Taco Bell makes new Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos available a day early.

Fox reveals details of new planned national sports network to compete with ESPN.

Best Buy ends work-at-home program for corporate employees as Yahoo! policy continues to be debated.

Alfa Romeo says its performance numbers make 4C an ideal car for U.S. market.

Doritos launches first global campaign.

Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne presses full merger with Chrysler.

Groupon CFO says company's business model will stay.

JCPenney board's patience said to be wearing thin with CEO Ron Johnson, as Martha Stewart dished from the witness stand and rehashes her testimony on NBC's Today Show.Continue reading...

Best Buy Canada will lay off 900 employees and close 15 of its stores including eight Future Shop locations, while Sears Canada will lay off 700 of its workers as both retailers brace for the arrival of Target next month and the expansion of Walmart there. Nordstrom is also launching in Canada with four stores in major cities.

“The retail landscape continues to change, and our success is dependent upon our ability to evolve along with it,” said Mike Pratt, president of Best Buy Canada. “By taking a proactive approach in transforming our operations now, I have no doubt we will be in the best position to continue innovating our store experience for consumers and grow into the next decade.”

Sears spokesman Vince Power in a statement that the imminent layoffs across Canada are “part of our initiative to right-size the organization, which is working in concert with other initiatives to make Sears successful." 

Best Buy Canada, like its American parent, faces stiff competition from online electronics retailers such as Amazon and Apple and is replicating a U.S. strategy of switching to smaller stores, which are less expensive to operate. Meanwhile, Sears Canada — which has suffered for years from falling sales and profits — is shrinking its overhead from its 360 department stores and 300 distribution centers.

While Canada's retail sector has been wobbling ever since Walmart arrived in the mid-90s, this latest round of market rumbling is spurred by Target’s immiment expansion plans, as the cheap chic retailer gets ready to open the first of its 124 stores in Canada next month.Continue reading...

The perceived slump in sales of luxury goods has top fashion brands considering all sorts of strategies to pump up consumer engagement. 

Burberry has just transformed its London flagship store into a digitally-enhanced shopping experience that brings to life its Burberry World online store, following on the heels of Audi's flagship Audi City digital retail experience in London. This may be just the beginning of a trend to re-engineer the traditional retail store environment so that it entices and excites consumers who would otherwise choose online shopping.

Indeed, fashion brands are more committed to sales on the retail floor than one might think. Brands including Coach, Crocs, and Tumi are planning to open more stores of their own, but they haven't given up on the department store, either. At last week's Reuters Retail and Consumer Summit, Richard Dickson, CEO of branded businesses at Jones Group, stated that "We believe in the department store. Department stores have done a brilliant job continuing to energize and re-invent themselves in order to stay relevant."Continue reading...

Jeremy Lin signs free agent deal with Houston Rockets, ending "Linsanity" in NYC if the Knicks don't make him a better offer.

Yahoo considers CEO of Hulu for top job.

Porsche tries to adjust to Volkswagen embrace.

Anheuser-Busch encourages responsible drinking.

Bausch & Lomb could go public by year-end.

Chevrolet plans to show off vehicles at MLB All-Star Game in Kansas City next week.

Chuck E. Cheese burns long-time voice with new mascot.

Dynegy files for bankruptcy.Continue reading...

Amazon plans to lend Harry Potter e-books.

Apple will help upgrade Foxconn factories in China.

AT&T sees regulatory logjam delay deals in wireless.

Betsey Johnson confirms plans to liquidate.

CBS sues ABC alleging new reality series rips off Big Brother.

Chuck E. Cheese plans to test gluten-free products.

Coca-Cola finds its Hellenic unit hit by perfect political and economic storm.Continue reading...

Traditional retail brands are increasingly looking to e-commerce start-ups for innovation, wedding their physical distribution and resource abundance with nimble, digital sales. Walgreen’s acquisition of Drugstore.com and Walmart's purchase of Kosmix are two high-profile examples. “These guys are usually slow and lumbering giants,” said Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru to the New York Times. “But they need to make proactive investments. Because, left to their own devices, they could never emulate these businesses.” 

Add Nordstrom to the list of startup-hungry retailers. The Seattle-based upmarket store brand made few acquisitions in its 111-year-old history before last year, when it acquired ‘flash sales’ site HauteLook and became a lead investor in shoe subscription service Sole Society, a spin-off of HauteLook. This month Nordstrom acquired a stake in socially savvy e-tailer Bonobos in a deal that gives the latter $16.4 million in cash and access to more than 100 Nordstrom stores, while the latter can tap into the Bonobos team's expertise on branding and digital marketing with humor and savvy.

Just how deft is the Bonobos brand when it comes to tapping the zeitgeist? For Earth Day, the menswear e-tailer has created a line of denim made from beer bottles. That's right. Recycled. Beer. Bottles.Continue reading...

Viral games Angry Birds and Words With Friends are “prime spots for luxury mobile marketing” according to a recent Luxury Institute study.

The study, conducted in early 2012 among respondents reporting an average net worth of $2.8 million, reveals that of the 67% of high net worth individuals who shop via mobile, 63% made purchases in the past 12 months and spent an average of $628.

Of the 60% of luxury consumers in the US with smartphones, 28% own an iPhone, 22% an Android and 16% a BlackBerry. About 73% of them use apps at least once a day, and 80% have downloaded an app.

“Apps are becoming ubiquitous, so it’s what we do with them that make the experience more extraordinary that will make the difference,” said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. “How the app is being used by the consumer or to contact someone who represents the brand is now where the real opportunity lies.”

The most frequently downloaded apps for millionaires include Angry Birds, Facebook and Words With Friends.

However, since millionaires prefer the in-store experience, “luxury brands have to start creating humanistic experiences on mobile. Mobile applications are the most common form of engagement for affluent consumers, indicating that luxury marketers need to step up the in-app experience,” the report recommends. Continue reading...

Amazon's original programming plans draws speculation.

Apple prepares for iPad (HD?) reveal frenzy today while new device also could be boon for Verizon Wireless; and company receives key patent for iWallet.

Arby's uses holistic approach to social media to boost Klout score.

Bank of America is bullish on girl power.

Bentley's 'ugly' SUV the talk of the Geneva Motor Show.

Boeing forms alliance with Chinese jet maker.

Carbonite sees stock price drop after withdrawing advertising from Rush Limbaugh, as radio host sees 30+ advertisers leave, including Netflix.

Chevron faces criticism after gas-rig fire off Nigeria.

Cosmopolitan reaches 100K paid digital subscriptions.Continue reading...