Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. Here's a rundown of this week's biggest winners and blunders in the business world, from Google to Starbucks.
Teavana Holdings' final quarterly report as a standalone public company had strong news on net sales, and so-so news on same-store sales. That puts new owner Starbucks in a sweet spot as it prepares to take the premium tea seller to the next level.
We've heard of high-end credit cards that are made of everything from diamonds to pearls, but leave it to Starbucks to usher in the era of the luxury gift card. The coffee giant will roll out a $450 premium gift card this week.
It may feel like Starbucks shops are everywhere, but apparently there's still plenty of real estate left to conquer. Over the next five years, it will add 3,000 stores in the Americas, 1,500 of them in the U.S. But its global plans are just as ambitious.
Another Starbucks may soon pop up near you. The world's biggest coffee company says it's planning to add at least 1,500 cafes in the U.S. over the next five years. That upbeat expansion plan marks a shift from Starbucks' recent predictions of slower growth.
Starbucks posted strong quarterly results after Thursday's market close. Revenue climbed 11% for the premium coffee house chain to $3.36 billion, with earnings of 46 cents a share. It's a far cry from a few years ago, when the chain was on the retreat due to the recession.
The Seattle-based coffee company says a digital tip function will be added to its mobile payment application starting next summer. A similar option will also be available on Square, a new payment app that Starbucks customers will be able to use starting in November.
Starbucks Corp. is about to turn up the heat on the single-serve coffee market, and someone might get burned. The Verismo will be sold online for $199 starting this week, and in Starbucks cafes beginning next month.
Amazon.com is bringing its Kindle store to India, underscoring the fact that the world's largest democracy is increasingly the place to be for businesses.
Can you tell a person's political affiliation from where they do their shopping? According to "global neuro-insight firm" Buyology, you can. And Buyology's come up with some peculiar political observations from the world of retail.
Can you tell a person's political affiliation from where they do their shopping? According to "global neuro-insight firm" Buyology, you can. And Buyology's come up with some peculiar political observations from the world of retail.
Will a new mobile payment system backed by the nation's biggest stores render Google Wallet obsolete? The newly formed Merchant Customer Exchange network hopes so.
Starbucks plans to switch its processing of debit and credit card payments to mobile payments start-up Square, the two companies said Tuesday, in a deal will help establish two-year-old Square as a bona fide player in the industry.
Peet's Coffee & Tea said on Monday it is set to be acquired by Joh. A. Benckiser for about $1 billion, a move that would give Peet's a financial jolt, and broaden the reach of Germany's Reimann family.
Last Friday, Starbucks announced it will build a new factory in Georgia -- and it's hardly the only big company moving manufacturing back to the U.S. Call it insourcing, reshoring or whatever you like, but bringing jobs home is starting to look like a trend.