Costco Wholesale Corp.

Companies that are partially or entirely devoted to retailing dominate a new list of top brands among U.S. consumers.

According to a new study from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Apple is the top brand with U.S. consumers. Following are Amazon and Walmart. Other retailers in the top 10 list include Netflix, Costco and Chick-Fil-A.

But the survey also showed that Walmart and Apple rank first and third among America's least favorite brands, indicating that "brand love" can be volatile and turn quickly negative.

Ikea and Best Buy are among the top retailers supporting a U.S.-sponsored pledge to act on combating climate change.

President Barack Obama met with a group of business leaders Monday at the White House to announce the signatories of the American Business Act on Climate Pledge.

"The perception is that this is an environmental issue, it's for tree-huggers, and that hard-headed business people either don't care about it or see it as a conflict with their bottom lines," Obama said.

Costco is adding a bit of digital expertise to its ranks with its latest new board member.

Retailers constantly experiment to serve customer needs in new ways and HSN has taken that concept to a new level with an initiative involving Ford.
 
Through the end of October, HSN and Ford Motor Company are offering a “preferred price event” based on the core value proposition of a prenegotiated price on a wide range of the automaker’s models.
 

The competition for retailers selling online just got a lot more intense with a new price-match policy from Target just ahead of the prime holiday shopping season.

Beginning Oct. 1, Target will price-match the websites of 29 major retailers in stores and for purchases from their website.

A strong dollar and tumbling gas prices made Costco’s fourth quarter sales results seem weak. They weren’t and now the company plans to open 12 more clubs before year end.

Costco Wholesale Corp. is getting down to business on processing payments from small-to-mid-sized business (SMB) customers.

The wholesale chain is extending an existing relationship with payment processing solutions provider Elavon aimed at improving service and security for SMB members.

The payment processing program for Costco’s SMB members includes POS, mobile and e-commerce solutions, all of which adhere to EMV and PCI compliance requirements. Costco members can obtain program services online and in-store.

The latest posting from the McMillanDoolittle blog:

Target announced a partnership with Instacart in Target’s hometown of Minneapolis. This is Target’s first experiment with same-day delivery of products, and it coincides with the expansion of their grocery and fresh business.