“Walgreen’s quarterly profit soars 86 percent” at NY Post.  “Revenue from stores open at least a year climbed 4.6 percent in the quarter. Prescription sales, which accounted for about 64 percent of the company’s revenue, were up 6.1 percent. Revenue from the front end, or rest of the store, rising 1.6 percent.”  Read more

 

“How Walgreen Makes Money From Healthier Shoppers” by Kyle Stock at Businessweek.  “The company now has 85 million people enrolled in its loyalty program, launched about a year ago, and boasts that it is the fastest-growing such initiative in the world.  Walgreen carefully crafted the program to be stingy with the discounts. To get $5 off through Steps With Balance Rewards, a customer would have to walk 500 miles. But on any given day, participants are only allowed to log a maximum of 20 points—the equivalent of a one-mile walk.”  Read more

 

“Twitter Founder Reveals Secret Formula for Getting Rich Online” by Ryan Tate at Wired.  “The bottom line, Williams said, is that the internet is “a giant machine designed to give people what they want.” It’s not a utopia. It’s not magical. It’s simply an engine of convenience. Those who can tune that engine well — who solve basic human problems with greater speed and simplicity than those who came before — will profit immensely.”  Read more

 

“55% of Retail Internet Time Originates on Smartphones & Tablets” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “More specifically, smartphone internet usage in June totaled 44% of the retail internet minutes, jumping from the 17% in June 2010. Tablets accounted for 11% of the total minutes on retail sites this past June.”  Read more

 

“The social media manager is dead. Long live social media.” by Ryan Holmes at Fortune.  “Once the exclusive domain of digital gurus, Twitter, Facebook and other tools are gradually becoming everyone’s responsibility. “We are seeing an increased demand for social savvy candidates across the business — from human resources to product to customer service,” Amy Crow, Indeed’s communication director told Quartz.”  Read more

 

“Neiman Marcus To Permanently Offer Free Shipping And Returns For All Purchases”  “Neiman Marcus Group announced today that it would begin offering free standard shipping and returns for all domestic purchases made online through neimanmarcus.com and bergdorfgoodman.com as well as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores.”  Read more

 

“Target, Lego Emerge As Sought-After Brands This Holiday Season”  “40 percent of Ask.com users will avoid crowds by hitting the stores before Black Friday, traditionally considered the official start of the holiday shopping season…In store vs. online: East Coast shoppers like to be up close and personal, while folks on the West Coast seem to prefer the web for their holiday purchases. Ask.com mobile search data from East Coast locales skewed toward brick and mortar stores and physical addresses, whereas West Coasters more often navigated directly to online retailers.”  Read more

 

“Staples Buys Runa To Square Up To Amazon In The E-Commerce Game For Office Supplies” by Ingrid Lunden at Techcrunch.  “The news follows another development last week, when Staples announced the launch of Staples Connect, in partnership with smart home tech company Zonoff, to help create a hub for consumers to connect products in their home and control them via a single app.”  Read more

 

“Profits plummet 23.5 per cent at Tesco” by Michael Somerville at Retail Gazette.  “The results come as Tesco sold the majority of its US Fresh & Easy business to investment company Yucaipa, and announced a joint venture with leading food retailer China Resource Enterprises. The supermarket will take a 20 per cent stake across 3,000 Chinese stores.”  Read more

 

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