Staples

Target announced today that its second quarter earnings will include a $148 million charge related to losses stemming from a data breach that occurred during last year's holiday shopping season. It also warned that its profit for that period would be softer than expected. During the fourth quarter of 2013, Target experienced a data breach in which an intruder gained unauthorized access to its network and stole payment card and other guest information. More than 110 million consumers were affected.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership's updated list includes 87 retailers, 10 of which were also named to the Leadership Club, with green power usage meeting or exceeding 100 percent of each company's total electricity use. The Green Power Partnership tracks companies that use electricity from clean and renewable sources. Kohl's, Whole Foods Market, Wal-Mart, Staples and Starbucks rank highest on the Top Retailer list, which is ranked by the most annual green power usage in terms of total kilowatt hours. 

Staples said it will end a pilot program with the U.S. Postal Service to set up mini-post offices in the company's retail outlets, after several protests outside the stores. Postal workers have protested the program for months, objecting to expanding post office services to Staples stores, staffed with nonunion workers. The news comes days after the American Postal Workers Union won the support of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) after it approved a resolution to boycott Staples.

The connected home space is getting crowded with Staples Connect, the newest platform looking to simplify peoples’ lives by putting them in constant contact with their home or business. Staples plans to roll out its Staples Connect home automation platform to 500 stores and will offer lower prices on the Connect Hub and feature new wearable products and support from some big technology names. Staples Connect was introduced in the fall of 2013 in select stores and online as a home and office automation platform, competing with Google's Nest, Lowe's Iris system and Home Depot's new Wink platform.

Staples is sweetening its price-matching offer for back-to-school shoppers. The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company, which like several other key rivals already matches prices of retailers including Amazon.com, plans to give customers 10 percent off the difference between its price and the competitor's price for an identical product. The offer starts on June 29 and will end the first week of September. Staples will also feature weekly deals and everyday low prices on 30 back-to-school essentials such as 17 cent single-subject notebooks. The moves will build on its new brand tagline, "Make More Happen."

The arrival of omnichannel has the retail industry drawing new battle lines in the sand. Pundits predicted e-commerce would eventually crush brick-and-mortar, with Amazon.com as the big gun and other popular pure-plays falling in line behind. Omnichannel commerce is retail's direct answer to the Amazon era. If traditional retailers can leverage their core strength — their brick-and-mortar stores — and master the integrated online and offline experience, they may indeed have the upper hand. 

The field of players offering same-day delivery of orders placed online is getting increasingly crowded. But only a handful are likely to succeed in wringing a profit from this high-cost service. Many of the biggest names in e-commerce have already launched some form of same-day or expedited delivery, including Amazon Fresh, eBay Now, Uber Rush and Google Shopping Express. In addition, a number of smaller entities are trying to squeeze into service niches that will allow them to survive among the giants. 

Staples continued its mission of reinvention on Monday with news that it's acquired PNI Digital Media, a provider of personalization software for retailers. Retailers can use PNI's SaaS product online, through mobile devices or from in-store kiosks, offering retailers a turnkey personalization service where consumers can custom design products ranging from business cards to wedding invitations. While Staples ranks high on the list of the world's largest internet retailers, the company's brick-and-mortar stores have been battling the showrooming fight along with the rest of the retail industry.

Let's face it: Brick-and-mortar retailers have been suffering from slow economic activity and increased competition from online retailers for years, which is why so many of them are closing up their shops. So why the mixed bag title? Because while many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are closing stores, many of their e-tail counterparts are adding physical store locations to their businesses.

The American Postal Workers Union has organized protests at 50 of the office supplies stores in 27 states to oppose a deal where U.S. postal products and services are sold at Staples. It's not the first postal worker protest against the Staples mini post offices, but it will be the largest so far this year, according to the union. Members of other postal unions are also expected to join the protests. Since November, 82 Staples stores have been selling traditional mail services as part of a short-term "pilot project" scheduled through September.