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18 May 2010 10:59

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Biz: Wal-Mart has insane quarterly revenues, just an FYI

  • $99.1
    billion     the amount the super-retailer
    sold in revenues this quarter alone,
    a new record
  • $3.3
    billion     the size of the company’s
    quarterly net profits (also a record); shares are up 2 percent source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 May 2010 10:36

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Biz: Don’t expect credit companies to give up the war on card fees

  • They plan to keep fighting for them. The interchange fees, which merchants often complain about as being too high for certain transactions, could put a big crimp in Visa and MasterCard’s bottom line if regulated as part of a broader financial reform package. “We lost this battle. It’s a big battle,” said MasterCard’s President for U.S. Markets Chris McWilton. “But the war wages on and we’ll be working really hard over the next week or so to stop this.” If you own a small business, watch this battle. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 May 2010 20:59

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Biz, U.S.: The Senate wants to take the bite out of debit-card “swipe fees”

  • 64 senators voted to add the amendment to the financial reform bill
  • 65% of debit transactions
    will be affected by
    the changes
  • yes the bill will allow incentives for those who pay with cash source
  • » The addition, explained: Banks and other financial institutions charge fees for consumers to use debit cards. The fees aren’t significant for big-ticket retail chains but can hurt the bottom line of small businesses or those that specialize in selling lots of inexpensive items (say, 7-Eleven or McDonald’s). These fees can get passed down to the consumer as a result. The bill limits how much those fees can be, but leaves exceptions for banks with less than $10 billion in assets. Credit unions, by the way, are complaining loudly about these changes, in particular.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2010 21:47

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Biz: No Sams allowed: Wal-Mart lays off a ton of Sam’s Club employees

  • 11,200 workers aren’t good enough to be in Sam’s Club anymore
  • 10% of Sam’s workers are going away, mostly product demonstrators
  • 10% of Sam’s workers are apparently product demonstrators source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2010 10:58

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Biz: Striking a chord: H&M unused clothing incident gets people talking

Should retailers give their unsold merchandise to the homeless? After a NYC H&M store ripped up clothing instead, the backlash brought a fresh light to the issue. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2010 15:57

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Biz: Big-box retail survivors eating the corpses of the deceased

  • cause A bunch of retail spaces have closed during the recession – including 8,000 stores expected in the first half of this year alone.
  • effect Chains still doing well – including Forever 21, Kohl’s and Staples – are taking advantage of cheap rents to launch new concepts. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

30 Dec 2009 20:59

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Biz: Ho-ho-holy crap, did you see this online holiday sales number?

  • $27 billion in “wow that’s a lot of money” money source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

29 Dec 2009 10:23

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Biz: Consumers more confident, convinced they can do anything now

  • 50.6 the consumer confidence level in November; uhh, are we sure we can do this?
  • 52.9 the consumer confidence level this month; see, it went up! You can do anything, guys! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Dec 2009 10:17

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Biz: Bad idea: Installing a security camera in Walmart bathroom

  • They say they were trying to monitor employee theft. Boom chicka wow. Seven Walmart employees (both current and former) are suing a Pennsylvania location that installed a security camera in the unisex washroom. Two employees in loss-prevention installed it, and it was found in March of last year. Three employees complained, and were fired for complaining. They’re part of the suit. Just think of how People of Walmart could use this technology, though! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Dec 2009 10:41

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Biz: Ho, ho, ho! Holiday spending at retail was up this year, guys

  • 3.6% increase in retail sales over last year; yay source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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