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The FDA recalled a series of non-organic cucumbers grown by Bedner Growers, Inc. that are currently under investigation for a salmonella outbreak. And now, Target is included in the fallout. At this point, the outbreak has affected 45 people in 18 states, and has almost doubled since three days ago. Target initially announced a recall of cucumbers and items containing the cucumbers on May 19, though Target specifically was mentioned in the FDA update on May 30. Compared to other companies that have recalled just one cucumber product, like Walmart, Targets recall list contains over 40 different products purchased between May 7 and May 21. Two of them are regular cucumbers, two are chicken salad products, and a whopping 38 of the recalled products are a sushi variety. The outbreak has resulted in 16 hospitalizations and zero deaths. This recall comes in the wake of a particularly terrible year for Target, as the mega-corporation faces boycotts and tariffs set by the Trump Administration. Targets stock plunged 40% over the last year, and operating income was down 38% last year from its 2021 high. Furthermore, this isnt the first cucumber recall Target customers have weathered. The FDA also announced another cucumber recall in November 2024 due to an investigation of a salmonella outbreak. These cucumbers were linked to a farm in Mexico, and were distributed by SunFed Produce, LLC, which initiated a voluntary recall. Target sent out automated warning calls to buyers in December, weeks after many customers had originally bought the cucumbers. The calls warned that consumers should immediately stop using the products, and to contact Target for next steps.
Category:
E-Commerce
Joann fabrics, the beloved fabrics, arts, and crafts retailer, is finally shutting its doors for good after a long, slow goodbye. While many of its 800 stores have already been shuttered since the company filed for bankruptcy (yet again) in January, the last 444 Joann stores (yes, you read that right) will finally shut their doors on Friday, May 30, according to Joann’s website. What happened? As Fast Company previously reported, the popular fabrics and crafts supplier announced earlier this year that it would close all its U.S. locations after it filed for bankruptcy in January 2025, marking the second time Joann declared bankruptcy in less than a year. It also laid off all 19,000 workers, including more than 15,000 part-time store associates. Like many brick-and-mortar retailers that have filed for bankruptcy, including Party City and Forever 21, Joann faced declining sales and foot traffic since the COVID-19 pandemic, as more Americans shop online and curb spending due to higher prices, the soaring cost of living, inflation, and President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff wars. Customers take to social media to lament the store’s demise From TikTok and Reddit to Instagram and Facebook, customers have been taking to social media, posting tearfully and nostalgically about time they spent in the store. Some even shared last haul videos of what they bought in the store’s final days. On Reddit, nostalgic customers and workers posted multiple threads saying “goodbye” to individual stores. Some featured photos of the shuttered front door, like this one, which read, “RIP Joann 1943-2025: Died due to private equity and corporate greed,” lamenting the end of 80 years in business. (More on the private equity aspect below.) Meanwhile, on TikTok, one woman with tears in her eyes posted, “Y’all I really can’t believe but I just really had a moment, Joann is fing closing . . . It’s so unfortunate.” Joann’s final years By the 1990s, Joann became the largest fabric and crafts retail superstore in the U.S., and was taken private in 2011 by Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm, for around $1.6 billion. Then, a decade later, it went public again as the COVID-19 pandemic fueled an uptick in crafting, Fast Company previously reported. However, like for many brick-and-mortar retailers, profits began to decline after the pandemic, leaving the company with $616 million in reported debt obligations when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. Some critics and customers blame Joann’s demise on private equity, which has increasingly been at the helm of large-scale business restructurings and closings, and been accused of stripping companies for parts instead of bringing them back to profitability. However, many experts have said it’s not that simple, and Joann’s failure is based on a mix of factors that go into the current economics of U.S. retail conditions. A look at the numbers shows Joann fabrics’ last reported revenue of $539.80 million for its third quarter of fiscal year 2024 ending October 28, 2023, which was a decrease of 4.09%. That brought revenue in the last twelve months up to that date to $2.16 billion, down 4.20% year-over-year. In the fiscal year ending January 28, 2023, Joann had an annual revenue of $2.22 billion. Its last reported market cap was $3.20 million.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Walt Disney Company said yesterday that it is rolling out a new perks program for subscribers of its Disney Plus streaming service. The program features 11 benefits that Disney Plus users can take advantage of, so long as they remain a paying subscriber. But it’s likely that Disney isnt offering these benefits out of the goodness of their little mouse heart. Instead, the perks are likely an effort to reduce one of the biggest threats that Disney Plus and all other streaming services face: “churn.” That’s the industry term for when subscribers cancel a service during a specific period. What did Disney announce? The Walt Disney Company launched the new perks program yesterday, which is now available to all Disney Plus subscribers in the United States. Disney says the new perks program will be rolling out to other geographic regions later this year. Upon its launch, the program features 11 perks that subscribers can take advantage of. However, it remains to be seen how compelling the perks will be to the average subscriber, as they appear to be a mixed bag of random free trials, discounts, and contests. For example, two of the 11 perks are for contests. One, if you win, will let you attend the Freakier Friday world premiere in August, while the other gives you a chance to win a free Disney cruise. In other words, these perks wont be available to every Disney Plus subscribermerely the chance to win them will be. The perks are also full of free trials or limited memberships, including a three-month free trial of Clear+, the airport security membership program; a two-month Super Duolingo free trial; and a six-month free DashPass membershipbut only if youve never been a DashPass subscriber before. Random discounts are also available, including 20% off at adidas.com, and 15% off at Funko.com and Loungefly.com. Subscribers can also get lower rates at select Disney resorts. And then there are digital perks, including free emoji, early access to the digital pin collectable experience, Disney Pinnacle; and free in-game tokens for the Monopoly Go! and Star Wars TIE Fighter games. The perks are available to all Disney Plus subscribers in the United States, and there is no extra charge for accessing them. An effort to reduce churn Though Disney did not specifically state that its new “always-on” perks program was an effort to reduce churn, thats likely what it is designed for. Churn is the industry term that describes subscribers who cancel their streaming subscriptions, often when theyve watched all the content they want to see, such as a specific movie or series. Instead of continuing to be an active subscriber to the service, they will cancel it to save money and then only resubscribe when the service has new content they want to watch. Churn stops Disney and other streaming services from receiving monthly recurring revenue from individuals. Instead of subscribing for the whole year, a subscriber who churns may cancel the service in February and not resubscribe until September, when new content of interest to them becomes available. This cycle of canceling and resubscribing is very familiar to streaming customers who juggle a lot of services and aim to keep their monthly entertainment costs down. In fact, you might say that easy cancellation was the original “perk” of the streaming revolutionoffering a contrast to the long-term contracts that were so prevalent during the traditional cable TV era. Disney is apparently hoping that by adding always-on perks, it will reduce subscriber churn, as when the subscription stops, so do the additional perks. But that carrot-style approach will only work if the subscribers find value in the perks to begin with. Not the first time Disney Plus has offered perks Disney announced its new perks program as an always-on one. It went with this branding because this isnt the first time that Disney has offered perks to Disney Plus subscribers. In the past, it has offered time-limited perks, like reduced fares on select Disney Cruise products. But given that most of the always-on perks are still limitedsuch as the free trials and contestsit’s hard to imagine that most Disney Plus subscribers who are churners will stick around just for the perks, unless they do a lot of shopping at Funko and Addidas and really want those 15% and 20% discounts. However, it should be noted that Disney says new Perks will drop regularly. The company is also rolling out perks to Hulu subscribers starting in June, which include more contests and nondescript exclusive perks from LG, Microsoft, and Pure Green. Streaming is more important than ever to Disney Disney Plus is a significant focus for the Walt Disney Company, as the service is a potentially massive source of recurring income. Therefore, its no wonder that Disney wants to make it as appealing as possible to retain subscribers and reduce churn. Recently, signs point to Disney being aware of a possible slowdown in Disney Plus growth. When it reported results for its second-quarter fiscal 2025 in March, Disney said it had 126 million Disney Plus subscribers during the period, up by 1.4 million from the quarter before. However, the company gave a lukewarm forecast for Disney Plus in the current Q3. Disney said it expects to see only a modest increase in Disney+ subscribers compared to the service’s Q2 fiscal 2025 numbers.
Category:
E-Commerce
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