NY Times: “Finding a Door Into Banking, Walmart Prepares to Offer Checking Accounts” by Hiroko Tabuchi & Jessica Silver-Greenberg. “Walmart is teaming up with Green Dot, known for its prepaid payment cards, to supply checking accounts to almost anyone over 18 who passes an ID check…Daniel Eckert, senior vice president at Walmart, said on Tuesday that the accounts would be available nationwide by the end of October. The accounts are intended to be low-cost alternatives to traditional bank checking accounts, with no fees for overdrafts or bounced checks and no minimum account balance.” Read more

 

WSJ: “Fraudulent Transactions Surface in Wake of Home Depot Breach” by Robin Sidel. “Air Academy Federal Credit Union has caught roughly $20,000 worth of attempted fraudulent transactions tied to cards that were exposed from the Home Depot breach, said Brad Barnes, chief financial officer at the credit union in Colorado Springs, Colo. “It’s not huge, but for a three-week period it’s a big start,” he said. The credit union has beefed up staffing in its fraud department, particularly on weekends when criminals often try to use counterfeit cards.” Read more

 

Deloitte: Expect 4% – 4.5% Holiday Sales Increase by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “That represents a modest improvement over last year’s 2.8 percent gain to $944 billion.” Read more

 

“Self-checkout terminals eyed as possible culprit in Home Depot breach” by Richard Byrne Reilly at Venture Beat. “Security experts told VentureBeat that self-checkout terminals typically run Windows XP, use store-bought MS 56 or 128 bit encryption, and are easier to crack than POS terminals. While POS terminals are typically operated by cashiers, self-checkout, as the term applies, generally has no physical oversight.” Read more

 

Study: Shopping on Amazon up to 15% cheaper than buying from stores by Tricia Duryee at Geek Wire. “The study, conducted by William Blair, an investment bank, analyzed 4,000 items across 40 retailers to evaluate the competitive landscape. On average, it said Amazon’s prices are 5.9 percent lower at the 40 retailers when you are a non-Prime customer in a state charging online sales tax. The Amazon pricing advantage increases to 8.3 percent when shipping fees go away (in the case of orders exceeding $35 or Amazon Prime eligible items); and the price savings can go as high as 15 percent for Prime customers in states that do not collect sales tax.” Read more

 

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“In Germany, Amazon Keeps Unions at Bay” by Sarah Sloat at WSJ “German unions are accustomed to wielding formidable influence. Union officials sit on supervisory boards at blue-chip companies. They have a track record of wearing down foreign employers. Not so at Amazon.com Inc. For the 16 years the online retailer has done business in Germany, it has shunned the nation’s consensus-driven labor model. It ignores trade unions and largely dictates contract terms at its nine German distribution centers, where it employs about 9,000.” Read more (Subscription)

 

“GroupM Takes 49% Stake in Target’s Media Agency” by Alexander Bruell at Ad Age. “For Haworth, the alignment means “full access” to GroupM’s digital technology and trading tools, as well as a “global expansion platform” for the shop and its clients.” Read more

 

“Kroger: 20% of shoppers plan and prepare for grocery shopping by going online beforehand” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com “Kroger keeps studying online shopping because 60 percent of all consumers consider trips to the grocery store their least favorite chore…”When you step into the future, grocery shopping may not always mean going to the store,” (Matt) Thompson told a packed auditorium at the D² Cincinnati digital marketing conference at the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati in Downtown.” Read more

 

UK: 78% of online shoppers will turn to Amazon if their preferred brand’s website is poor at The Drum. “Only 22 per cent would go to a retail outlet. Highlighting consumer willingness to purchase directly from their preferred brands’ transactional sites, the research found that nearly half of all shoppers (49 per cent) expect to pay less when buying directly from a brand.” Read more

 

“Kmart Introduces ‘Trending Toy Ticker’ “ “The ticker will continually update with the top-selling toys as the season progresses, for parents who want the latest update on the most buzz-generating toys.” Read the release

 

“Best Buy pairs up with designers to dress up smartphones” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Best Buy Co. Inc. on Wednesday will announce three new collaborations with well-known designers — Nanette Lepore, Anna Sui, and Isaac Mizrahi New York — on exclusive lines of colorful, floral, and striped cases for smartphones, tablets and laptops. The tech accessories will be available for preorder on its website and will hit stores Oct. 5.” Read more / See the video

 

“Home Depot’s Carol Tome Sells $516,919 of Company Stock” at Insider Trading.  Read more

 

“Bed, Bath & Beyond Q2 Comp Sales +3.4%” Read the release

 

“AT&T starts bundling Amazon Prime with HBO and broadband” by Todd Bishop at Geek Wire. “AT&T is now offering Amazon Prime subscriptions as part of a bundle that includes broadband access, U-verse TV and an HBO subscription. The $39/month package, designed to appeal to would-be cord-cutters, was spotted by a reader at DSLReports.” Read more

 

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