Target wants to encourage customers to order more everyday basics online, and to order those items all in one single shipment. That’s why the retailer wants you to fill a box that’s roughly the size of a shopping cart with non-perishable food and household goods, which will be delivered to you the next day for five bucks. Does that sound like Amazon’s Prime Pantry? It should, except that Restock’s shipping is slightly cheaper and a lot faster. [More]
Retail Services
Kroger CEO Says He’s Not Surprised By, Or Scared Of, Amazon Buying Whole Foods
By 6.27.17
With over 3,800 stores and more than $110 billion in revenue, Kroger is the second-largest retailer in the U.S., behind Walmart. Normally, a company of this size would not fret about Whole Foods’ relatively paltry 460 stores being sold off to a company whose bricks-and-mortar footprint consists mostly of a few bookshops. But because that buyer is Amazon, some are expecting Kroger to be worried. [More]
Don’t Use These Recalled Fireworks & Other July 4th Safety Tips
By 6.27.17 — Updated: 6.30.17
Each year, tens of thousands of people are injured in fireworks accidents. While these incidents can occur when someone is ill-trained in setting off the brightly colored explosives, they can also be the result of defective products, such as the 36,000 TNT Red, White, & Blue Smoke fireworks now under recall. [More]
Coolest Has To Ship 20,000 Rewards To Kickstarter Backers By 2020
By 6.27.17
The Coolest was the hottest Kickstarter campaign of 2014, but a substantial number of people who paid at least $165 plus shipping for the party device still don’t have their coolers. Now a case filed against the company by Oregon’s Department of Justice has been resolved, and the company has three more years to ship out remaining backer rewards. [More]
California To List Roundup Ingredient On List Of Cancer-Causing Chemicals
By 6.27.17
The state of California will add glyphosate — the main ingredient in weed-killer Roundup — to a list of chemicals known by the state to cause cancer next month, signaling just the latest battle for Roundup manufacturer Monsanto after the company was accused of writing at least some of an academic research paper used to demonstrate glyphosate’s safety. [More]
Company Behind “Healing” Stickers Says NASA Connection Claim Was A Misunderstanding
By 6.26.17
Last week, officials with NASA called out Gwyneth Paltrow’s “modern lifestyle brand” Goop for promoting “healing” stickers that it claimed were made from material designed for NASA space suits. Now, the company behind the stickers has apologized, claiming the inaccurate affirmation was just a big ol’ misunderstanding. [More]
Nintendo Officially Following Up NES Classic With Mini SNES This Fall
By 6.26.17
Classic gamers who missed out on scoring one of Nintendo’s mini-Classic console systems before the company discontinued the limited-time product last year will have another chance to score a mini-video system later this year, if they like Super Nintendo, that is. [More]
Amazon’s Likely First Move At Whole Foods: Bring In Warehouse Robots
By 6.26.17 — Updated: 6.27.17
When Amazon and Whole Foods announced that they were getting hitched in the corporate sense, the benefits for both sides were obvious. Amazon would acquire its way into a grocery distribution network and hundreds of stores with upscale customers, and Whole Foods would get a parent company at the forefront of retail technology. What’s likely to be first up for Whole Foods? Warehouse robots. [More]
SCOTUS To Hear Case Of Bakery That Refused To Make Wedding Cake For Gay Couple
By 6.26.17
The owner of a Colorado bakery who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple back in 2012 will have his day in the highest court in the land, after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to hear his appeal. [More]
Some Taco Bell Customers Say Their Double Chalupa Is A Double Dose Of Nothing
By 6.23.17 — Updated: 6.27.17
Taco Bell has once again unleashed a fast food menu item that looks pretty appetizing (at least to Bell fans) in the marketing shots, but isn’t as impressive in the real world. But the particular problem with the new Double Chalupa seems to be that some Taco Bells are barely filling the item up with a single Chalupa’s worth of meat. [More]
Target Pulls Hampton Creek Products From Stores Over Food Safety Concerns
By 6.23.17
Target, a chain that’s popular because “upscale discount store” is apparently not an oxymoron, is a big seller of Hampton Creek’s vegan food products, including its not-mayonnaise Just Mayo. But now Target has reportedly pulled Hampton Creek products from its stores and even disabled cashiers’ ability to scan these items at checkout. [More]
Ousted American Apparel Founder Dov Charney Tries Again With ‘Los Angeles Apparel’
By 6.23.17
Say what you will about American Apparel founder Dov Charney, but the man is persistent. After he was ousted as CEO of the company he started, he made a failed takeover bid to get it back. Now he’s returned with a brand that doesn’t do much to distance Charney from his past, replacing “American” apparel with Los Angeles Apparel. [More]
America Has Too Many Malls, Not Enough E-Commerce Warehouses
By 6.23.17
There are many to blame for the demise of malls, but there’s one important factor that’s easy to fforget: There are just too dang many of them. The U.S. has more retail square footage per person than other industrialized countries, and we keep adding newer and bigger malls without humanely putting enough of the old ones out of their misery. At the same time, online retailers like Amazon are scrambling to find or build warehouse space to keep up with customer demand. [More]
Surprise Delivery From Neiman Marcus: $40K Worth Of Purses You Didn’t Order
By 6.23.17 — Updated: 6.26.17
Imagine you get a delivery to your house that you weren’t expecting. Not only is it something you didn’t order, but it’s a very expensive something — almost $40,000 worth of Chanel purses from Neiman Marcus. What would you do? [More]
Amazon Patents Ridiculous, Terrifying Towers To House Delivery Drones
By 6.23.17
Because the notion of automated flying robots delivering dog food to your doorstep is something straight out of the Jetsons, it sort of makes sense that Amazon has a very retro vision for the towers that could house its Prime Air delivery drones. [More]
NASA: Goop’s ‘Healing Stickers’ Are An Expensive “Load Of BS”
By 6.23.17
Gwyneth Paltrow’s “modern lifestyle brand” Goop offers customers a range of tips, tricks, and products to make their lives better and healthier — some which are polarizing or just plain weird. For instance, the Goop website sold “healing” stickers that it claimed were made from material designed for NASA space suits. But the folks at NASA say that’s all a bunch of overpriced hooey. [More]
Report: Sears Closing 20 More Stores, Opening One
By 6.22.17 — Updated: 6.27.17
Sears Holdings Corporation, parent company of Sears and Kmart, has recently been on a store-closing spree, seeking to lower its expenses to escape a looming retail death spiral. Today, the company announced the opening of a new appliances and mattresses concept store, while also informing employees that the company plans to close another 20 Sears department stores. [More]
People Stealing Stuff From Stores Reaches All-Time High
By 6.22.17 — Updated: 6.27.17
Retailers are spending less on loss prevention, and maybe that’s not such a good idea. In 2016, the rate of “shrinkage,” or inventory that goes missing for any reason, increased to 1.44% of all sales, or a total of almost $48.9 billion. [More]
