News

Expanded farm, ranch, automotive and pet products enabled True Value to grow second quarter same store sales 2.2% and report broad-based strength at its nationwide network of 4,500 stores.
 
Revenue was $429.5 million, an increase of 4.5% from $411.2 million for the same period a year ago. The cooperative posted a quarterly net margin of $23.2 million, down 2.5% compared to $23.8 million from a year ago.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has made a follow-on order for GenKey fuel cell units from Plug Power Inc. Wal-Mart will add an additional, seventh, GenKey site to the original six-site contract it announced in February 2014.

Petaluma, Calif. – E-commerce platform provider MarketLive has entered a strategic agreement with Amazon Payments, offering the ability for MarketLive retailers to help streamline the login and checkout process and increase conversion numbers. The integration of login and pay with Amazon with the MarketLive platform allows shoppers on MarketLive retail shopping sites to leverage their existing Amazon account to quickly login and select their shipping and payment information that they use for Amazon.

Ace Hardware will be implementing uStudio’s video platform to drive its sales training processes. The enterprise video platform-as-a-service provider is offering sales presentations and best practices techniques via the video to Ace’s more than 4,800 stores and 70,000 sales staff.

The goal of the video training program, according to uStudio, is for every salesperson to engage with customers more effectively and deliver on Ace Hardware's brand promise: "Being the most helpful hardware stores on the planet."

Fort Worth, Texas – Financial woes continue for RadioShack, which was recently notified it is in danger of being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. According to a new report from Moody’s Investor Service, RadioShack is likely to run out cash by the end of October 2015.

Knoxville, Tenn. -- Regal Cinemas is partnering with Coca Cola to launch a promotion called "Tweet-a-Coke.” The promotion gives customers the chance to share a Coke via Twitter.

Moviegoers can buy and Tweet a friend a Coca-Cola at participating Regal Cinemas across the country. They can connect a credit card to their Twitter account, then tweet a friend using @TweetACoke, the word "enjoy" and their friend's Twitter handle.

Walmart’s sustainability efforts are benefitting fuel cell provider Plug Power Inc., which said a contract it secured with the retailer earlier this year has already been expanded.

Plug Power said it received an order from Walmart for a seventh on site hydrogen fuel cell power solution branded as GenKey.

Plug Power entered into a contract with Walmart back in February for six of its GenKey solutions consisting of GenDrive fuel cells, GenFuel infrastructure construction and hydrogen fuel supply and GenCare on-site maintenance.

Phoenix – Jana Partners, the largest shareholder in PetSmart by one million shares with a 9.9% disclosed ownership stake, is pressuring PetSmart to sell the company. In a letter to the PetSmart board of directors, Jana said it will seek to install new, pro-sale board members at the upcoming annual meeting if PetSmart does not start seeking a sale.