“Will grocery stores be forced to install $30,000 talking carts that help shoppers make better food choices?” at Daily Mail.”The USDA first recommends that SNAP shoppers be rewarded for their healthy food choices with movie tickets or discounts. SNAP shoppers will be helped meeting their healthy food quote with high-tech shopping carts. These so-called ‘MyCarts’ Will be color-coded and physically divided by differently healthy food groups and notify when the shopper has enough to qualify for a reward. ‘You achieved a MyCart healthy shopping basket!’ it will say.” Read more

 

“Harris Poll Names Top Regional Grocers” at Digital Journal.  “Hy-Vee, Publix, Wegmans and Costco receive highest brand equity scores” Read the release

 

NY Times:  “YouTube Stars Sell Target to College Set” by Stuart Elliot.  “Ann Le, Tiffany Garcia and Michael Balalis, a.k.a. Mikey Bolts, are unlikely to be household names in households of consumers in their 30s, 40s or 50s. But Target is hoping those monikers mean money as it seeks to reach members of the millennial generation who are shopping for apparel, electronics and home furnishings as they head to college.” Read more

 

Washington Post:  “Home Depot, Lowe’s bring the Internet of Things to DIYers” by Mohana Ravindranath. ” Before he started using Iris, Queens resident Hsi-Pei Liao said he rarely shopped at Home Depot or Lowe’s. But after his home was robbed in April 2013… Liao began installing motion sensors and cameras throughout his three-bedroom house….Lowe’s has a partnership with State Farm, giving its customers an insurance discount if they agree to share their Iris usage data.” Read more

 

“Best Buy CEO Joly is resolute on the issue of online sales taxes” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune.  “While we match Internet prices, I cannot match the sales tax,” Joly said, noting that Best Buy’s operating margins are around 3 to 4 percent. “I cannot fight with an 8 percent price disadvantage.” Target executives have also met repeatedly with members of Congress to advocate for the bill and will continue to do so, said company spokeswoman Dustee Jenkins.” Read more

 

“Arkansas Business’ Executive Compensation List” by Gwen Moritz. “(Doug) McMillon…total compensation in fiscal 2013 of $25.6 million. The bulk of that — $23 million — came in the form of stock awards…The four highest-paid executives of Arkansas public companies work for Wal-Mart.” Read more

 

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“Tesco Replaces CEO as Trading Weakens” by Peter Evans at WSJ.  “Tesco said Chief Executive Philip Clarke would leave the company in October to be replaced by Unilever executive Dave Lewis…Tesco said on Monday that…profit in the first half of its financial year would be below expectations…Mr. Lewis, a 27-year Unilever veteran, will join Tesco on October 1. Mr. Clarke will then step down as chief executive, but remain with Tesco until January 2015, the company said.” Read more

 

“Millionaires prefer Facebook over Twitter” by Robert Frank at CNBC.  “The wealth research firm said 57 percent of the 1,300 millionaires in the poll responded that they use Facebook, while 41 percent use LinkedIn and 10 percent use Twitter.” Read more

 

Boston Globe: “At least 8 Market Basket employees fired, protesters say”  “At least eight Market Basket employees were fired Sunday, including organizers of a protest that has targeted the grocery chain in recent days by workers pressing for the return of ousted president Arthur T. Demoulas. Seven of those fired received a letter that arrived by courier, according to the employees or their colleagues. In some cases, a delivery person waited curbside for workers to return home from weekend activities to deliver packages with termination letters inside.” Read more

 

“Visa, MasterCard lose ruling versus retailers over credit card fees” by Andrew Longstreth at  Reuters via Chicago Tribune. “A federal judge declined on Friday to dismiss antitrust lawsuits filed against Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc by retailers who opted out of an estimated $5.7 billion class action settlement in 2012 over transaction fees.” Read more

 

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