There you are, driving up and down rows of cars, looking for the right parking spot. What if you could release a tiny drone into the air, and tell it to help out with the search? That’s the kind of future Amazon is looking toward with a new patent for voice-controlled drones that can fit in your pocket. [More]
Retail Services
Dick’s Plans To Bid On Bankrupt Competitor Golfsmith
By 10.18.16
This has been a bad year to be in the brick-and-mortar sporting goods business, unless you’re the dominant chain in that market, Dick’s. Golfsmith filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, and a major competitor was Golf Galaxy, a similar specialty chain owned by… Dick’s. Now the bankrupt chain’s former competitor is reportedly preparing to buy its United States business, at least, out of bankruptcy. [More]
NJ Woman Suing NY Giants, Stadium Claims She Was Injured By Falling Photo In Gift Shop
By 10.18.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Every sports fan knows that loving your team can hurt, but this is a bit literal: a New Jersey woman is suing the New York Giants and their home venue, MetLife Stadium, claiming that she was injured by a large, framed photo of the team that fell on her in a stadium gift shop. [More]
Gap To Close Banana Republic Stores In The UK
By 10.18.16
Mall stalwart Gap’s rough year — including a distribution center fire, store closures, and a “too normal” clothing line — is getting a bit rockier, as the company announced it will soon close most of its Banana Republic-branded stores across the pond. [More]
Your Dentist Will Probably Hate M&M’s New Caramel Variety
By 10.18.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Almonds, peanuts, pretzels, peanut butter — if none of those chocolate-covered candies get your sweet tooth tingling, Mars is hoping its newest variety of M&M’s will: caramel covered with milk chocolate and of course coated in a candy shell. [More]
Amazon Prime Members Can Share Their Photo Storage With Others
By 10.18.16
In yet another step in Amazon’s seemingly endless attempts to bulk up its $99/year Prime membership features, the e-commerce giant will now let members share their unlimited photo storage space with up to five friends or family members. [More]
Always Pay Attention To Who The Actual Seller Of Your Amazon Item Is
By 10.17.16 — Updated: 10.18.16
When you shop on Amazon, it pays off to pay attention to who you’re actually buying from. As we’ve discussed before, buying an item on Amazon.com doesn’t mean that you’re buying it from Amazon, even if it’s shipped to you from one of Amazon’s warehouses. The seller is another person or company who sent their stuff to Amazon’s warehouse. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can have some unintended effects. Like depriving you of piano lessons. [More]
Walgreens Introduces In-Store Pickup For Online Orders
By 10.17.16 — Updated: 10.19.16
We’re not sure which shoppers have been sitting around dreaming of the day when they could place an online order and pick it up from their neighborhood drugstore, but Walgreens is making that scenario real by adding site-to-store to its e-commerce offering. Is this all a ploy to get you into a store? Yeah, pretty much. [More]
We Live In A World Where There’s A Wait List For A $3,000 Set Of Colored Pencils
By 10.17.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Coloring: it’s not just for kids anymore. Adult coloring books have become trendy in the last year or so as an easy way for grownups to unwind and pretend they’re five again and don’t have to deal with things like jobs and bills. And what could be more enticing to a kid with a coloring book than a deluxe set of colored pencils? [More]
People Aren’t Buying Groceries Online Because They Want To Squeeze Their Own Fruits And Vegetables
By 10.17.16 — Updated: 10.19.16
Do you trust someone else, even a full-time order-picker working for a grocery store or delivery company, to pick out your fruit and vegetables? Resistance to having someone pick out your fresh food is apparently the main thing keeping most consumers away from grocery shopping online, either for pickup or delivery. [More]
Report: Macy’s To Open An Hour Earlier On Thanksgiving Day
By 10.17.16
While the trend of not opening on Thanksgiving Day and making sure everyone knows it spreads across the retailscape, some stores are sticking with the previous trend of opening on the holiday. One example: Macy’s, which apparently has been so successful with the practice that it’s reportedly moving its Thanksgiving Day opening time back an hour, to 5 PM. [More]
Is Taco Bell Testing An All-Day Breakfast Menu?
By 10.17.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Have you heard of this crazy idea that breakfast foods can be consumed throughout the day? It’s a concept that has worked out pretty well for McDonald’s — so is Taco Bell was apparently willing to give it a try? [More]
Supervalu Selling Off Save-A-Lot Supermarket Chain For $1.4B
By 10.17.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Supermarket operator Supervalu will have one fewer chain in its portfolio soon, after announcing that it’s selling off discount grocer Save-A-Lot to a Canadian investment group for $1.37 billion. [More]
Target Removes Scary Clown Masks From Stores And Website
By 10.17.16 — Updated: 10.19.16
One casualty of the current series of clown scares and hoaxes across the country has been Ronald McDonald, who McDonald’s sent on vacation while there’s a nationwide rash of suspicious incidents involving people dressed as clowns. Now Target has decided that it doesn’t want to be a supplier to aspiring creepy clowns, and is pulling clown masks from stores and from its website. [More]
After Worker Backlash, Instacart Decides To Not Get Rid Of Tips
By 10.14.16
A day after we told you about workers’ unhappy response to Instacart’s plan to do away with tips and replace them with a “service amount,” the online grocery delivery service has decided to keep the tip option open. [More]
Apple: No Evidence Apple Store Workers Stole Photos From Customers’ iPhones
By 10.13.16
Even though Apple fired several Apple Store employees accused of stealing photos from female customers’ iPhones, the company says that there is no evidence that any such theft occurred. [More]
Help Us Figure Out Your Fast-Food Frequency
October 13, 2016
When Greg Creed, the curiously Australian CEO of Yum Brands, recently boasted that “Half the U.S. population eats Taco Bell once a month,” we got to wondering: Just how frequently do people visit the country’s most popular quick-service eateries? [More]
Best Buy Selling iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus At $50 To $100 Markup
By 10.13.16
In general, retailers sell new Apple products at the sticker price set by the tech giant, but if you want to buy a new iPhone through the Best Buy website you might end up paying up to $100 more than what you’d pay elsewhere.
[More]
