Update: Shortly after 2:40 p.m. ET, Amazon appeared to leap back to life, without any of the company’s media or social media accounts even acknowledging the outage. If we get any sort of explanation from the e-tailer, we’ll be sure to share it. [More]
Retail Services
Target’s Secret “Goldfish” Project Is “Bent On Disrupting The Way People Shop”
By 3.10.16
Target isn’t exactly a brand most people associate with the mysterious codename-shrouded antics of Silicon Valley, but the retailer is cooking up something fishy with a new super-secret project in California.
[More]
Amazon Leases Planes For Air Delivery Fleet
By 3.9.16
While Amazon might not be ready to unleash its Prime Air drones into the skies just yet, that doesn’t mean the e-commerce company isn’t preparing to launch its own fleet of Amazon aircraft. The company has inked a deal to lease planes to carry out some of its fulfillment services. [More]
Home Depot Agrees To Pay $20M To Settle 2014 Data Breach Lawsuit
By 3.8.16
Nearly two years after Home Depot said 56 million consumers’ credit and debit cards, as well as email addresses, were compromised in a massive data breach, the home improvement retailer has reached a $19.5 million deal to settle a class-action lawsuit and compensate those customers. [More]
Amazon Debuts Its First Home-Shopping Live Show Tonight
By 3.8.16
Do you like the ability to buy almost anything instantly online but long for the pre-Internet home-shopping glory days when loud-talking, brightly outfitted semi-celebrities pushed products on live TV? Then maybe you’ll want to tune in to tonight’s debut of Amazon’s first live TV show. [More]
With Landlord Settlement, Target’s Failed Canada Experiment Nearing End
By 3.8.16
More than a year after Target announced plans to shutter its 133 stores in Canada, the retailer is finally ready to put the failed business venture behind it. The company recently reached a $30 million compensation deal with the landlords of these former Target stores. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Find Another MP3 Player Case That No One Will Buy
By 3.7.16
Walmart has almost got this thing with clearing out their old electronics figured out. They found an old item somewhere in the bowels of the store, which was great. They marked it down from $19.88 to $3, which is more reasonable than most of their electronics markdowns. Unfortunately, they may have overestimated the market out there for silicone cases for MP3 players from 2007 or 2008. [More]
Wells Fargo Corporate Banking Clients Can Soon Stare Deeply Into Their App To Sign In
By 3.7.16
Until we get to a Minority Report-like future, we’re all carrying around some unique forms of identification that even the most talented identity thieves can’t steal: our bodies. In an effort to beef up security by taking advantage of customers’ unique phyiscal attributes, Wells Fargo will offer some clients the option of signing into their mobile app accounts with eye scan verification, or face and voice recognition. [More]
Amazon Will Open Its Second Real-Life Bookstore In San Diego This Summer
By 3.7.16
Last fall, Amazon took its business model offline into the real world with a bricks-and-mortar bookstore that opened in its hometown of Seattle. The e-commerce giant is continuing its foray into the physical with its second book store, announcing that it’s preparing to open up shop as a book peddle in San Diego this summer. [More]
Siblings Arrested For Robbing Girl Scouts Of $200 In Cookie Money
By 3.4.16
Most people look at Girl Scouts selling cookies outside of a store and see children learning important lessons about commerce. Every year, though, there’s at least one person who looks at them and sees a big box of cash guarded by little girls. This cookie season, the first criminals accused of having this terrible idea were a brother and sister in Florida, who were arrested yesterday for running off with about $200 in cookie money last weekend. [More]
Costco Raising Entry-Level Employee Minimum Wage For The First Time In Nearly A Decade
By 3.4.16
In a bid to attract more quality workers, Costco says it will raise the minimum wage for entry-level workers for the first time in nine years. [More]
Sears Delivers Filthy Oven, Has No Idea Why
By 3.3.16
A woman who loves to bake for her family saved for two years to buy a new built-in convection oven. Sears delivered it, and then she had to wait a few weeks to have it installed. That’s when she discovered a problem: what was supposed to be a new oven was full of baked-on filth and even grime on the glass. Sears says that this shouldn’t be possible, yet somehow it happened. [More]
Target Recalls Valentine’s Day-Themed Mugs That Pose Fire Hazard
By 3.3.16
Imagine one morning sitting down to a nice cup of coffee in your cutesy mug only to realize its only lukewarm. No worries, the label on the cup says it’s microwave safe… except that it isn’t, and the minute minute you hit “start,” sparks start to fly. That’s the case for 12,300 Valentine’s Day-themed mugs sold by Target now being recalled for posing a fire risk. The retailer says the cups, which were mislabeled as microwave-safe, have been linked to three reports of sparks during microwaving. Customers should stop using the cups immediately and return them for a refund. [CPSC] [More]
Amazon Debuts New, Smaller Alexa-Enabled Devices: Echo Dot, Amazon Tap
By 3.3.16
Alexa is getting a few friends, two, to be exact. Amazon today launched the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot, smart speakers that incorporate personal assistant and know-it-all Alexa technology in smaller version of the company’s traditional Echo speaker. [More]
Some Walmart Online Pharmacy Customers’ Prescription Info Visible To Others For Days
By 3.3.16
No one wants their personal, private health information plastered on the internet for all to see. While that wasn’t exactly the case for Walmart, the retailer announced this week that a few thousand of its online pharmacy customers had their prescription histories and other basic information visible online for a four-day period last month. [More]
Here’s The List Of Sports Authority Stores That Are Closing
By 3.3.16
Yesterday, Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy, and right now they have two choices about how to go forward: sell out to a competitor or reorganize the company and their $1.1 billion in debt. they’re kicking off the proceedings by closing 140 stores. Here’s the preliminary list of stores that will close, which are scattered across the country but concentrated in Texas. [More]
Sears Holdings Plans At Least 4 More Kmart Store Closures In May
By 3.2.16
After a tough year of losing half a billion dollars less than they did in 2014, Sears Holdings, parent company of Sears and Kmart, announced plans to close about 50 stores in the coming months. What the company no longer does is send out big announcements with lists of stores slated for closure, instead submitting local closings to local news outlets. That’s cool, but we’re a national news outlet that likes to pay attention to national trends, so we compiled a list for anyone who is interested. [More]
GameStop Now Lets You Order Items Online Even If They’re In A Store And Not A Warehouse
By 3.2.16
Most retailers still have a bit of a brick wall between their online and offline presences, and it can create challenges for consumers. To fight that, GameStop has decided to bring a bit of the 21st century to their operation, with a nationwide “ship from store” program. [More]
