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Walmart

Wal-Mart is testing a same-day delivery service in a bid to outmaneuver Amazon in the increasingly cutthroat retail world.

The Bentonville, Ark., retail giant has been tested the service in Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis. It will next expand to San Francisco and San Jose, Calif.

The service, called Wal-Mart To Go, is a trial run for the holidays that lets customers order specific items and gifts, which can then be sent to their homes or offices that same day. Orders have to be made by noon, and there is a charge of $10 with no minimum order requirement.

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“It’s part of our long-term vision to winning commerce,” said a Wal-Mart representative. “We can do that by building deeper relationships with customers.”

Wal-Mart didn’t give an end date for the pilot program but said it would run through the holiday season.

The service underscores the lengths that the traditional retailers must go to as Amazon steadily gnaws away at their underlying business. Consumers who are more willing than ever to shop online have already helped kill off brick-and-mortar stores such as Borders and Circuit City and have put intense pressure on Best Buy.

The Wal-Mart representative said it was less about pressure from Amazon and more about serving its customers.

Wal-Mart hasn’t felt the same pressure, largely because it provides so many different goods and has relatively competitive prices. That doesn’t mean it’s immune to the impact of online shopping, though.

The move essentially transforms Wal-Mart’s chain of stores into warehouses for distribution to consumers. In effect, Wal-Mart is betting it can turn its wide — but costly — retail presence to its advantage in the home-delivery wars.

As a result, customers in those select areas have to create a separate Wal-Mart To Go account, where they will be given a specific list of items. Because Wal-Mart uses different stores to fulfill the orders, the items can vary depending on location. Wal-Mart is working with UPS to ship the orders, which will be delivered between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. that day.

Wal-Mart has been testing same-day delivery grocery services in San Francisco and San Jose for the past two years, and next month, Wal-Mart will bring merchandise to those cities as well. But unlike the four other markets, the orders have to be made by 7 a.m. and there is a $45 minimum order, inline with its existing program.

Amazon is believed to be thinking about offering same-day delivery, particularly as it widens its distribution capabilities, and has been testing the service in select cities and periods for the past two years.

Over the summer, however, Amazon downplayed the idea, saying it was too difficult to expand the service in an economically viable way, according to AllThingsD.

Online auction service eBay, meanwhile, said it was testing a same-day service called eBay now.

Updated at 1:54 p.m. PT: to include additional information and a comment from Wal-Mart.

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Wal-Mart will no longer sell Amazon’s Kindle products, highlighting the tensions between the online and physical retail worlds.

The retailing giant confirmed in an e-mail that it would no longer carry the product beyond its current inventory. Reuters earlier reported the decision.

Amazon declined to comment.

The decision to cease selling Amazon’s products comes as the online retailer is eating into physical retail chains, also known as brick-and-mortar stores. With more consumers browsing in stores but making purchases online, retailers face the risk of declining sales — an issue that has shut down companies such as Borders and Circuit City.

Wal-Mart declined to specify why it made the decision, only saying it “is consistent with our overall merchandising strategy.” The company said it would continue to offer other tablets and e-readers.

Amazon offers the Kindle family of products, from the Kindle Touch e-reader to the Kindle Fire HD tablet, in its online store. Amazon sells the products with razor-thin margins because it can make money off of the purchase of e-books for the Kindle reader or goods ordered through the Kindle Fire. But those lower margins aren’t appealing to Wal-Mart, which has to compete against Amazon at the same price.

Wal-Mart isn’t the first retailer to dump the Kindle. In May, Target opted to remove the Kindle from it stores as well.

Amazon, meanwhile, likely isn’t going to see much of an impact from Wal-Mart’s dropping of its products. A vast majority of Kindle sales are made through its Web site.

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Watch out, Google Wallet. There’s a new mobile-payment service in the works.

A consortium of of retailers today announced that they have launched a mobile-commerce company, called Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, and Lowe’s are among the many companies that have signed up for the initiative. The companies combine to generate a whopping $1 trillion in sales each year.

MCX is currently in the process of developing a mobile application that would allow customers to pay for purchases at participating retailers with their mobile devices. According to MCX, the app will work across “virtually any smartphone” and will automatically integrate consumer deals, promotions, and retail programs.

“MCX will leverage mobile technology to give consumers a faster and more convenient shopping experience while eliminating unnecessary costs for all stakeholders,” Mike Cook, corporate vice president and assistant treasurer at Walmart said today in a statement. “The MCX platform will employ secure technology to deliver an efficiency-enhancing mobile solution available to all merchant categories, including retail stores, casual dining, petroleum and e-commerce.”

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The retailers’ move could spell trouble for Google’s fledgling Wallet mobile-payment app. Google Wallet runs on Android-based devices and allows customers with certain smartphones to pay for purchases from the handset. Google Wallet has so far been slow to roll out. However, until now, it was facing few competitors.

With MCX on the way, Google might find it a bit more difficult to expand its offering. Google is forced to partner with merchants and credit card companies to get its service up and running. With so many major retailers signing on to MCX, they might not want to partner with Google on Wallet.

MCX hasn’t said when it’ll launch its application, but the company did say today that it plans to announce “additional merchants, as well as more details regarding its product offering and partners, in the weeks and months ahead.”

CNET has contacted Google for comment on the MCX announcement. We will update this story when we have more information.

A day in the life of a Google Wallet user (photos)

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Wal-Mart and T-Mobile USA said today that they would be jointly offering a new phone plan that caters to data- and text-hungry customers.

The retail giant and wireless carrier will sell a no-contract $30 plan that includes unlimited Internet access, text messages, and 100 minutes for phone calls. After customers exceed their allotment of voice minutes, the charge is 10 cents a minute.

The new plan goes after a specific demographic of customers who no longer view their cell phone primarily as a tool for voice communications. Instead, they are more apt to uses text messages, instant messaging services, or social networks to get in touch with each other.

For Wal-Mart, it’s a further expansion of its wireless product lineup, particularly on the prepaid side. T-Mobile, meanwhile, improves its relationship with a major retail partner as it looks for ways to make up for the loss of RadioShack. As part of the deal, T-Mobile will be widening its Wal-Mart lineup to six phones, including its first prepaid “4G” handset.

The offer, however, has some catches. While the plan has no overage charges, a customer will see their connection speed drop significantly once he hits the 5GB mark, in a practice known as throttling. The 5GB threshold is much higher than the 2GB benchmark other carriers have set.

And while T-Mobile is eager to talk up its 4G speeds, some in the industry call it more of a souped-up version of a 3G network. In some areas, its speed is comparable, if not faster, than the speeds offered by Sprint Nextel’s 4G WiMax product.

T-Mobile, which has continued to suffer through a massive loss in its contract customers, is attempting to stem the defection through more-aggressive offers and a willingness to forgo long-term service contracts, which is where the bulk of the revenue is made. In the second quarter, it lost 50,000 net customers, but more than 280,000 contract customers.

The plan will be available in Wal-Mart’s 2,200 stores and on T-Mobile and Wal-Mart’s Web sites on October 16.

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Wal-Mart and its TracFone-powered mobile virtual network operator, StraightTalk, are getting ready to bring an affordable Android to the masses.

Last week, Wal-Mart’s Web Site began taking reservations for the Samsung Galaxy Precedent, a low-cost barrier into Android’s potential. Expected to run $149.88 without a contract, it becomes even more appealing when paired with StraightTalk’s $45 unlimited voice, text, and data plan.

Specifications for the Galaxy Precedent are admirable considering the price point. They include Android 2.2 Froyo, an 800MHz processor, 384MB RAM, a 3.2-inch display, and a 2-megapixel camera. Toss in the Android Market and support for Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth and one might expect to see quite a few of these on the streets.

Exact launch date and details have not been formally announced, but a video found on Dailymotion indicates the $150 price point should stand. What’s more, the Galaxy Precedent will include an external removable microSD card and support for Adobe Flash and Swype.

Android will be arriving at Wal-mart by… by mysticmey

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With barely an hour to go until Apple’s WWDC kicks off, Wal-Mart announced that it has cut the price of the 16GB iPhone 4 to $147 from $197.

This offer is good from now until June 30, and it applies to both the black and white models.

You’ll need a new line of service from either AT&T or Verizon, plus the obligatory two-year contract. The offer is available only in “select stores,” meaning you can’t get it online. (Wal-Mart’s site currently lists all iPhones as “out of stock.”)

Why the sudden and substantial discount? One possibility: Apple will also announce an iPhone 4 price cut, dropping the 16GB model to $149 from $199. Consequently, buying from Wal-Mart would save you only a couple bucks.

That’s just a guess on my part, but I can’t recall ever seeing such a large discount on new (i.e. nonrefurbished) Apple gear. At best, most retailers lop off a few dollars.

On the other hand, maybe Wal-Mart was able to work out a special deal with Apple. If that’s the case, and the $147 price is exclusive to it, think you’ll take advantage? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Update: Well, no price cut from Apple! For the moment, it looks like Wal-mart is the place to score the best deal on an iPhone 4. At least until June 30.

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Wal-Mart, which already offers Common Cents and Straight Talk prepaid plans, has just launched a post-paid service called Wal-Mart Family Mobile. While Common Cents and Straight Talk runs on Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless respectively, Wal-Mart Family Mobile will piggyback on T-Mobile USA’s network.

Customers will get unlimited calls and texts for $45 a month for the first line, and $25 for each additional line. However, data and international calls will be deducted from a prepaid account attached to the family plan, so this isn’t really a service for high data consumption. For 1GB of data accessible to the entire family, you will have to pay $40. Unused data will be carried over month-to-month. Comparing that to Straight Talk and Common Cents–Straight Talk doesn’t offer a discount for additional lines and Common Cents is just a basic pay-by-the-minute service.

Even though it’s post-paid, Wal-Mart Family Mobile won’t require a contract. Wal-Mart will offer five phones for this service, one of which is the Motorola Cliq XT for $250. The Associated Press also reports that the cheapest phone will be a basic Nokia handset for $35. The service is offered in partnership with T-Mobile, but the phones will be locked to Wal-Mart and can’t be transferred over to T-Mobile. Wal-Mart will start offering this plan starting September 20.

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Shoppers perusing Wal-Mart for a cell phone will soon have double the options–that is, a choice of purchasing a prepaid phone on two carriers instead of just one.

Wal-Mart’s Straight Talk wireless service, which has previously run only on Verizon’s networks, is expanding to AT&T. StraightTalk is a brand made by TracFone, and is sold exclusively in
Wal-Mart stores.

AT&T confirmed to The Wall Street Journal on Monday that StraightTalk phones will work on the network. Wal-Mart would not comment on the impetus behind building out the service to include AT&T.

The expansion to AT&T is interesting for two reasons. First, it gives Wal-Mart a foothold in the GSM prepaid market, in addition to its presence on CDMA channels through Verizon’s network. This will allow Wal-Mart to sell its prepaid phones to customers who may live in a coverage area better served by AT&T than by Verizon.

Second, the agreement lets AT&T gain new customers through Wal-Mart’s prepaid channels. The Journal notes that “Verizon Wireless added 896,000 customers through its wholesale
partners–with Straight Talk believed to be the largest contributor.” That’s nothing to sneeze at were AT&T able to similarly acquire new customers.

Article updated at 1:18PM PT with Wal-Mart’s response.

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