retail

Just a month after Best Buy's former CEO Brian Dunn resigned, the company's founder and chairman has stepped down from his post on the retailer's board.

Best Buy announced today that its founder, Richard Schulze, will be replaced as board chairman by Hatim Tyabji on June 21 at the end of the company's annual shareholders meeting. Tyabji currently servers as the chair of the board's audit committee and is chairman and CEO of video optimization services provider Bytemobile.

"The story of Best Buy is a remarkable American success story," Tyabji said today in … Read more

It's just about time for Microsoft to launch its expected Windows 8 upgrade program.

For the past several years, in order to keep PC sales from falling off a cliff in the months shortly before Microsoft and partners are poised to roll out new models running a new version of Windows, Microsoft has offered an upgrade program. Via these programs, customers who buy PCs running the current version of Windows (in this case, Windows 7) get "coupons" allowing them to get a free version of the next OS release (Windows 8) once it is generally available.

Apple took home a 5-point jump in customer satisfaction, according to the E-Retail Satisfaction Index published today by customer analytics site ForeSee.

The iPhone maker's retail Web site scored 85 out of 100 in this year's index, compared with 80 last year. Only one other retailer, RueLaLa.com, managed a 5-point gain though that site grabbed an overall grade of only 75.

Despite Apple's ascent, it could only rise to second place, having achieved the same grade as QVC. On top as usual was Amazon.com, which captured a score of 89, up from 86 last year.… Read more

Target has decided to remove Amazon's entire Kindle line from store shelves, according to a new report.

As of May 13, Target will no longer accept shipments of Amazon's Kindle line, The Verge is reporting, citing a source. An internal memo the blog received doesn't say why the mega-retailer decided to make the move, but makes it clear that the company "has made the decision to no longer carry Amazon hardware." The retailer will still offer Kindle accessories.

The New York Times reported yesterday that Target was tired of consumers using its stores as a … Read more

The move to the smaller, app-centric iPads makes sense for kids as much as it makes for Apple. While the applications that were available on the iMacs were educational and kid-friendly, there is just something about Apple's iPad that kids simply "get."

Since getting my iPad, it has become a favorite request when visiting my nephews (2 and 4). Of course it makes my job as babysitter easier, but watching them handle iOS has been fascinating. My brother and his wife do not have any Apple products, yet my nephews seem to automatically understand the concept of … Read more

When paying for products online, you almost always need to pay with a credit card. Until now.

Wal-Mart announced a new program today, called "Pay with Cash," that allows online shoppers to sift through a broad selection of products, and after deciding what to buy, pay with cash. Of course, there's no cash terminal sitting in the average person's computer, so in order to complete the transaction, customers will need to head down to their local Wal-Mart store or Neighborhood Markets.

According to Wal-Mart, users will be able to fully check out online, and will be … Read more

With slumping sales in the West, Research In Motion has plans to go to the East. The BlackBerry maker is in the process of opening retail stores throughout the Middle East starting in Dubai, according to Bloomberg.

"We're getting the first one up and running and then we'll be looking at other cities across the Middle East -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar," Sandeep Saihgal, the managing director of RIM's Middle East business, told Bloomberg in an interview earlier this week.

The Dubai store in the United Arab Emirates will be the flagship shop and Bloomberg … Read more

Apple is avoiding paying the full amount of U.K. taxes it owes for the last financial year, alleges a British news report in the Daily Mail today.

The report says that Apple earned 6 billion pounds (roughly $9.5 billion) but paid only 10 million pounds (around $16 million) in taxes -- which is far below the standard in the U.K.

The news source gathered documents from Apple's retail divisions in 2010 that show the company also paid less that year than is typical for a business selling products in the U.K. These documents show that … Read more

Another top retail exec gets the heave-ho -- this time at Best Buy -- and the company says all the right things in a dutiful statement pledging "new leadership" to spur growth and profitability.

Good as far as it went and I'm sure the search committee will try its hardest to land a solid replacement. But even if they combined the DNA from the best retail execs of this -- or any generation -- to conjure up a dream CEO, Best Buy would still need a miracle to avoid the fate suffered by the likes of Good Guys, … Read more