Radio Shack reported a significant loss in the third
quarter–$47.1 million–as same store sales declined 1.6%
and revenue dropped 3.1%. Last year, the company had a
$300,000 profit in the same period……After testing a pilot
program in Arizona, Better ATM Services is expanding
an ATM-dispensed Visa prepaid card program throughout
the US. The service allows the customer to choose either
cash or a pre-paid card in the amount desired. The
Mercator Advisory Group says that by 2013 consumers
will load $117 billion onto prepaid cards– a 200% increase
in just three years….Denny’s is not only tying
in with the new film The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey, the chain is also
introducing a Middle-Earth inspired menu
which includes items like Hobbit Hole
Breakfast, Frodo’s Pot Roast Skillet,
Gandalf’s Gobble Melt and the Build Your
Own Hobbit Slam. Denny’s launches a new
marketing campaign on November 12, ahead
of the December 14 release date of the
movie……..Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of tractors
and excavators, has cut its 2012 forecast for the second
time this year, warning that the global economy continues
to slow. The company does not expect the world-wide
economy to improve until the middle of 2013……. Electronic
retailers are looking forward to a very happy holiday season.
A survey from Chase Paymentech, a subsidiary of
JPMorgan Chase & Co., finds that 59% of e-commerce
companies expect better sales volume this year than last,
and almost half (49%) expect sales to be better than the
pre-recession levels of 2007. But the survey also found
that those companies expect only 6% of their holiday sales
to come from mobile commerce….Home values rose 1.3%
from the second quarter to the third, according to Zillow,
the real estate website. That was the biggest gain since
March 2006.