Walmart's sub-brand Sam's Club today said it will offer shoppers free Wi-Fi in its stores this holiday season. Wi-Fi will be in about 500 stores by November, and the chain primarily hopes this will let shoppers experience the Wi-Fi connection on the Samsung Internet-connected TV sets it carries. Users will be encouraged to access Facebook or stream videos from Vudu.
Systemax on Friday announced it has finished its acquisition of online electronics retailer Circuit City following its bankruptcy and launched a revised Circuit City website. Systemax has also aquired CompUSA last year and oversees online retailer TigerDirect. The new Circuit City site has 24/7 customer service, advanced search functions and photo and video galleries of the products it carries.
Following its bankruptcy and sale to Systemax, CompUSA has quietly been reopening new stores with a very different policy on Internet access. In a talk with Wired, Systemax's Technology Products chief Gilbert Fiorentino has confirmed both that there are now 30 new CompUSA stores but that the new shops have a largely open Internet policy that puts every computer in the store on an Internet connection. Shoppers are reportedly encouraged to use demo units to check prices and reviews, and are unrestricted from ordinary tasks like checking Facebook.
