Home Depot

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday said it will no longer provide health benefits to part-time associates who work less than 30 hours a week in a move to control its rising healthcare costs. The chain, the nation’s largest private employer, said the decision will impact about 2% of its total U.S. work force.

The announcement follows similar decisions by Target, Home Depot, Walgreens and Trader Joe’s to cut health insurance benefits for part-time associates.  

By Randy Vanderhoof

After large-scale payment data breaches at Target, Sally Beauty, Michaels, Niemen Marcus and the recently confirmed breach at Home Depot, it seems that no retailer is safe from skilled hackers. The incidents also bring to light such questions as “why are payment system breaches happening more frequently?” and “how can they be stopped?”

Home Depot is extending its e-commerce capabilities westward with the opening of a dedicated online fulfillment center in California.

Located in Perris, California, the 858,953-sq.-ft. facility will initially employ approximately 150 people, and eventually employ up to 300. It is one of three new DFCs opening across the US in addition to the company’s existing network.

The Locust Grove DFC opened outside of Atlanta, Georgia in February and the Ohio DFC is scheduled to open next year.

By R.J. Carver, Corporate Development Associate, Plug and Play Tech Center

Seattle -- Social shopping, e-commerce videos, free shipping and in-store pickup rank among the top trends expected to drive holiday sales for online retailers, according to Blueocean Market Intelligence, a global analytics and insights provider.

New York – More than 100 retailers, including Macy’s and J.C. Penney, have reportedly joined forces with the New York Police Department to create the Metropolitan Organized Retail Crime Alliance. According to the New York Daily News, the alliance will share information on criminals and scams targeting retailers and their customers.

The spiffy new look Walmart store associates are sporting these days is drawing complaints from some quarters who think the company went too far in striving for a modest degree of uniformity in the appearance of employees.

Apparently, it is now too much for Walmart to require employees to dress a certain way while they are at work with the dispute centering on what constitute a uniform versus a dress code and whether Walmart should pay for the clothes employees wear to work.

Seattle – The retail industry is expected to benefit from mobile commerce, free shipping offers, in-store pickup promotions and e-commerce videos during the 2014 holiday season. According to global analytics and insights firm Blueocean Intelligence, the top six digital and social media trends that will drive sales for retailers in the upcoming holiday season are: