“Home Depot Starts Selling 3-D Printers in Stores for First Time” by Selena Wang at Bloomberg.  “Home Depot is selling devices from MakerBot in 12 locations as part of a pilot project, the companies said. The effort will include stores in California, Illinois and New York…“It’s a pilot for us to test a potential disruptive technology, and to make sure we are on the forefront of a new innovative product,” Joe Downey, an online merchant at Atlanta-based Home Depot, said in an interview.” Read more

 

…Video:  See the MakerBot in Action in Home Depot Endcap at 3ders.  See the video

 

Millionaire Corner Survey:  “46% of Affluent shoppers regularly shop at Wal-Mart, 45% shop at Target” by Donald Liebenson at Motley Fool. “The highest percentage of affluent households surveyed are shopping at Home Depot (57%), followed by Lowe’s (46%)…Four in 10 frequent Costco.” Read more

 

“Walmart’s iTunes Rival Vudu Gets a New Boss” by Peter Kafka at re/code.  “Jeremy Verba is now the unit’s general manager and VP, reporting to Walmart eCommerce boss Gibu Thomas…Verba has a wide-ranging digital resume, with stops including AOL, CNET and E! Online. His most recent posting was a one-year stint running dating site eHarmony; prior to that he had been GM at Zynga.” Read more

 

“3 Things Wall Street Missed on Family Dollar” by  Brian Sozzi at The Street via Dallas News.  “Family Dollar now needs at least a 2% same-store sales increase to “break-even,” according to Chief Financial Officer Mary Winston. That type of increase appears off in the distance as Family Dollar prices its merchandise more competitively and deals with the economic challenges of urban communities.” Read more

 

“Icahn Admits ‘Setback’ at Family Dollar” at Reuters.  “Icahn said: “The leadership, to say the least, is questionable at Family Dollar and it’s been that way for many years. Howard (Levine) might be a nice guy but he is far from the right leader for Family Dollar…”We believe Family Dollar and Dollar General should merge as they would make for perfect partners. It is obvious that Family Dollar, especially in light of its record and the looming competition on the horizon, could use a partner…”However, unfortunately, the announcement of Dollar General Chief Executive Rick Dreiling’s retirement is a setback to an activist player like us.” Read more

 

NY Times:  “Amazon, a Friendly Giant as Long as It’s Fed” by David Streitfeld.  “Amazon is not evil, but it is ruthlessly, ruthlessly efficient,” said Andrew Rhomberg, founder of JellyBooks, an e-book discovery site. “As consumers, we love Amazon’s efficiency and low prices,” he said. “But as suppliers, it is a toad that is hard to swallow.” Read more

 

“Amazon rebuffs French ban on free delivery by charging one cent” by Ben Miller at Puget Sound Business Journal.  “Amazon.com Inc. was singled out by the French government earlier this year, when free delivery of books in France was banned, starting last week. So Amazon has retaliated by charging French book customers just one cent to deliver the books.” Read more

 

“Retail in the digital age: Chicken dances and more” by Kristina Yates at CNBC.  “Tim Lowe, president of Lowes Foods, didn’t immediately buy what Lindstrom was selling, however. “I’d be a fool to say that I was all in on day one,” Lowe said. “I was scared to death, to be perfectly honest with you. This is very much outside of our traditional zone.” Read more / See the video

 

“Activist or Capitalist?  How the ‘Food Babe’ Makes Money” at Ad Age.  “Another company she has plugged in editorial posts is Nutiva, which sells organic “superfood” such as hemp and chia seeds. The company’s affiliate-marketing program promises a 10% cut of sales on referrals, according to its website. The company did not return calls for comment.” Read more

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