“To Catch Up, Walmart Moves to Amazon Turf” by Claire Cain Miller & Stephanie Clifford at NY Times.  “Walmart  is trying hard to prove it is one of the cool kids.  For example, at press events in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart’s headquarters, the menu tends to be ham sandwiches, chips and iced tea. At a recent event in San Bruno, Ca. it was white asparagus panna cotta with house-smoked salmon tartar, morel mushroom macaroons and charcuterie from a whole pig. Borrowing a page from Google and Twitter, the company offers hack days when engineers can work on whatever they want.”  Read more

 

“Jeff Bezos’ ‘shadow’ most coveted job at Amazon” by Brad Stone at SF Gate.  “The man holding this job – and they have all been men so far – has had direct, almost unlimited access to CEO Jeff Bezos for as long as two years. He follows Bezos around, travels with him, sits in on his meetings, and confers with him at the end of many workdays.  The job title is unofficially the “shadow” to the CEO, or more formally, the technical assistant or technical adviser.”  Read more

 

“Reports on all-clear for Walmart India are premature” at The City Wire.  “Wal-Mart confirmed they are still are waiting to hear from India’s enforcement directorate.  “We respect the process and have cooperated with the government throughout the ED’s review and investigation. To our knowledge, the ED has not yet officially released its findings, so we have not seen the result of its review and cannot comment,” Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner said.”  Read more

 

“Lowe’s Offers Hertz Vehicle Rentals Via In-Store Kiosk”  See the Website

 

“Target Tagged With Falling Earnings Estimates” at Forbes.  “Earnings estimates for the fiscal years 2014 and 2015 have been reduced materially over the past sixty days. The Zacks Consensus Earnings per share estimate has declined $0.43 to $3.88 for 2014 and $0.43 to $5.00 for 2015.”  Read more

 

“Sears Canada’s new CEO sticks to turnaround game plan” by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post.  “There are strategic elements around the idea of focus, and amassing your forces,” said Douglas Campbell, who was a U.S. marine pilot before he became a corporate turnaround specialist. “You have got to be able to focus on a few simple things that you do well.”  For Mr. Campbell, 43, that means sticking to the plans put in place under the department store chain’s last CEO, Calvin McDonald, who left the retailer abruptly three weeks ago.”  Read more

 

“Dollar General Introduces New Fueling Station”  “Dollar General today announced the introduction of its first fuel station, as part of a test pilot project. The new fuel pumps are located at the Dollar General Market in Hanceville, Alabama.”  Read more

 

“Disruptions: Silicon Valley’s Next Stop: The Kitchen” by Nick Bilton at NY Times.  “While a growing number of start-ups like Chirp Farms have received money from big venture-capital firms, exactly how these companies plan to compete with the entrenched giants of the food industry has not been crystal clear…“What is happening right now is that Silicon Valley is starting to see opportunities for disruption in other areas besides traditional technology,” Ms. Miller said.”  Read more

 

” ‘Amazon tax’ for sales thrown out in Illinois” at CNBC.  “The 6-1 ruling represented the first time a court had invalidated an Internet sales tax law among 18 states that have them. It brought an immediate cry from traditional, store-based retailers for Congress to step into regulating taxes on web sales.”  Read more

 

“Facebook, Google agree to join forces on ad sales” by Susan Krashinsky at Globe & Mail.  “With the new agreement, starting in a few months Google will be able to include Facebook ads in its DoubleClick Bid Manager software, which helps marketers to bid on and purchase digital advertising across the Web (on Google’s own DoubleClick ad exchange as well as other digital ad exchanges.).”  Read more

 

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