Deloitte: 56% of consumers will do holiday shopping at retailers that have experienced a data breach at CNBC. “The consumer’s now somewhat desensitized [to breaches],” said Rod Sides, principal at Deloitte Consulting. This is particularly true among higher-income households, according to the CreditCards.com report…only 31 percent of households earning $75,000 or more annually said they were likely to avoid affected stores, compared with 56 percent of those with an annual income of less than $30,000.” Read more

 

Time: “This Is How Walmart Can Win Its War With Apple” by Jacob Davidson. “Apple Pay supporters have a point. CurrentC is clunky—at least in its current beta state—and Apple Pay certainly wins on privacy by keeping all transaction data away from merchants. But as hard as it is for Walmart detractors to admit, CurrenC also also has some advantages over Apple Pay.” Read more

 

Forbes: Interview with Target’s Jeff Jones by John Ellett. “There’s a simple question that we ask that can guide people really easily, which is, “Are we doing something for our guest or to our guest?” And if we’re doing something for our guests it implies that there’s a value exchange: In return for information we are giving them something of value.” Read the interview

 

“Retailers Banning Apple Pay Are Taking a Big Security Risk” by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “That’s because the mobile payments app that they’re backing, called CurrrentC, won’t launch until sometime next year, leaving customers with the same old clone-friendly credit cards they’re using now.” Read more

 

India: Target aims to put start-ups on accelerator at Economic Times. “The new batch includes Torch Technologies, which has developed a hardware plug-in device for brick and mortar stores to make data-driven decisions on store opening hours, staff assignments, product placements and promotion strategies. Other solutions include tools to sell ads on a smartphone’s lock screen (Twiddly), platforms to help companies create 3D ads and apps (Visarity), a visual search engine for e-commerce (Wazzat Fashion), and tools for augmented reality (Whodat Spaces).” Read more

 

“Will Family Dollar’s shareholders play it safe?” by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Bus. Journal. “Family Dollar’s stock was trading at $77.78 at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday — hovering between the two bids. That signals the stock market believes Family Dollar remains in play, with a deal with Dollar General or a bidding war possible, says Brian Yarbrough, an equity analyst with Edward Jones. “I just don’t think by the way the stock’s trading they’re going to get enough votes to approve the (Dollar Tree) deal,” he says.” Read more

 

“Video of Lowe’s New ‘OSHbot'” by Mae Anderson at AP via Mercury News. See the video

 

“Having built out Home Depot Canada, Annette Verschuren turns to energy storage” by Zoe McNight at Financial Post.”I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a serial entrepreneur. I love building. So I loved Home Depot but I built it out. There was no growth left. I just said, “I’m still young. There’s something more.” So I went around the world with my husband to 17 countries. I took a year off. Water, energy, food: around the world, I saw that as the three big issues.” Read the interview

 

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“Alibaba’s market cap passes Wal-Mart” by Tom Huddleston Jr. at Fortune. “Wal-Mart’s status as the world’s largest retailer is on shaky ground today after a bump in Alibaba’s share price drove the Chinese e-commerce giant’s market capitalization to $251 billion, compared with roughly $246 billion for Wal-Mart.” Read more

 

Dallas: 4th Nebraska Furniture Mart Expects to Draw 8 Million Customers per Year by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “Grandscape is a project being built by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway that’s estimated to cost a whopping $1.5 billion. The first of two phases, including the 560,000-square-foot furniture and appliance store, will cost more than $400 million and opens next year…Rock & Brews, will also be in the first phase. It was co-founded by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss. Rock & Brews serves American comfort food and has a pet-friendly patio.” Read more

 

“Grocers piling in to Fenway amid new urban competition” by Taryn Luna at Boston Globe. “In the past, there weren’t buildings in sight that were appropriate for these kinds of grocery or Target stores because they had very exact physical requirements,” Shen said. “These are brand-new buildings that are tailored specific to grocery stores and that is making it attractive.” Read more

 

“No one really wants a “smart” washing machine” by Drew Harwell at Washington Post. “We’re a little bit of a hammer looking for a nail right now,” Chris Quatrochi, Whirlpool’s global director of user experience and connectivity…It’s a big concession from one of the most notable champions of the buzzy “Internet of Things,” in which even our humblest household devices gain web-enabled powers of their own.” Read more

 

“Tesco’s Downfall Is a Warning to Data-Driven Retailers” by Michael Schrage at HBR. “The harsh numbers suggest that all this data, all this analytics, all the assiduous segmentation, customization and promotion have done little for Tesco’s domestic competitiveness since Leahy’s celebrated departure. As the Telegraph story further observed, “…judging by correspondence from Telegraph readers and disillusioned shoppers, one of the reasons that consumers are turning to [discounters] Aldi and Lidl is that they feel they are simple and free of gimmicks.” Read more

 

“Here’s What Amazon’s First Customer Bought” at Business Insider.  Read more

 

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