Power Retail Sparks | Weekly Global News Round Up | 09.04.21

Walmart Files Fintech Trademark

Walmart has filed a trademark – ‘Hazel by Walmart’ – for its new fintech unit. According to U.S Patent and Trademark Office, the retailer has filed this trademark, alongside a logo with ‘Hazel’ with the ‘a’ in a greater-than symbol facing upwards. While there has been no confirmation about what the new venture may include, it could potentially include credit-repair services or even issuing credit cards.

Source: U.S. Patent & Trademark Offices

Amazon Set to Reach $500b in Revenue by 2021

Amazon is set to hit USD 500 billion in revenue by the end of 2021, a report has suggested. According to Trackr, the tech giant will hit the new milestone after experiencing an increase in revenue of 38 percent in 2020 alone.

There are five core reasons why the retailer has reported such growth, which includes the pandemic-fuelled online boom, super speed of delivery, an onboarding of new sellers, extensions of lockdown restrictions and the 10-year trajectory of non-stop growth. You can read the full story here.

Best Buy Launches Membership Program

US retailer, Best Buy, is launching a membership service. The $200 loyalty program is set to directly rival Amazon’s Prime service, which currently boasts more than 150 million worldwide members. The new membership program includes free device installations, tech support with a concierge service and other features.

This is not the first membership program that Best Buy has offered – In 2018, the electronics retailer debuted Total Tech Support. However, this new membership will eventually take the place of the previous program.

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