When you buy something that says it’s “biodegradable” or “compostable,” you expect it to be just that. But that wasn’t necessarily the case at some California Walmart stores, where the big box retailer has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve claims that it sold misleadingly labeled items. [More]
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Walmart Ditching $50/Year ShippingPass For Free Two-Day Shipping
By 1.31.17
Less than a year after its national launch, Walmart is pulling the plug on its $50/year ShippingPass subscription service that was intended to compete directly with Amazon Prime. In its place, the big box retailer plans to offer free-two day shipping on millions of products with a lower minimum purchase price. [More]
Walmart Is Selling Its Own “Craft” Beer — Not That You’d Know It
By 1.27.17 — Updated: 1.30.17
Is that craft beer in your grocery cart really brewed by a small, independent brewery, or does it come from the same commercial vats as other non-craft beverages? It can be hard to tell, especially now that big name retailers like Walmart are selling their own private label “craft” brands. [More]
Report: Target Creating Its Own Mobile Payment System
By 1.24.17
If you don’t carry around a bunch of cash or your credit cards, you might be among the throngs of people who instead opt for a mobile-payment system, whether it be Apple Pay, Android Pay, Chase Pay, or any of a number of store-specific apps. Now there will soon be another choice on the market, as long as you’re shopping at Target, that is. [More]
Walmart To Start Selling Cars At Dozens Of Stores
By 1.24.17
It was just a matter of time: More than a year after Walmart-owned Sam’s Club began selling customers cars, taking on Costco’s long-running auto program, and with Amazon dipping its toes into the industry, Walmart is finally following suit. [More]
Government Accuses Walmart Of Illegally Firing Worker With Down Syndrome
By 1.19.17
The federal government has accused Walmart of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by firing an employee with Down Syndrome who could not adjust to having her schedule changed after 15 years on the job. [More]
Walmart Employee Stops Elderly Couple From Losing $2,500 To “Grandparents Scam”
By 1.18.17
An elderly Illinois couple still has $2,500 in the bank thanks to an alert Walmart employee who thought something was amiss when the shoppers tried to transfer the funds to prepaid gift cards. [More]
Walmart Says It Will Add 10,000 Jobs, Open Dozens Of Stores This Year
By 1.17.17
A year after Walmart announced it would close 154 stores round the country, eliminating the jobs of about 10,000 employees, the big box retailer unveiled plans to open or relocate dozens of stores and hire more than 10,000 workers. [More]
Walmart Shuffles Staff To Take Online Sales Seriously… For Real This Time
By 1.13.17
Despite being the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart still lags behind Amazon and others when it comes to online shopping. The company has spent billions of dollars in just the last year, buying Jet.com and ShoeBuy, so maybe it’s time for Walmart to finally get serious about sorting out e-commerce. [More]
Report: Walmart To Lay Off Hundreds Of Employees By End Of The Month
By 1.10.17
Hundreds of employees at Walmart will soon be out a job, as the big box retailer is reportedly set to eliminate a number of positions around the country before the end of its fiscal year on Jan. 31. [More]
Walmart’s Jet.com Jumping Into Shoe Game With $70M Purchase Of ShoeBuy
By 1.5.17 — Updated: 3.15.17
Following the $3 billion purchase of Jet.com, Walmart is continuing its bid to boost online sales, this time by targeting customers’ feet with the $70 million purchase of shoe-tailer ShoeBuy. [More]
Customer Buys $150 Crafting Machine From Walmart; Receives Box Of Potatoes
By 1.3.17
Crafters and scrapbookers across the country are likely familiar with the Cricut, a device that cuts paper into just about any pattern you desire. They probably also know what a potato is, and that the two items aren’t interchangeable. Except, apparently, at Walmart. [More]
Run-DMC Suing Online Retailers, Including Amazon and Walmart, For $50 Million
By 12.30.16
Run-DMC might have broken up 14 years ago, but the name and the musical legend live on in the world of licensed, endorsed merchandise. Unfortunately, according to a new lawsuit, the Run-DMC name also lives on in infringing merchandise being sold by major online stores. [More]
Minnesota Cities Claim Walmart Is Using Local Police As Unpaid Security Guards
By 12.16.16
Across the country, local governments are speaking out about how their police departments are subsidizing security at their local Walmart stores, with officers dispatched there more often than competing discount and grocery stores. Now state legislators from two cities in Minnesota say that they’re working on possible solutions to the issue. [More]
Walmart Adds Sweepstakes To Savings Program For Unbanked Customers
By 12.16.16
In other countries, prize-linked savings accounts are a popular vehicle used to encourage low-income people to build nest eggs. The premise is simple: saving money enters customers into a lottery, with relatively modest prizes. Since the accounts became legal in the U.S. in 2014, some banks have launched their own versions, and now Walmart and its prepaid debit cards are joining the party. [More]
From Cash Registers To Escalators To Shopping Carts: 11 Important Firsts In Bricks-And-Mortar Retail History
By 12.13.16
These days you can shop from the comfort your couch in your soft pants, ordering up a flat of cat food, paper towels, and a smartphone with one click. So it’s easy to forget that once upon a time shopping at retail stores wasn’t a necessary evil, but an “experience” that many of us actually enjoyed. [More]
Macaroni And Cheese Cups Sold At Walmart, Aldi, Rite Aid Recalled For Possible Salmonella Contamination
By 12.12.16 — Updated: 12.16.16
Remember those pancake and waffle mixes recalled for possible Salmonella contamination? They were just the first items in a wave of recalls related to the shutdown of a production facility in Virginia. The most prominent so far has been the recall of macaroni and cheese packages sold under the store brand names of Walmart, Aldi, and Rite Aid. [More]
Activists Emphasize Walmart’s Crime Problem In TV Ads Airing In 4 Cities
By 12.7.16 — Updated: 12.16.16
A number of Walmart stores around the country have been called out for being the epicenters of disproportionate levels of criminal activity and calls to the police. Now a union-backed labor advocacy group is using this information against the nation’s largest retailer in an TV ad campaign highlighting Walmart’s alleged high crime rates — and its cost to local taxpayers. [More]
