By now, most of us are aware that videos come and go from Amazon’s streaming offerings; that a movie available on Prime this month may be gone the next. There are even caveats in the Amazon terms of service that videos you purchase from Amazon may vanish from your online library — and there’s nothing you can do about it. What you don’t expect is for half of a video you buy to suddenly disappear without explanation. [More]
Retail Services
Target Asks Suppliers To Pay More For Sales And Promos
By 6.8.16
Target has a lot of merchandise sitting around, and they want some help getting it out of stores and into shoppers’ carts. Who are they asking to help? Suppliers say that the discount retailer is asking them to take on more of the costs of marketing products, which cuts into their own profit margins and is an expense that suppliers hadn’t counted on. [More]
Amazon Giving Away Free Tablets If You Sign Up For Comcast Through Cable Site
By 6.8.16
Are you in the market for an Amazon Fire tablet, and a new cable provider? If so, you’re in luck, because the Everything Store is offering free tablets in its Cable Store along with new Xfinity Internet and TV packages from Comcast. Maybe they’d offer tablets with packages from other providers, too, but Comcast is the only vendor in their Cable Store for now. [More]
Amazon Expands Restaurant Delivery Service To Miami, Atlanta
By 6.7.16
Following the rapid expansion of its restaurant delivery service to more than 20 major cities in the last several months, Amazon is finally getting around to offering one-hour food delivery via Amazon Restaurants to two of the largest metro areas in the South: Miami and Atlanta. [More]
Best Buy CEO Sells Half Of His Vested Shares, Remains Totally Confident In Company
By 6.7.16
Remain calm, investors, shoppers, and employees of Best Buy. Okay, yes, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly sold half of the shares in the company that he owns that are vested and that he’s legally allowed to sell, but that’s just about his personal investment choices, not meant as a statement about the future of the company. Hey, why is the stock price falling? [More]
Walmart Partners With Uber, Lyft For Online Grocery Delivery
By 6.3.16
Shoppers in more than a dozen cities can already order groceries from Walmart.com then later have someone bring their order out to their waiting car. Soon, these folks won’t even have to leave home. [More]
The 5 Meanest Quotes From Report On Sad State Of Sears
By 6.3.16
Last week, Sears all but admitted that it was looking to cast off the little that remains of its identity with the possible sell-off of its signature house brands Kenmore, DieHard, and Craftsman. What the heck happened to this once-great pillar of American retail? A number of industry insiders have their theories, and they aren’t pulling punches. [More]
Walmart Testing Drones To Help Manage Warehouse Inventory
By 6.2.16
As predicted, so it has come to pass: after asking the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to start testing drones for things like managing warehouse inventories, Walmart says it’s started that process, and could have the little guys up in the air and on the job in the next six to nine months. [More]
If You’ve Got Amazon Prime, You’re Probably Keeping Amazon Prime For Years
By 6.2.16
Amazon these days is all about Prime. What started out as a way for power users to save on shipping, years ago, has become an all-encompassing membership to the internet’s biggest virtual big-box store. And whatever lever Amazon pushes to get individuals interested in signing up, it works: the longer you subscribe, research finds, the longer you are likely to stick with it. [More]
Amazon Goes After Third-Party Sellers For Buying, Creating Fake Reviews
By 6.2.16
Months after filing several lawsuits to block companies from selling fraudulent positive reviews on its site, Amazon is now turning its focus to those that purchase the fake reviews, taking action against one company and two individuals who sell on the e-commerce site. [More]
Walmart Brings Back Smiley Face Mascot, Had Emojis Before Emojis Were Cool
By 6.1.16
Do you remember Walmart’s ’90s ads featuring the animated smiley face character? According to the company, the character first appeared in stores over 25 years ago, and later as an animated character in TV ads. Perhaps capitalizing on the popularity of emojis, the mega-chain is bringing Smiley back in its marketing after a 10-year absence. [More]
Under Armour: Sports Authority Closures Will Hurt Sales Of Sneakers, Clothes
By 6.1.16
When one business fails, its failure spins out and also affects clients and customers. The failure of a national mega-retailer, Sports Authority, doesn’t just affect its competitors in the coming months as they have to compete with liquidation sales. The company’s bankruptcy also affects its suppliers, including big companies like Under Armour. [More]
Report: Only Some Progress In Making Sure Clothing Factory Workers Are Treated Like Humans
By 6.1.16
Three years ago, after a building collapse in Bangladesh killed 1,100 of the people who were making our clothes, major global retailers pledged to make sure that the people who work for their suppliers are paid a living wage and have safe workplaces. A new report shows that while some things have improved at factories that supply retailers like Walmart and H&M, there are still serious labor and safety issues in these companies’ supply chains. [More]
Academy Sports Is Totally Ready To Poach Sports Authority Customers
By 5.31.16
Competitors aren’t even waiting for Sports Authority to close its doors before trying to poach the chain’s customers. Here’s a coupon that arrived in reader Sandra’s mail last week, which manages to use the closing of Sports Authority as a draw without actually naming the retailer. [More]
States Hungry For Online Sales Tax Looking At Challenge To South Dakota Law
By 5.31.16
Amazon now collects sales tax in more than half the states, but that still leaves a substantial portion of the country not paying taxes on their purchases. Even in states where Amazon is collecting taxes, some other online retailers say they don’t have to collect taxes because they have no physical presence in the state. A new South Dakota law is a direct attack on these companies, and if it stands up to legal scrutiny it could have nationwide implications. [More]
Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer Deny PETA Accusations Of Using Down Ripped From Live Geese
By 5.31.16
If you yank the soft down feathers from the body of a goose that’s still alive, here’s the thing: the goose can grow that plumage back, and you can pluck it again. That’s apparently the inhumane practice on some poultry farms in China. A continuing investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals discovered live-plucking on farms linked to suppliers of well-known U.S. retailers Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer, L.L. Bean, Sears, and Amazon. [More]
Target Shutting Down Curbside Pickup Pilot Program Effective June 15
By 5.27.16
If you were hoping that Target’s curbside pickup would eventually reach your city, your hopes are for naught: Target tells Consumerist the pilot program will be discontinued effective June 15. [More]
Oversized Box From Sears Has Enough Room To Stash Preteen Daughter
By 5.27.16
Amazon was once notorious for shipping items in comically oversized boxes, an e-commerce phenomenon that we blame on mysterious employees called the Stupid Shipping Gang. We don’t hear about over-packaging from Amazon that much anymore, perhaps because the Stupid Shipping Gang has all moved on to jobs packaging e-commerce orders at Sears. [More]
