Five At Five: Walmart’s Newest Challenge To Amazon

Welcome to Five at Five, your late look at the day’s payments and commerce news. Today’s coverage includes a look at the latest development in the battle between Walmart and Amazon, and the latest GDPR compliance trends. As well, there is news about a potential replacement for malls, a new direction for Chipotle and some pessimistic findings from the world of entrepreneurs.

Walmart Launches eBook Service to Take on Amazon

Mario Pacini, general manager of entertainment at Walmart eCommerce U.S., said the eBook platform will complement its physical book assortment and offer customers an entirely new category that hasn’t been available at Walmart before.

Global GDPR Compliance Rates Remain Low

The cost of GDPR compliance is significant. The report found that 27 percent of companies have spent more than $500,000 to become GDPR-compliant, while an additional third said they plan to spend more than $500,000 in their GDPR compliance efforts before the year is over.

Entertainment Destinations Could Save Traditional Malls

With brick-and-mortar retailers closing hundreds of stores, the future of the mall has looked bleak. But some say tales of its impending death have been exaggerated.

Chipotle Unveils Food Accelerator Program

The effort, in conjunction with Uncharted and dubbed the Chipotle Aluminaries Project, will work with up to eight ventures in areas such as agriculture technology and alternative products.

Hitachi Finds Surge in Entrepreneurs Fearing Collapse

Players in the retail sector are most concerned that their businesses will collapse by the end of the year, with 17 percent of entrepreneurs in the space revealing this concern, compared with 12 percent in Q2, according to the firm’s Business Barometer.