Friday Tipsheet: H.Depot Hearing | D.Gen Waits on Feds | Amazon Builds

 

Walmart: “Woman-owned suppliers connect through non-profits” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “We’ve set specific goals for 2016 and are working toward them with good progress,” (Ravi) Jariwala told The City Wire. He said Walmart.com is now working with 35 woman-owned companies who are supplying more than 350 items for sale via the Empowering Women Together website page on Walmart.com. Sales begin in March 2013 from 19 woman-owned businesses from around the world.” Read more

 

“Dem wants hearing on Home Depot hack” by Julian Hattem at The Hill. “The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wants his panel to hold a hearing on the recent hack at Home Depot, which may have jeopardized financial information for tens of millions of shoppers. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Thursday that investigating the company’s data security would be a fair move, after the multiple sessions the committee has held on HealthCare.gov.” Read more

 

“Dollar General waiting on feds for Family Dollar deal” by Josh Kosman at NY Post. “Dollar General plans to delay a decision whether to go “hell or high water” with its hostile offer for rival Family Dollar until it gets feedback from regulators on its proposal by mid-October, sources told The Post.” Read more

 

Seattle: “Amazon files plans to build two more office towers downtown” by Jay Green at Seattle Times. “Amazon submitted two different sets of plans to the city of Seattle to build two office towers that will fill a city block across from the three blocks already designated for 37- or 38-story buildings at its future high-rise campus in Denny Triangle.” Read more

 

“4 reasons shoppers will shrug off Home Depot hack” by Anne D’Innocenzio at AP via Mercury News. “Take Johnna Horn. She stopped shopping at Target for two months after its breach was disclosed. Yet when she heard the news about Home Depot, she wasn’t alarmed. “With Target, it was more shocking,” said Horn, who lives in Wentzville, Missouri. “With Home Depot, it’s like here we go again.” Read more

 

“NFL Fans Are Beside Themselves in Funny New Lowe’s Campaign” by Michael McArthy at AdWeek. “Four humorous spots from BBDO New York show men and women being urged by their inner pigskin selves to get their home improvement projects done—so they’ll be free to watch pro football on Sunday. The well-acted ads are aimed at men and women. Indeed, the best of the bunch shows a woman berating herself to get her gardening done in time for kickoff.” Read more / See the ads

 

“Newly elected city counselor collecting Costco membership fees to lure retailer to town” at CBC News. “Normally, Costco won’t even consider a new location with a population of less than 250,000 and Bathurst’s population currently stands at about 15,000. But Barbeau contends the borders aren’t that clear cut…Residents from across the Chaleur region have already started dropping off $55-cheques at Bathurst City Hall as Costco membership down payments.” Read more

 

“Home Depot Malware Hints at Different Hackers Than Target’s” by Dune Lawrence & Michael Riley at Bloomberg. “A second cybersecurity researcher familiar with the investigation confirmed that the malware used is a different family and said its name, FrameworkPOS, is derived from the McAfee (MFE) antivirus agent it impersonates…The malware’s disguise was meant to keep Home Depot’s security team from taking a deeper look, even if the retailer wasn’t deploying McAfee products on its registers or elsewhere in its network.” Read more

 

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UK: “Amazon to join rush for Silicon Roundabout” by Murad Ahmed at Financial Times. “(Amazon), which already has two offices in the UK capital, now plans to move into Principal Place, a 15-story tower, which will be developed by 2016. Amazon will take up the vast majority of the 600,000 sq ft of space, which will also house shops, cafés and restaurants. The Brookfield Property Partners, the Canadian property group, will begin construction next month.” Read more

 

“Kroger Q2 Comp Sales +4.8%” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com. Read more

 

“Kroger CEO says he’s spending a lot of time on online sales plan” by Steve Watkins a Cincinnati Bus. Courier. “I would say we feel very good, but we’re not satisfied, and with the changes that we’ve made over the last couple of years we feel increasingly happy about what we’re seeing,” McMullen told analysts on a conference call.” Read more

 

“Clash of the titans: Wal-Mart rejects Apple Pay to pursue a competing mobile payment system” by Danielle Douglas at Washington Post. “Apple Pay will launch next month. The pilot for CurrentC began earlier this month; the nationwide roll-out is expected next year. Officials at Wal-Mart declined to comment beyond a statement that they have no plans to join Apple Pay. Apple did not return multiple requests for comment about Wal-Mart’s decision. Retailers may have greater financial incentive to join CurrentC than Apple Pay.” Read more

 

“Arthur T. Demoulas happy ‘just being a grocer’ “ by Casey Ross at Boston Globe. “In his first interview since agreeing to buy the company from rival relatives, Demoulas said Market Basket has already accomplished a remarkable turnaround thanks to employees who worked day and night to replenish shelves stripped bare by the summer-long family standoff over the business.” Read more

 

“For UPS, E-Commerce Brings Big Business and Big Problems” by Laura Steven at WSJ (Tiered Subscription). “When United Parcel Service Chief Executive David Abney bought his first book from Amazon.com about 15 years ago, e-commerce seemed no more complicated than ordering from a catalog. “Pretty basic,” he says. Online sales have mushroomed since then into a huge business for the package-delivery company—and a big problem…” Read more

 

“Elderly Homeless Couple Living in a Walmart Parking Lot Prayed for God to Send ‘Angels’ — and Here’s What Happened” by Billy Hallowell at The Blaze. “Brandi offered to buy the couple food. And while they at first resisted and said they didn’t want to be a burden, she insisted, saying it just “felt like the right thing to do.” After the encounter, one of the girls decided to launch a crowd-funding campaign to help raise money for the family. While a $1,000 goal was set, the campaign has already brought in more than $5,500.” Read more

 

 

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