Starbucks, which has been doing its best to provide its consumers the best coffee out of their homes for the past 41 years, is now offering people more opportunities to brew a nice cup of coffee at home. The brand goes beyond packs of grounded and instant coffee and announces the Verismo system, the first at-home premium single cup machine. The new coffee-maker, which allows to craft Starbucks-quality espresso beverages, from lattes to americanos at home, is arriving in stores this fall along with a variety of Starbucks coffees (in all roast ranges) and milk pods.
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Zappos.com is one of the companies, which recognize that aspiring creative minds can be a powerful force for the business, and so it does its best to support new talents. The online retailer kicked off a new initiative called Emerging Designer Program to help young designers get their lines selling at the major retailer’s store. The same idea lies behind the contest launched recently by Walmart, which also encouraged people to submit their creations for a change to get them sold at the supermarket.
Apple, Google and Amazon are the leaders of the World’s Most Admired Companies 2012 chart, unveiled as result of the new survey conducted by the Fortune trade publication and the Hay Group consultancy—a total of 698 companies from 32 countries were included. The companies, which top most of lists of the most successful businesses, are followed by Coca-Cola, IBM, FedEx, Berkshire Hathaway, Starbucks, Procter & Gamble and Southwest Airlines correspondingly. The first two leaders hold their positions for several consecutive years—for instance, Apple heads the chart for the fifth year in a row, Google was the second most admired company in 2010 and 2011 as well (see the last year’s list here).
IKEA, which is known for developing ready-to-use home design solutions and functional furniture for urban living space, is now going further and introduces aktiv, the first project in a new line of designed by Oregon-based ideabox, which produce dwellings to maximize people’s lifestyle. The new house model is “designed to live in… with all the fun, function, and practicality found in every ideabox,” writes the website of the agency behind the project. As any other project devised by ideabox, aktiv is created to meet the needs of Pacific-Northwest homeowners and is totally cost-saving, eco-friendly and is packed with IKEA products.
Interbrand, the world’s leading brand consultancy has released its 2nd annual global report dedicated to the retail sector. The Best Retail Brands report ranks the top 50 U.S. retail brands by brand value, as well as the top retail brands from the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, and the Asia Pacific region.
Walmart, which has recently encouraged its consumers to bring their own products on shelf, has unveiled the new label that will inform shoppers on which products are good for their health. The supermarket giant has introduced the ‘Great For You’ icon in Washington, D.C. today, on February 7, as part of the company’s healthier food initiative—the new label will first get featured on select Walmart Great Value and Marketside items, fruits and vegetables, both fresh and packaged, at Walmart U.S. stores this spring.
Modern supermarkets seem to have just everything you may want, but still there’s a plethora of newly invented goods, which are not sold there—yet. Walmart is giving its consumers a truly one-of-a-kind opportunity to sell their own products in select retailer’s stores across the USA and through Walmart.com. The ‘Get on the Shelf’ competition, headed by @WalmartLabs, the company’s digital technology division, will be rolling out until February 22—entrants are invited to introduce their own inventions (they should to relate to one of the Walmart categories, ranging from apparel, electronics, toys and more) in their videos.
IKEA, The Life Improvement Store, announced the grand prize winner of the second year of its Life Improvement Sabbatical Contest: Melissa Matthews of Wake Forest, NC. After a month-long, online public vote, Ms. Matthews has won a year-long sabbatical (worth $100,000) to improve the lives of others through her Special Technology for Special Kids! program, and over the next year, will share her experience online at www.thelifeimprovementproject.com. Additionally, IKEA is donating $50,000 to Save the Children’s U.S. Programs, $1 for every vote cast in the contest (up to the first 50,000 votes—the program received a total of 50,191 votes).