Mass Merchant

Seattle – Amazon is upping the ante with physical retailers with its launch of free same-day delivery for orders of more than $35 to members of its Prime program.

The new service, called Prime Free Same-Day Delivery, is available for more than one million items and in 14 U.S. metropolitan areas. Orders must be placed before noon local time to be delivered by 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Amazon is upping the ante in the fulfillment wars by expanding its same-day delivery service for Prime members to more markets and making it free.

The company added two new markets, San Diego and Tampa Bay, to its list of same-day delivery areas while also reducing the price to free for orders over $35. The company already offers same-day delivery in several regions, including New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.

The seminal digital event that occurred in the year 2007 was the introduction of the first iPhone, but there was another noteworthy development that year involving Walmart e-commerce.

A few months after the iPhone made headlines, Walmart rolled out its buy online, pick up in store service branded as Site to Store and helped give meaning to the word omnichannel. In digital terms, 2007 was eons ago.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- CBL & Associates Properties announced the opening of the redevelopment at CoolSprings Galleria in Nashville (Franklin), Tenn. Designed to significantly enhance the offerings at the shopping center, the redevelopment of the former Sears location includes adding a mix of new fashion stores and fine dining options as well as a new mall entrance to improve mall circulation.

The Walmart shareholders meeting is next week and while the event is great for the retailer’s associates, suppliers looking for deeper insight into new priorities and key initiatives will be better served by attending a more content rich event the following week.

That’s when the Center for Retailing Excellence in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas plans to hold its annual Emerging Trends in Retail conference. The event, scheduled for Thursday, June 11, is especially noteworthy for several reasons this year.

Fairfax, Va. -- Geeknet Inc., which announced a deal on Tuesday to be acquired by teen retailer Hot Topic, said Wednesday it had received a new and higher offer. The company said it would review the new offer.

Geeknet, parent company of online retailers ThinkGeek and ThinkGeek Solutions, said it received an offer from a "strategic buyer" that valued it at $20 per share in cash, or approximately $134.6 million.

Footwear and accessories retailer DSW Inc., successfully navigated the west coast port challenges that plagued other retailers first quarter performance to deliver strong results while furthering an endless aisle agenda.

The company said its sales for the period ended May 2, increased 9.4% to $655 million and same store sales accelerated to 5.1% when compared to a 3.7% increase during the first quarter the prior year. Net income increased 22.6% to $47.4 million while earnings per share increased 26.2% to 53 cents.

London -- The most valuable retail brand in the world lacks physical stores. At least that’s according to the tenth annual BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, released by WPP and Millward Brown. Chinese online giant Alibaba took the top spot of the retail, with a brand value of $66.4 billion, overtaking Amazon, at $62.3 billion.