The discount chain Target is very good at many things, which include designer partnerships and building tiny stores. It’s very bad at some other things, which include selling groceries and putting prices on products that make any sense. “Target Math” is the name we give to these bizarre bulk markups, “sale” items that aren’t actually discounted, and pricing discrepancies within the same store — but this dubious art isn’t just practiced in the halls of Target. [More]
Retail Services
’Tis The Season: We Want Photos Of Your Kid’s Mall Santa Claus Nightmare
By 12.5.16
It’s that time of year again, when parents inform their offspring that they’re being taken to meet a mystical bearded stranger who, if they’ve been good, has the potential to make all their dreams come true. Instead, these children find themselves face-to-face with a red-suited nightmare from which they want desperately to escape. [More]
Why You Might Not Find A Bible In Your Hotel Room Nightstand
By 12.5.16
There are several things a traveler expects when staying in a hotel: that room service is available, the beds won’t be as comfy as your own, and there will be a Bible in the nightstand. Guests of Marriott’s latest hotel chains — Moxy and Edison — can remove the latter expectation from their list: the chain won’t include the holy book in rooms. [More]
Campbell’s, Tyson & Other Packaged Food Biggies Eager To Jump Into Meal Kit Melee
By 12.5.16
Not that long ago, folks with disposable income who wanted something resembling a decent meal but didn’t have time to do all the shopping would buy packaged foods and just heat them up. Now these consumers have the ever-growing rainbow of meal kit subscription services that deliver fresher, better ingredients to their door. But the makers of microwave dinners, pre-made meals, and canned goods aren’t giving up that easy — they want in on this whole meal kit thing. [More]
Pranksters Reportedly “Hack” McDonald’s Drive-Thru To Be Vulgar To Customers
By 12.5.16
There are any number of issues one might encounter when ordering at the drive-thru of their local fast food restaurant — the intercom is broken, you can’t hear the employee, or you receive the wrong order. Customers of one North Carolina McDonald’s recevied a different surprise when placing an order: The “employee” on the other end of the intercom was shouting rude and vulgar language back at them. [More]
Amazon Opening ‘Amazon Go,’ A Convenience Store With No Checkout Lines
By 12.5.16
You know that feeling you get at the store when you realize you’ve once again chosen the wrong checkout line, the one that’s moving the most slowly? And self-checkout machines eliminate the cashier but not the lines (if the machines are even working). Amazon hopes to eliminate checkout-line frustration altogether with Amazon Go, its new bricks-and-mortar convenience store. [More]
Walmart Employee Arrested For Attempts At Killing Coworkers, Setting Store On Fire
By 12.5.16
Authorities don’t know exactly what led a 24-year-old Walmart employee of an Arizona Walmart store to turn on her coworkers, but say that she had a series of potentially deadly plans for them that fell through. What began as a dispute inside the store could have turned tragic when she returned with a rifle, ammunition, a knife, and a torch. [More]
Instacart Workers Say They Were Illegally Misclassified As Independent Contractors
By 12.5.16
To say that things have been contentious between Instacart and its hired shoppers and drivers would be a bit of an understatement, following backlash the company received when overhauling — and then again revamping — the way it handles tips. Last week, workers took things to another level, suing the grocery delivery startup claiming it broke state and federal labor laws. [More]
The Limited To Start Layoffs At Corporate Offices; Could Start Winding Down Business
By 12.2.16
Two weeks after retailer The Limited announced it would explore its options, including a possible sale, the mall staple has begun notifying employees at its corporate offices that they could be out of a job and the company as a whole could close. [More]
Nestlé Creates A New Sugar: Use Less, Get The Same Taste
By 12.2.16
For years, food and beverage companies like Pepsi Co. have tweaked their use of sugar and sweetener substitutes to find just the right mixture that aligns with consumers’ tastes and perception of a healthy lifestyle. Instead of fiddling around with different kinds of sweeteners like aspartame or Splenda, Nestlé hit the laboratory to create its own version of the crystallized ingredient. [More]
Visa And Mastercard Push Chip Card Deadline For Gas Pumps Back To 2020
By 12.2.16
Americans get to face another three years at higher risk of having our payment card numbers scooped up by criminals while we fuel up our cars. The major credit card networks, Visa and Mastercard, have given gas stations an extension, pushing the deadline for them to install payment terminals with chip (EMV) readers back to October 2020. [More]
Tesla Teases Michigan With New Look-But-Don’t-Buy Showroom At Nordstrom
By 12.2.16
Three months after Tesla sued the state of Michigan, challenging a law that says automakers can only sell through franchised dealerships, the electric carmaker has thrown caution to the wind and debuted a showroom inside a Nordstrom department store in the Detroit suburb of Troy. [More]
Pickup Truck Crashes Through Walmart Entrance, Killing 3 And Injuring 2
By 12.2.16
A normal morning at an Iowa Walmart took a tragic turn yesterday, after a pickup truck crashed through the front door of the store, killing three people in the store and injuring two others. [More]
10 Things You Should Consider Before Paying For Any Retail Membership
By 12.2.16
Memberships, once the exclusive domain of warehouse clubs like Costco and BJ’s, are officially hot right now. From Amazon Prime and Walmart ShippingPass to subscription boxes (like Birchbox) and membership programs from retailers including Bed Bath & Beyond and Restoration Hardware, companies aren’t content until they’ve turned occasional shoppers into loyal members. But should you join? Will it be worth the money? How will you know if a membership program is right for you? We break it down. [More]
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Stepping Down To Focus On Upscale Coffee
By 12.1.16
After eight years as the man behind the morning cup of joe for many millions of coffee drinkers, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has decided to step aside and let someone else run the coffee colossus. [More]
Bargain-Hunting Beavers: 17 Times Animals Went Shopping In Human Stores
By 12.1.16
Does it make you giggle to think about a beaver going Christmas shopping at a dollar store? If so, you’ll be even more tickled to know this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about an animal waltzing into a human business like it belonged there. Heck, this isn’t even the first time we’ve heard about a beaver doing that. [More]
Mall Of America Hosts Its First Black Santa
By 12.1.16
Normally, “very large mall hires additional Santa” is not a news story, let alone an interesting one. At the Mall of America near Minneapolis, however, it is news, because one of the country’s relatively few African-American Santas is coming to the mall for a four-day visit. [More]
USDA Can No Longer Hide How Much Money Stores Make From Food Stamps
By 12.1.16
All across America, families use benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP — formerly, and colloquially, known as the Food Stamp program) to buy food, but participation in SNAP varies from store to store, and the federal regulator that oversees the program has denied requests to turn over data on retailer-specific use of SNAP benefits. However, yesterday a federal court ruled that the government can no longer shield this information from public view. [More]
