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Walmart Finally Coming to Chicago?

Beth Gaston Moon — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, Wal-Mart (WMT), Politics

After years of pretty staunch resistance, Walmart (WMT) may finally be gaining access to the nation's third-biggest market: Chicago. In the past, labor unions and other organizations had banned the retailing giant from the metro area, citing unreasonable salaries and unfair treatment.

In an effort to respond to these concerns, WMT has devised the "Chicago Community Investment Partnership," which carries enough economic clout to win over the Windy City's decision-makers. As Alderman Anthony A. Beale summed up in a release, "most of all, [the city of Chicago] need(s) good jobs."

The Partnership, to be carried out over the next five years, promises the following:

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Walmart Finally Coming to Chicago? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony issues recall for popular laptop

Michael Fowlkes — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:27:00 EST

Filed under: International Markets, Bad News, Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Technology

Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) has issued a recall for some of it's popular Vaio laptops today due to an overheating problem that some consumers have encountered with their machines.

So far, the company has received 209 reports of the popular machines overheating on users, and in 7 instances, users received minor burns as a result of the overheating laptops.

The computers in question involve 19 models in the Vaio TZ series that were produced between the months of May 2007 and July 2008. According to Sony, the problem is a result of some improper wire connections in the hinge between the laptop body and the the monitor that appears to be wearing out and causing short circuits in the machines.

Of the seven injuries that have been reported, five were reported in Japan, and one in both the United States as well as Italy.

The recalled machines are located all over the globe, with around 373,000 of the computers being sold in 48 different countries. The remaining 67,000 recalled machines were sold in Japan.

If you think that your computer may be a part of this recall, you should definitely contact Sony to find out.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Sony issues recall for popular laptop originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shipping in lieu of packing... a better alternative?

Michael Fowlkes — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:17:00 EST

Filed under: Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, FedEx Corp (FDX), United Parcel'B' (UPS), UAL Corp (UAUA), Small Business

With airline traffic steadily increasing, more and more of us are faced with the same question; How in the world am I going to fit all these things in our luggage? Maybe it is time to start thinking outside of the box, and instead of packing all our things, maybe we should just start to consider sending our belongs ahead of time and stop worrying about packing all of our things?

As I read Joe Brancatelli's (portfolio.com) article discussing airline baggage, I could not help think back to December when my girlfriend had her bags lost for over a week on a trip from Europe back to the states for Christmas. Inside this luggage we had all her clothes, as well as all of my family's Christmas presents. Since she was flying into the states on Christmas Eve, and the airline lost her bags for a week, we had no presents to give out on Christmas, and by the time they showed up, on New Years Eve, the Christmas magic was pretty much lost.

As we examined last week, airline delays last year were near an all time high, but as I mentioned in my article, the one thing that bothers me more than being late, is arriving without my luggage. While lost baggage rates stayed pretty steady last year, with 9 out of 1,000 passengers filing lost baggage claims, there are other reasons why we may should consider shipping instead of packing in the future.

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Shipping in lieu of packing... a better alternative? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starbucks: It's coming back, and I know why

Georges Yared — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Consumer Experience, Starbucks (SBUX), Employees, McDonald's (MCD), Stocks to Buy

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) has admittedly slothed through a tough, 12-month period. Its stock has struggled and suffered from the $39 level last November to where it sits now at $26.

But great growth stories tend to hit a difficult year or two in their development, only to emerge as even better stories. Starbucks will come through this challenging period as a better and more experienced company. Management, from chairman and founder Howard Schultz, to store-level managers are finding their footing. Yes, Starbucks has temporarily taken a back seat as McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) has captured a lot of terrific coffee headlines -- but McDonald's is not Starbucks.

One dominating trait of successful growth companies is the development of a solid and contagious culture. Starbucks has a great and enviable culture; a culture fostered by Schultz, who considers all Starbucks staff "partners" rather than employees. At last count, Starbucks has 145,000 partners operating its 12,000 units globally. One such partner made a huge impression on me yesterday. She did not know that I write for BloggingStocks, she was just being herself. It's worth repeating and if most of the partners are like her, Starbucks will once again become a great growth story. Here's the story.

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Starbucks: It's coming back, and I know why originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free downloads and digitally marketing the music business

Richard Driver — Tue, 15 May 2007 17:29:00 EST

Filed under: Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Apple Inc (AAPL), Marketing and Advertising, Columns

Every Tuesday when the new music releases are available for sale at retail stores, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) offers those same albums as digital downloads, but at the same time they also offer a weekly free download that is often a band or artist that is not as well-known. This information may not be new to you (especially if you own an iPod and/or use iTunes), but it spurred me to think about how vital the internet and digital services are for little-known, unsigned, and young bands.

This service is a very useful tool for regional artists, as it obviously enlarges their base and introduces them to listeners who might not have the chance to see them perform. I'm always reminded of the Arctic Monkeys, who are from Sheffield, England. Now be honest and admit that you have no clue where that is. I had to look it up! Nevertheless, without digital services like MySpace and iTunes, the Arctic Monkeys would not have such a sizeable fanbase and consecutive successful albums within a year of release.

I've downloaded a few of the free tracks from iTunes and on the whole they are enjoyable. While they don't always entice me to check out the band's other material, it is still nice to see and hear new music quicker than I might have otherwise. MySpace is a very helpful way for young or unsigned band's to promote themselves, primarily because the site is so "user-friendly." Then there is the input the music magazines have, like NME, which actually has a MySpace page to promote unsigned bands (see www.myspace.com/nmeunsignedband). The descriptions of the bands even compare them to the Arctic Monkeys, but this may only reflect how vital NME was in promoting the Arctic Monkeys, as their popularity grew before the release of their first album (after they grew on the internet of course).

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Free downloads and digitally marketing the music business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 May 2007 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another take on the Shultz memo

Kevin Kelly — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 11:40:00 EST

Filed under: Other Issues, Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, Starbucks (SBUX)

Since covering the situation at Starbucks Coffee on BloggingStocks here, I have received numerous comments from readers offering their views on the situation. As a whole, the readers seem to feel like Shultz is correct and, indeed, Starbucks has been losing its "romance." However, in the Wall Street Journal today, there was an interesting take on the situation written by a reader of the paper. Basically, the reader feels that Starbucks's problems are different than those outlined by Howard Shultz in the memo.

Ms. Nolan feels that the real problem with the Starbucks brand is "much more basic: The service is poor and the prices are high." She referenced a recent trip to a Starbucks in Maryland. During this visit, the store was out of cinnamon, sugar, and stirrers, and the store clerk suggested she take those products from a nearby store. However, as Ms. Nolan put it, "I'm not in the habit, however, of sneaking into another shop to steal sugar packets and a stirrer for the overpriced latte I purchased elsewhere."

In my opinion, while some people may feel the romance and theatre is important to Starbucks as a company, undeniably the most important aspect of Starbucks is providing a premier product with a pleasurable experience. This is especially critical because people notoriously pay up for Starbucks products, and if they can't receive this product in its highest quality or a timely manner (when wishing to do so versus staying in the store) they will no longer purchase their coffee from Starbucks. The coffee market is very saturated and Starbucks had better start making some changes or they risk losing market share.

Another take on the Shultz memo originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 04 Mar 2007 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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