wal-mart

Grab a Super Big Gulp of 7-Eleven's New $3.99 Vino for the Masses

Diane Mehta — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:05:18 -0500

Now you can pull off the road, pop into 7-Eleven and grab a chardonnay with stone fruit tones or a plum-like cabernet sauvignon, both of which pair perfectly with Go-Go Taquitos or a 1/4-pound Big Bite.

Best Buy Planning for DVD-Death With Movie Download Service From Sonic

Kit Eaton — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:42:21 -0500

Best Buy and Roxio CinemaNow announced a partnership today that will result in a whole new movie downloading service. It'll apparently be integrated into pretty much every Web-enabled device Best Buy sells too, which is a good way of ensuring success.

Small Booksellers Game Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon

Chris Dannen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:40:55 -0400

Books: Nowhere is there a more poignant battle between small businesses and their corporate competition. While music, movies, and TV were long-ago digitized by the forces that be, books are the laggard medium, making for a fight that seems downright anthropological.

Booksellers Say Wal-Mart/Amazon Price War Is Anticompetitive

Chris Dannen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:54:31 -0400

Earlier this week I reported that Sears seemed to have won the book price wars started by Wal-Mart by giving away books essentially for free. At the time, I speculated that the move might actually have positive ramifications for smaller booksellers and for publishing companies. But if that's the case, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) isn't waiting around to find out.

Wal-Mart Plans to Grow by Shrinking

Clay Dillow — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:21:56 -0400

Wal-Mart Hacked: Is Credit Card Data Safe?

Chris Dannen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:05:06 -0400

Source code for Wal-Mart's point-of-sale computer system was hacked and siphoned into Eastern European computers in 2005 and 2006, Wired.com reported today. The scale of the attack calls into question whether major retailers have been adequately complying with credit-card security standards that have been in place for nearly a decade.

The Sustainable Cola Wars March On With Coke's "Commitment 2020" Plan

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:30:17 -0400

The green cola wars began in March, when both Pepsi and Coke made good on their plans to remove toxic hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) from their vending machines. Now the wars continue as Coke attempts to best Pepsi in overall sustainability with its "Commitment 2020" plan, which outlines the company's Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) goals.

Microsoft Poaches Former Apple Exec for Retail Rollout

Chris Dannen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:11:25 -0400

Microsoft recently announced they were planning to open up retail stores ala Apple near the latter company's existing locations. Leading the charge is former Wal-Mart merchandising guru David Porter, who was hired on as Redmond's VP of retail stores -- and by his side will be none other than George Blankenship, Apple's former real estate chief.

Samsung Follows in Wal-Mart's Footsteps With Multibillion Dollar Green Investment

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:16:43 -0400

Less than a week after Wal-Mart announced plans to build a massive "Sustainability Index" for every product it sells, Samsung has announced its own sustainability plan: a $4.3 billion investment to cut carbon emissions by 50% over four years and build environmentally-friendly products.

What Will Wal-Mart's Sustainability Index Look Like?

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:36:33 -0400

A few days ago, we took a look at some of the rumors surrounding Wal-Mart's proposed Sustainability Index for every product on the retailer's shelves.

Wal-Mart Developing "Audacious" Sustainability Index for Every Product It Sells

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:14:21 -0400

Say what you will about Wal-Mart's carbon-intensive practice of shipping products from overseas, the big box retailer is at least trying to up its sustainability quotient. According to the Big Money's Marc Gunther, Wal-Mart is set to unveil a comprehensive index on Thursday that will measure the sustainability of every product it sells.

Behind the Rebranding Campaign of Wal-Mart’s Scarlet Woman

Danielle Sacks — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0400

Julie Roehm is cornered. The lanky blonde, who's partial to skinny white jeans and ivory Ray-Bans, is stuck inside a brick McCastle in one of Bentonville's gated communities, wedged into the northwest corner of Arkansas between a cattle ranch and a snaking country road. Roehm bought her manse three-and-a-half years ago, 2 miles away from her new boss at the time, Wal-Mart's then-CEO Lee Scott.

Is Amazon the New Wal-Mart?

Clay Dillow — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:17:41 -0400

Egos at Amazon must be riding high this month. The retailer sold out of its flagship product, the Kindle DX, not once but twice. Then, to cap it all off, this morning investment research and banking firm Cowen and Company called Amazon a "next generation Wal-Mart."

Can Wal-Mart Be Sustainable? Ask Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard [video]

Tom Foster — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:28:18 -0400

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard stopped by the Fast Company HQ recently with his longtime friend and travel partner Tom Brokaw to talk about sustainable business. It's a subject he knows well, thanks to his years of innovation at Patagonia as well as his experience founding the organization One Percent for the Planet, an alliance of companies that pledge to donate 1% of revenues to environmental charities.

Does Wal-Mart's 2009 Sustainability Report Stand Up?

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:01:14 -0400

When it comes to sustainability, it's hard to be the world's largest public corporation. It oftentimes means tripling or quadrupling the green efforts of other large corporations just to get the same results. And according to its 2009 Sustainability Report, Wal-Mart has some lofty aspirations, including a 100% renewable energy supply and a zero waste policy.

UC Davis's Energy Efficiency Center Makes Conservation Sexy

Anya Kamenetz — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:00:00 -0400

The United States generates more energy than any other country in the world -- and wastes more than half of it. Efficiency, it turns out, can be a rich resource. In an unassuming strip mall off I-80 in California's Central Valley, those riches are being exploited by a kind of alchemy that combines science with business.

Organic Cotton: The Fabric of Our Lives?

Ariel Schwartz — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:17:18 -0400

Admit it: you don't pay always attention to whether the products you buy contain organic cotton or regular cotton. Neither do I, so it's a good thing that major companies are taking it upon themselves to use organic cotton--especially since regular cotton is covered in more toxic insecticides and pesticides than any other crop.

Google, Microsoft, IBM...and Now Wal-Mart: Which Will Build the Killer App for Digital Medical Records?

Danielle Sacks — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:11:59 -0400

Wal-Mart announced today that it's joining the digital medical records race.

Paradox of Thrift? Buy Local During the Recession

Danielle Sacks — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:32:04 -0400

I met up with a friend the other night who owns an up-and-coming handbag company in Brooklyn, New York. I asked her how she thought the little boutiques and restaurants lining our Carroll Gardens neighborhood could possibly survive the economic downturn, selling their wares of overpriced skinny jeans, hipster jewels, and mixologized cocktails. Her response: In this economy, she said, we have to support the local businesses that we want to see stick around.

Mike Duke Becomes CEO of Wal-Mart

Fast Company Calendar — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0500

Sun, February 1
Arise
Mike Duke Becomes CEO of Wal-Mart
Bentonville, Arkansas

Busted! No More Avoiding Sales Tax by Shopping Online?

Chris Dannen — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:43:06 -0500

In May, Amazon [AMZN] decided to sue the State of New York, which passed a law requiring the site to collect sales tax on items bought online by New Yorkers -- even if Amazon has no physical presence inside the state. According to the AP, other fiscally-troubled states are now ganging up to pass the same kind of laws.

In Business, Story Trumps Slogan

Fast Company Staff — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:30:26 -0500

1. The Mouthworm

Advertisers are particularly vulnerable to getting popular slogans stuck in their heads and riffing on them as opposed to creating a compelling story. That leads to DirecTV's "Fans don't let fans watch only 4 NFL games on cable" and Fox Reality Channel's "All reality, all the time."

2. The Big Picture

Who Gets "It"? Only A Few Industrial Manufacturers - Part II

Alder Crocker — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:18:06 -0400

If many manufacturers and their sales teams sell products and not solutions, does that mean that their customers buy products too, and not solutions?

Saving the World at Work

Kermit Pattison — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:15:07 -0400

Working for the man is becoming obsolete. Employees and customers want to work for and support companies that share their ethical values, says Sanders. He believes we are in the midst of a "responsibility revolution" in which sustainable business practices and social responsibility will become something no company can afford to ignore. Ultimately, it's all about doing good at work -- why sustainability and corporate responsibility are becoming easier -- and necessary for survival.

What do you mean by is saving the world at work?

How TerraCycle Plans to Takeover the Garbage Industry

Kermit Pattison — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:15:10 -0400

Garbage in, garbage out? This old cliché may become obsolete as trash becomes the raw material of innovation and green business. Upcycling, or turning disposable items into new products, is becoming big business. The leading player in this growing industry is TerraCycle, which makes a variety of products from recycled material: fertilizers from worm poop, backpacks from juice pouches and reusable tote bags from plastic bags. Based in Trenton, New Jersey, the 60-person company had $8 million in sales last year and expects $15 million this year.