the 20 hottest toys, which Walmart then stocks up on, and Walmart shoppers might pick up after their Black Friday towel-grabbing frenzy. Maybe. [More]
Accused Walmart Shoplifter Flees Very, Very Slowly On Motorized Shopping Cart
By 9.11.14
Usually when someone commits a retail crime, it’s of the utmost importance to get away from the scene of the infraction as quickly as possible. But what if you just don’t feel in the mood to walk? That’s the reason a woman accused of shoplifting at a Michigan Walmart gave for boosting a motorized shopping cart to scoot herself away from the store. [More]
Senators Request Info From Home Depot, Apple On Recent Data Disasters
By 9.11.14
Following two serious violations of consumers’ privacy — the theft of potentially hundreds of millions of credit and debit card numbers from Home Depot, and the personal photos and information stolen from Apple iCloud accounts of numerous female celebrities — some lawmakers in D.C. are looking for some answers from the companies that were supposed to keep our data safe. [More]
Bridal Gown Consignment Store Closes With No Warning, Gowns Inside
By 9.10.14
Some families save wedding dresses, and some don’t bother. For people who don’t want to bother and for people who want to save some money and don’t mind using a pre-married gown, there’s a specialty consignment store in the suburbs of St. Louis that sells formal gowns for brides and their attendants. Well, there used to be. The store abruptly closed, with lots of unsold dresses inside. [More]
ID Thieves Don’t Need PINs To Withdraw Cash From Debit Cards Stolen From Home Depot
By 9.9.14
When Home Depot confirmed the potentially massive data breach of its in-store payment systems in the U.S. and Canada, it tried to quell some concerns by saying there was no evidence that PIN info for debit cards had been compromised in the attack. But it looks like enough other information was stolen in the hack that a clever ID thief wouldn’t need that PIN to drain the cash from a victim’s bank account. [More]
Home Depot Confirms Data Breach; Started As Far Back As April
By 9.8.14
After nearly a week of only saying it was investigating reports of a massive data breach, Home Depot has confirmed that its in-store payment systems were indeed compromised by hackers. [More]
Kmart Airs What Is Totally Not A Christmas Commercial
By 9.8.14
Last year, discount retailer and aspiring landlord Kmart kicked off its Christmas marketing early. Really early. Last year, the chain waited around until September 10 to start airing its first Christmas ad. This year, they moved that start date up, presumably so people who chatter about retail would complain about the early start date and embed the ad. You win, Kmart. [More]
Amazon Now Selling Fire Phone For $.99 With New Contract
By 9.8.14
It hasn’t even been two months since Amazon released its not-quite-3D Fire phone and it’s already slashed the price on the device like it’s a 3-year-old feature phone, announcing this morning that the Fire can be had for $.99 to customers willing to sign a two-year contract with AT&T. [More]
GameStop Gets Even Closer To AT&T, Offers Cricket Wireless Service In All Stores
By 9.8.14
Over the past year, GameStop has revamped itself to stay relevant: offering trade-ins for unwanted gift cards, uploading customers fingerprints to the national database and acting as a sort-of bank for some customers. Now, the retailer is further entering all facets of consumer life by selling Cricket Wireless prepaid services at all locations. [More]
Police: Two Guys Soaked Shelves Of Walmart Merchandise With Deer Urine
By 9.8.14
I can’t help it — I’ve been struggling and now it’s time to let it out: “Kids these days! Spraying doe urine everywhere, ugh!” Exasperation is the only emotion I can imagine — okay, and extreme disgust — at hearing the news that two youngish guys allegedly soaked the shelves of their local Walmart in deer urine. [More]
