Shipping things to your house is so 2011, so companies like Amazon are setting up physical lockers for you to pick your online orders up from. Today, Walmart has announced that they’re testing a similar program in about twelve stores. Basically, you can go online, order all of the things that you want, and your items will show up in this locker rather than your doorstep. This means that you… → Read More
Target today made a huge move to counteract the practice of “showrooming,” the term that refers to how consumers are using retail brick-and-mortar stores to go hands-on with items, which they then order online for less – often from competitors like Walmart and Amazon. The company announced that it is now extending its holiday price matching policy year-round, in order to match those prices offered… → Read More
Vudu is making it easier for users to convert their existing movies to digital, with the launch of a desktop app that will let them scan their discs at home. The VUDU To Go app, which will be available from the company’s website soon, will work on Macs and PCs, and will require users to enter a physical disc into their drive to show that they own it. → Read More
Amazon today announced a new feature called Friends and Family Gifting, aimed at helping customers better organize their gift lists and gift ideas for others, generate Facebook-enabled gift suggestions, receive reminders, and share their gift lists out via email or to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. → Read More
On Black Friday, discounted boxed smartphones seem to be the equivalent of dry foods in a post-apocalyptic movie.
This video, first spotted by the Telegraph, shows customers of a Walmart in Moultrie, Georgia duking it out over discounted pay-as-you-go smartphones. → Read More
Walmart’s experimentation with subscription-based commerce continues today, with the public launch of Goodies.co, a food subscription service featuring boxes of sample-sized treats shipped monthly. The service is the latest to emerge from @WalmartLabs, the retailer’s Silicon Valley-based innovation lab focused on quickly building, launching, and testing new business models that may or… → Read More
The world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, Walmart, is today announcing its plans to test a “same-day” delivery service in select markets called “Walmart To Go.” The program, beginning now, will run through the holiday season and will be available in Northern Virginia (outside D.C.), Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and San Jose/San Francisco. During the test period, shoppers will be able to go… → Read More
Once again, the list of places where you can buy one of Amazon’s Kindles has gotten shorter. According to a new report from Reuters, low-cost retail titan Walmart has completely dropped Amazon’s full line of Kindle e-readers from its online and brick-and-mortar stores.
Don’t hold your breath for your local Wally World to stock new models like Kindle Fire HD or the Kindle Paperwhite either — it… → Read More
Walmart is today unveiling a new search engine named “Polaris” which now powers Walmart.com, as well as the company’s mobile web and mobile apps, and offers a 10%-15% increased likelihood that a customer will complete their purchase, the company claims. The engine was built by a small team of fifteen engineers within Walmart’s @WalmartLabs division, an internal group of technologists which has… → Read More
Walmart’s attempt at crowdsourcing product selection has come to a close. The company has announced the winners of its Get on the Shelf contest, which was launched out of @WalmartLabs, the digital technology division of the retailer, earlier this year. You may know of @WalmartLabs as the startup-like group within Walmart which is now home to a number of acquired startups itself, including … → Read More
Walmart.com is launching a new way to checkout, targeting customers who don’t have credit or debit cards…or money in the bank for that matter. The company is now allowing customers to buy online and pay with cash. The change reflects the current economic conditions in the U.S., as Walmart states (citing FDIC figures) that one in four U.S. households is “unbanked” or “underbanked” – meaning they… → Read More
Walmart is announcing this evening that it has upped its investment in Yihaodian, a massive B2C e-commerce company based in China. Walmart, which originally funded the retail giant last year, has made another undisclosed investment in Yihaodian to bring Walmart’s total ownership stake to approximately 51 percent. Closing of the transaction is subject to Chinese government regulatory approval… → Read More
@WalmartLabs, the digital technology division of the world’s largest retailer, is launching a contest today which uses crowdsourcing techniques to determine which items the company should stock in its stores and on its website. The contest, called Get on the Shelf, will be heavily promoted by all of Walmart’s social media presences, including Facebook, Google+ and, most importantly, Twitter. → Read More
@WalmartLabs, the retailer’s digital technology division, has acquired Portland-based mobile agency Small Society. The company helped businesses create, develop and launch iOS applications, and has served a number of high-profile clients, including DoubleTree, Starbucks (the original app), Amazon (the Amazon Deals app), Whole Foods, the Democratic National Convention, WordPress, ZipCar and… → Read More
Retailing giant Walmart is launching its first-ever social gifting platform tonight, dubbed “Shopycat.” The service, previously in beta, is initially available as a Facebook application where it will also be promoted to the nearly 11 million Facebook users who have “liked” Walmart’s fan page. The app, which suggests gifts for friends based on their Facebook use, was built with technology Walmart … → Read More
Startups thrive on discontinuities and disruption. NPR and Kaiser Health News broke a major story that Walmart intends to become the largest provider of primary care in the country. While Walmart backed away from some of what was reported in their Request for Information, there’s enough wiggle room in their statement to drive a truck through. In my view, this is the biggest news in healthcare… → Read More
Walmart is launching an updated iPhone application and a new iPad app, in an effort to better connect customers’ offline and online shopping experiences. The iPhone app in particular brings a number of new features, including voice-enabled shopping list creation, barcode scanning and integrated manufacturers’ coupons, while the iPad app offers the ability to find items both online and at the local… → Read More
If you’re the kind of person who would much rather text or email someone rather than actually talk to them, Walmart and T-Mobile would like to have a word with you. The two companies have announced Monday morning that T-Mobile will introduce a new no-contract 4G rate plan exclusively at Walmart. → Read More
Walmart is planning to launch several new projects this holiday season based on the technology it acquired from the social media startup Kosmix back in April. Kosmix’s platform previously powered multiple services, including a Twitter search site called TweetBeat, a health vertical called RightHealth and a homepage where users could search the Web by topic.
But the core of what Kosmix was… → Read More
Netflix just got some more competition. Walmart launched its video streaming service today and don’t just write it off as a “me too” service. This is a serious offering.
Walmart bought Vudu 18 months ago and has slowly evolved the business. Vudu, like Netflix, is available on a number of set-top boxes, gaming systems, and media streamers. Users have access to 20,000 titles, including titles… → Read More
Roku is slowly entering the wide world of retail. The middle tier XD model hit Best Buy retail stores a few months back and now the same model is available in Walmart stores. Roku just made it official with a press release although the streamer has been available from Walmart.com for over a month now. Pricing is slightly lower with the XD model going for $78 rather than the $79 on Roku.com. A buck… → Read More
Wal-Mart this morning announced that it intends to acquire a minority stake in the holding company of Yihaodian, a massive B2C ecommerce company based in China. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days, the retail giant says.
Launched in July 2008, Yihaodian offers more than 75,000 products ranging from clothing to grocery to consumer electronics. Less than 3 years after launch, the… → Read More
iBuyPower has long been a player in the custom gaming scene. Now they’re available from Walmart, the US’ largest retail. Both AMD and Intel systems can be configured with Nvidia and AMD GPUs along with various RAM and hard drive options. It’s really your standard computer configurator system. Prices start out at $578 and do not seem much different than if ordered from iBuyPower… → Read More
Walmart this morning said it is buying Mountain View-based Kosmix, a heavily funded social media technology provider that has built a platform that enables users to filter and organize content in social networks, in order to connect people with information that matters to them, in realtime.
What is the retailing juggernaut doing picking up a social media startup, which has raised $55 million in… → Read More
It’s Nintendo 3DS weekend, and Walmart (of all companies~!) has a pretty decent deal going on. Select stores will accept old DS models for credit, credit that you can then apply toward the purchase of a 3DS. → Read More
(It’s funny because Peyton’s not going this year — or next) Hopefully it’s widely known by now that the weeks preceding the Super Bowl is the best time out of the whole year to buy an HDTV. Retailers combine the game’s hype with clearing out leftover Christmas inventory. It’s a home run for you! Wait…Touchdown! Walmart is getting in on the action with a… → Read More
Today must be opposite day, as Walmart will give you money when you purchase a Windows-Phone-7-powered Samsung Focus.
By using some crazy overlapping mail-in-rebate magic, you can score yourself $25 when you purchase the phone using the promo code 25rafpcver1 at the checkout.
Follow the jump for the details on how to pull off this hoodoo. → Read More
Wally World will soon stock [nearly] everyone’s favorite tablet computer. Starting this Friday, the entire iPad line will be on Walmart’s shelves for the Apple suggested retail price. This comes after Target started selling the tablet on October 3rd therefore making Walmart the forth brick & mortar retailer to sell the blockbuster device. While Walmart certain reaches different demographics… → Read More
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