Category Archives: Taylor Scott International

Feds Exploring Regs For Google, GM Self-Driving Cars

As Google and carmakers continue develop self-driving vehicles that could be in driveways by 2020, federal officials are trying to steer regulations for an industry in which “thousands or millions of lines of code” control vehicles. “We are still in a research mode,” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator David Strickland told a congressional committee in Washington on Tuesday. “NHTSA as an agency needs to create a regulatory

Google opens product showcase areas in Best Buy stores

Google is the latest consumer tech company to use Best Buy stores as an official vendor showcase for its products. The Web search leader has set up display tables and endcaps staffed with Google employees in 750 large-format Best Buy stores, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly said Tuesday on a conference call with analysts. Google (GOOG) will operate the displays during the holiday season to show off its Android tablets, Chromebook notebooks and Chromecast streaming video players. “Google’s hardware business is expanding and there’s a lot of interesting product innovation with the Chromebook, Chromecast and Nexus tablets,” Joly said. “Strategically what we’ve all seen is how meaningful Best Buy (BBY) is as a platform for these vendor partners, because we’re the only place of scale that can showcase the fruit of their billions of dollars in technology investment. And the ability of the customers to touch and feel these products …

Best Buy looking to cut losses from product returns

Customer returns add up to about 10% of Best Buy’s revenue and lead to $400 million a year in losses. So the consumer electronics retailer is taking new steps to minimize the impact of those returned products by reselling them in-store and online. As part of Best Buy’s efforts to optimize its retail floor space, it is setting aside an area in stores to sell open-box, blemished and refurbished products, Best Buy (BBY) CEO Hubert Joly told Wall Street analysts Tuesday. “In the third quarter, we took our first step to reduce these losses by clearing space in our stores to more effectively showcase clearance and open-box inventory,” Joly said on the company’s earnings conference call. “In the first quarter, we plan to begin adding initial quantities of returned and open-box inventory to our online assortment.” Today “immaterial amounts” of the returned inventory are available online, Joly said. “By the …