Walmart announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Kosmix, which has a social media platform for filtering and organizing social network content, called the Social Genome. The platform, currently runs on TweetBeat, Kosmix.com, and RightHealth. According to Kosmix…
Walmart Offering Free Holiday Shipping
Walmart said today it will offer free holiday shipping on nearly 60,000 items with no minimum purchase through December 20.
The free shipping offer includes all electronics, select video games, toys, home appliances, furniture, jewelry, and baby items.
Walmart Family Mobile Offers Service With No Contracts
Walmart has announced its own new wireless service brand, placing an emphasis on faimly savings. Walmart will launch Walmart Family Mobile as a post-paid plan available without a contract or multi-year commitment.
The company says it offers a family of three savings of up to $1,200 a year when compared to leading unlimited talk and text plans. T-Mobile’s network is being used, but the service will be sold exclusively through Walmart.
Walmart To Offer Online Degrees For Its Workers
Walmart is partnering with American Public University, an online, for profit school, to offer its employees college degrees.
Walmart and Sam’s Club employees in the U.S. will be able to earn a college degree at a discounted price through a combination of academic credit earned for Walmart job learning and experience, and online course work via APU.
Amazon Ties Walmart In U.S. Online Music Share
Apple’s iTunes store continues to be the top music retailer, with 28 percent of all music purchased by U.S. consumers, a 4 percent increase since Q1 2009, according to The NPD Group.
Amazon increased its music market share 3 percent to tie Walmart for the second spot at 12 percent. Sales of digital tracks and albums accounted for 40 percent of overall music market share in the first quarter of 2010, which is a five percent increase since Q1 2009.
Sprint Introduces Prepaid Offering With Walmart
Sprint has introduced a new pay-as-you-go service which it will begin offering at Walmart stores on Saturday May 15.
The new offering called "Common Cents Mobile," one of Sprint’s prepaid brands, includes 7- cent per minute phone calls and 7-cent text messages.
Common Cents Mobile includes a round down feature, so if a user talks for 1 minute and 46 seconds they will be charged for 1 minute and not 2.
Online Retail Spending Reaches $39 Billion In Q4
Online retail spending in the U.S. in the fourth quarter reached $39 billion, a 3 percent increase compared to a year ago, according to the latest report from comScore.
Total retail ecommerce spending reached $129.8 billion in 2009, slightly lower than the previous year’s total of $130.1 billion.