Walmart

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.

The October deadline for retailers to accept EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa)-compliant, chip-based payment cards or face increased fraud liability has placed payment card security in the industry headlines. While important, securing card-based payments at the store is one small facet of the huge undertaking retailers face in protecting their entire network.

The mandate for retailers to accept chip-enabled, EMV-compliant payment cards starts Oct. 1. But how ready an individual retailer is may depend on what type of retailer they are.

At least that’s according to a new study from The Strawhecker Group (TSG), which shows that a leading 69% of shoe stores and 59% of department stores have EMV-ready POS terminals .

On the lower end of the spectrum, 24% of bookstores and 23% of stationery stores have EMV-ready terminals. Previous TSG research shows that 27% of all retailers will be EMV-ready by Oct. 1.

Walmart has extended its grocery pick up service to eight additional markets and is alluding to the possibility of a more significant roll out in the months ahead.

Walmart has taken a big step towards becoming 100% supplied by renewable energy.

The discounter entered into a long-term power purchase agreement to buy the majority of the electricity generated by Pattern Energy Group’s new Logan's Gap Wind facility.

The 200 megawatt facility is in Comanche County, Texas.

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, so of course everyone is thinking about the latest trends in... retail IT. Okay, nobody outside of the industry has visions of technology solutions dancing in their heads, but retailers do need to know what is developing on the IT front as their busiest season arrives.

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, so of course everyone is thinking about the latest trends in... retail IT. Okay, nobody outside of the industry has visions of technology solutions dancing in their heads, but retailers do need to know what is developing on the IT front as their busiest season arrives.

Woody Allen famously said 80% of success is showing up, and that saying may well apply to mobile retailing. According to a new study from Google, “Micro-moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile,” 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when conducting research.

In addition, showing up in mobile search ad results can increase unaided brand awareness 46%. And one in three smartphone users have purchased from a company or brand other than the one they intended because of information provided in the moment they needed it.