“Wal-Mart may get customers to deliver packages to online buyers” at Reuters.  “Wal-Mart Stores Inc is considering a radical plan to have store customers deliver packages to online buyers, a new twist on speedier delivery services that the company hopes will enable it to better compete with Amazon.com Inc.  Tapping customers to deliver goods would put the world’s largest retailer squarely in middle of a new phenomenon sometimes known as “crowd-sourcing,” or the “sharing economy.”  Read more:  https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/us-retail-walmart-delivery-idUSBRE92R03820130328?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

 

“Home Depot Lands Marketing Executive From Struggling JCPenney” by Michael Flannelly at Dividend Daily.  “It was reported on Tuesday that The Home Depot, Inc. has a new vice president of marketing and brand management, a former executive from the struggling retailer, JCPenney.  Lisa DeStefano-Orebaugh will be joining Home Depot’s team. It was not reported when she will start at the Atlanta-based company, but when she does she will report to Chief Marketing Officer Trish Mueller.”  Read more:  https://www.dividend.com/news/2013/home-depot-lands-executive-from-struggling-jc-penny-hd-jcp/

 

“Why Walmart Wishes It Were a Startup” by Marcus Wohlsen at Wired.  “Over the past year and a half or so, Walmart has gone on a tech hiring frenzy. Its e-commerce operation now employs about 1,500 people, and the company expects to hire hundreds more in the near future, most of them in Northern California. These days, Walmart battles the Googles and Facebooks of Silicon Valley for engineering talent and sometimes wins.  Though these workers are a tiny fraction of Walmart’s more than 2 million employees, they represent the core of the company’s effort to stay relevant in the 21st century. And the way they plan to do it, at least according to the people in charge, is to act more like the startups that surround this California outpost of the global symbol of brick-and-mortar business success.”  Read more:  https://www.wired.com/business/2013/03/why-walmart-wants-to-be-a-startup/

 

“Blake Lively & Sarah Jessica Parker: Target Canada Launch!” at Just Jared.  “Blake Lively and Sarah Jessica Parker hit the red carpet at the launch of Target Canada on Wednesday (March 27) at the Shoppers World Danforth location in Toronto, Canada.  The grand opening of 24 new Target stores in the Ontario area will be celebrated on April 5.”  Read more:  https://www.justjared.com/2013/03/27/blake-lively-sarah-jessica-parker-target-canada-launch/

 

“Sears push into e-commerce pits it against Amazon” by Karen Talley at MarketWatch.  “Sears Holdings Corp., already one of the largest online retailers in North America, is aiming even higher, this week rolling out a new program where it will ship merchandise supplied by other online retailers.  The fulfillment service is meant to build fees and draw more sellers to Sears.com Marketplace, which already provides a forum for online merchants to connect with buyers. It also shows Sears wants to better compete against bigger online guns like Amazon.com Inc., which already offers a similar service.”  Read more:  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sears-push-into-e-commerce-pits-it-against-amazon-2013-03-27

 

“Survey Ranks ALDI USA Fifth on List of Companies with the Most Loyal Fans”  “Discount grocer ALDI USA ranked fifth on a list of the top 20 companies with the most loyal fans. No other grocery retailer was included on the list, which tracks every major brand on Facebook and how likely those brands’ fans are to recommend them to friends or colleagues.”  Read more:  https://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/latest.jsp?resourceid=6554038&access=EH

 

“The Trader Joe’s Lesson: How to Pay a Living Wage and Still Make Money in Retail” by Sophie Quinton at The Atlantic.  “QuikTrip, Trader Joe’s, and Costco operate on a different model, Ton says. “They start with the mentality of seeing employees as assets to be maximized,” she says. As a result, their stores boast better operational efficiency and customer service, and those result in better sales. QuikTrip sales per labor hour are two-thirds higher than the average convenience-store chain, Ton found, and sales per square foot are over 50 percent higher.”  Read more:  https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/the-trader-joes-lesson-how-to-pay-a-living-wage-and-still-make-money-in-retail/274322/

 

“Here’s Why Nobody In Social Media Marketing Is Making Big Money — Yet” by Jim Edwards at Business Insider via Yahoo.  “Buddy Media’s owner, Salesforce.com, disclosed that Buddy saw a $29 million loss on revenues of $20 million in the period of August 2012 through January 2013; that followed a loss of $20.5 million on revenues of $18 million in the first half of 2012. (Salesforce paid $735.8 million for Buddy, of which $640 million was intangible “goodwill.”)  That’s a lot of investment money chasing a much smaller amount of revenues.  To give you an idea of how fierce the competition is in social media marketing, consider that there are more than 260 “Preferred Marketing Developers” who serve Facebook alone. That doesn’t include those who also serve clients on Twitter, Pinterest or in the blogosphere. (Sources have told us the total number of Facebook PMDs may actually exceed 300.)”  Read more:  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-nobody-social-media-121429419.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

“Walmart on Campus concept store to open at Arizona State University in May”  “Walmart on Campus is a small-format test store that allows us to bring our low prices to students in a convenient location. With a full-service pharmacy, basic grocery, financial services and Site-to-Store, Arizona State will be able to enjoy many of the great services they would at our larger formats without leaving campus,” said store manager Mario Espino.”  Read more:  https://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2013/03/27/walmart-on-campus-concept-store-to-open-at-arizona-state-university-in-may

 

“Big Y Promotes Two” at Supermarket News.  “Big Y Foods here said Wednesday it has promoted Michael J. Galat to vice president of employee services and Jason Corriveau to director of frozen foods and dairy.”  Read more:  https://supermarketnews.com/executive-changes/big-y-promotes-two#ixzz2OqByDWng

 

“Walmart’s “Empowering Women Together” web link”  “Help us improve the lives of women and their families worldwide.  Shop this Store For Good for distinctive products from women-owned businesses in the U.S. and around the world.”  See at:  https://www.walmart.com/cp/Empowering-Women-Together/1094926

 

Thanks for reading…

 

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