Consumer Affairs & Relations

Framingham, Mass. – The proposed $6.3 billion merger of Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. has cleared a global regulatory hurdle. Staples has received clearance from the Commerce Commission of New Zealand to acquire all the outstanding shares of Office Depot, which trades in New Zealand as OfficeMax.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores announced that board chairman Rob Walton is stepping down and will be succeeded by vice chairman Greg Penner, who is Walton's son-in-law. Walton relinquished the position of chairman at the company's annual meeting on June 5.

Bellevue, Wash. – American Greetings is the most trusted online retailer. According to the 2015 E-Commerce Online Trust Audit and Honor Roll from The Online Trust Alliance (OTA), 2015’s top 10 most trustworthy online retailers (11 due to a scoring tie) are American Greetings, Cabela's, Drs. Foster & Smith, Fanatics, GameStop, The Honest Company, Jomashop, Kate Spade New York, LivingSocial, Netflix, and SparkFun Electronics.

San Jose – A new privacy policy which will take effect at PayPal Inc. on July 1 will require users to allow PayPal, its affiliates and service providers to contact them at provided telephone numbers via autodialed or prerecorded call or text message. While the policy prohibits PayPal from sharing user contact information with outside third parties, contracted billing and collection companies are permitted to use customer phone numbers.

According to Fortune, CEO Doug McMillon may be the best prepared executive to lead the company since Sam Walton.

The magazine details how McMillon is guiding the retail giant in the Age of Disruption.

Read more by clicking here.

New York – Top management continues to leave Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. in the wake of accusations the retailer sold Chinese hardwood laminate products that had illegal levels of formaldehyde. Ray Cotton, chief compliance officer of Lumber Liquidators, has resigned from the company.

Boston - For the third year in a row, Amazon claims the top spot in Reputation Institute’s annual survey of America’s top 50 most reputable companies in the retail industry. Amazon is the only company of all the retail companies surveyed to achieve an excellent reputation.

Supermarket chains moved up in the ranking this year, with Publix ranking second and Whole Foods jumping five spots to third place in 2015.

America’s top 10 companies in the retail industry in 2015 are:

1. Amazon.com

For the third year in a row, Amazon has claimed the top spot in the Reputation Institute’s annual survey of America’s 50 most reputable companies in the retail industry.