Retailers upselling customers on services they don’t need is nothing new, but a new report claims that some Office Depot employees are falsely claiming computers are infected with viruses in order to meet sales goals. [More]
Retail Services
Office Depot Allegedly Diagnosing Computers With Nonexistent Viruses To Meet Sales Goals
By 11.16.16
Walmart Warns Workers: Don’t Download Chat App From Labor Organization
By 11.15.16
Walmart has been repeatedly accused of retaliating against, and covertly monitoring, employees who have protested for improved conditions and higher wages. Now the nation’s largest retailer is reportedly warning employees to not download an app from a labor group that can be used for workers to connect and organize outside of Walmart’s gaze. [More]
Bed Bath & Beyond Banishes Welspun Products From Stores
By 11.14.16
Back in August, Target was the first retailer to end its relationship with the textile company Welspun after discovering that the company’s “Egyptian” cotton sheets, um, weren’t. Now Bed Bath & Beyond, another retailer that carries Welspun products, will stop selling them after an audit showed that the company can’t prove the origin of its products. [More]
Amazon Switching Out Wrapping Paper For Reusable Cloth Bags
By 11.14.16
When you hear that your online purchase will be “gift wrapped,” what do you picture? Most people would picture a package wrapped up in paper, maybe with a bow, right? That’s not what Amazon customers are getting in their boxes this holiday season: for the same price, shoppers are getting velvet gift bags of various sizes. [More]
Report: Reynolds Rejects British American Tobacco’s $47B Takeover Offer
By 11.14.16
Last month, British American Tobacco offered $47 billion to purchase the roughly 42% stake of R.J. Reynolds American that it didn’t already own. Now, the London-based company’s dream of creating the world’s largest tobacco company has been dashed. [More]
Only Three Stores Opening On Thanksgiving At Mall of America
By 11.14.16
The Mall of America, tourist destination and temple of commerce, announced last month that it would not be officially opening on Thanksgiving Day, though it gave individual stores the option to open if they wanted. The only retailers to take the mall up on that offer were Sears, Macy’s, and The Crayola Experience, and Crayola is the only store staying open that lacks its own entrance. [More]
McDonald’s Launches iOS App To Find McRib, Immediately Invite Your Friends
By 11.14.16
Have you ever wanted to invite a friend out for a McRib, but aren’t sure where they’re available? This is probably an extremely rare problem, but McDonald’s has solved it nevertheless with a new app. The bad news: it’s only available for iPhone so far, and it’s not especially useful. [More]
Texas Man Hands Out $100 Bills To McDonald’s Employees
By 11.14.16
’Tis the season for random acts of kindness (not that you can’t do nice things for people all year): from the so-called layaway angels that will no doubt pop-up at retail stores to the coffee drinkers who will pay it forward. A man in Texas recently got the ball rolling on the 2016 season by handing out money at a McDonald’s. [More]
American Apparel Files For Bankruptcy (Yes, Again)
By 11.14.16
The writing has been on the wall for a while, and it seems the inevitable has finally come to pass: troubled apparel retailer American Apparel this morning filed for bankruptcy in a Delaware court. Yes, again. [More]
Kenneth Cole Closing All Of Its Outlet Stores
By 11.11.16
This has not been a good year for the designer brands that you generally find at outlet malls. Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Coach have all cut back on their department store presence during 2016, hoping to find customers who will pay full price somewhere else. Kenneth Cole, meanwhile, is trying another tactic: the brand is closing all of its outlet stores, leaving two full-price boutiques, its website, sales through other retailers, and its international business. [More]
JCPenney Handing Out $500 Coupons To Lure Shoppers On Thanksgiving
By 11.11.16
Even though JCPenney is starting its Black Friday sales online next Wednesday, the retailer is still hoping it can convince some folks that they’d rather be shopping in physical stores on Thanksgiving than spending time with loved ones/taking turkey-induced naps by offering up coupons worth $500 off to the first people to come through the doors. [More]
4 Things We Learned From Costco CEO Craig Jelinek
By 11.11.16
Costco warehouse stores are big, gray, and decidedly un-sexy, but that has not stopped the wholesale club from attracting shoppers, including some who talk to their friends about Costco the same way you might talk about must-read book. [More]
Walmart Hopes To Win Over Millennials With This Giant Orange Vending Machine
By 11.11.16
For years now, Amazon has allowed customers to pickup their orders at bright yellow lockers located at convenience stores and other easy to access areas. Now, in what appears to be another attempt to be more like the e-commerce giant, Walmart has a vending machine where online customers can pickup their orders, you know without having to wait in line or talk to other people. [More]
Dollar General Launching Convenience Stores Called ‘DGX’
By 11.10.16
When you hear the name “Dollar General,” you think of a discount store or even a dollar store, right? The chain is apparently expanding its focus to hip urbanites who wouldn’t shop at a Dollar General… but who might seek out a sleek new DGX brand convenience store. Maybe. [More]
Splenda Goes To War With Dunkin’ Donuts Over Lookalike Sweetener
By 11.10.16
You won’t find little, pale-yellow packets of Splenda at Dunkin’ Donuts, but you will find little pale-yellow packets of a knockoff version of the sweetener. Heartland Consumer Products, the company behind Splenda, is taking Dunkin’ to court, claiming the coffee-and-donut chain is misleading consumers into thinking they are getting the real Splenda when it’s just a knockoff. [More]
Macy’s Profits Drop, But At Least It Still Has Real Estate To Sell
By 11.10.16
As a venerable department store chain with stores in large and small cities, Macy’s has an important advantage when its sales slump: it has a lot of stores, land, and ground leases that it owns and can sell when it needs to raise some cash. The company’s rainy day has come, and it’s time to cash in that property. [More]
Costco Credit Card Switch Came With Unexpected Side Effect: Lost Insurance
By 11.10.16
When Costco announced it was ditching its exclusive co-branded American Express card in favor of a Citibank-issued Visa card, customers worried about the various ways this switch could affect their finances and credit, but one family says the change in card networks resulted in them losing an insurance policy. [More]
Snapchat Uses Vending Machines to Sell ‘Spectacle’ Smart Sunglasses
By 11.10.16
Forget about pop-up stores or branded kiosks. The new thing for selling your tech product is apparently vending machines — at least according to SnapChat, which is using bright yellow dispensers to market its new line of Spectacle photo- and video-taking sunglasses. [More]
