Voices

Sales Erode at Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble Inc.’s latest quarterly earnings show an erosion in sales for both print books and e-books, casting a cloud over its long-term prospects.

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Best Buy Works to Get Its Website Up to Snuff

As Best Buy Co. tries to turn around its consumer-electronics business, the retail chain is grappling with a website that the company concedes is a throwback to the digital Dark Ages.

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At Sears, CEO’s Tech Focus Hasn’t Led to a Turnaround

Since taking over as chief executive of Sears Holdings Corp., billionaire hedge fund manager Edward Lampert has spoken eagerly of overhauling the retailer to accommodate “hyper-connected” shoppers with tablets and mobile phones.

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Best Buy Posts Loss on Lower Revenue

Best Buy Co. ramped up cost-cutting during its fiscal first quarter as its retail revenue continued to slide. Online sales improved, however.

News Byte

@WalmartLabs Goes Shopping, Comes Back With Two Startups

@Walmart Labs, the tech arm of the retail giant’s e-commerce unit, announced a pair of acquisitions today. Now on board are OneOps, which brings its platform-as-a-service technology, and social-software outfit Tasty Labs, along with its founders, Mozilla vet Nick Nguyen, del.icio.us creator Joshua Schachter and HousingMaps creator Paul Rademacher.

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Amazon Profit Falls but Margin Widens

Amazon.com Inc.’s first-quarter profit declined 37 percent as the e-commerce giant continued to see its results dragged down by its aggressive expansion plans, but gross margin widened to 26.6 percent from 24 percent.

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Cleanup in Aisle 3: How Retailers Will Avoid Slipups in the Digital Age

In the future, as more people turn to the Internet for the bulk of their groceries, produce could make up a third of retail grocery purchases.

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Amazon’s Quest for Web Names Draws Foes

Large and small companies are vying for control of an array of new Internet domain names, but Amazon.com Inc.’s plans are coming under particular scrutiny.

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Best Buy, Founder End Deal Talks

Best Buy Co.has ended talks with founder Richard Schulze over a deal in which he and a group of buyout firms were proposing to take a minority stake in the firm in exchange for three seats on the board, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Targeting Tech-Savvy Startups

Home Depot is the latest traditional brick-and-mortar retailer to buy a startup and launch a “technology lab” to try to catch up to online retailers like Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc.