Target

Target's website has crashed six times since the company launched the revamped site. As it strives to improve the online experience ahead of the holidays, Target and other merchants that have made similar moves face challenges hiring top talent from a relatively small pool of highly skilled engineers, says Forrester Research's Sucharita Mulpuru.

It might as well be called Black Thursday. Joining a slew of other national retailers, Wal-Mart said it too will open its doors nationwide on Thanksgiving night. Not to be one-upped by Target, which recently announced it would open at midnight on Black Friday, Wal-Mart said it will kick off its Black Friday deals at 10 p.m. on Thursday.

NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will be kicking off the official start to the holiday shopping season with special deals starting on Thanksgiving night. It's the latest retailer to woo crowds earlier than last year in a bid to get a jump on the competition. The world's largest retailer said that it will be offering discounts on toys, home accessories and clothing starting at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving. That will be followed by midnight deals on electronics. Starting at 8 a.m. on the day after the holiday, it will expand the specials for the entire family that will

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Old Navy has become the latest retailer to partner with Shopkick, a shopping mobile app that rewards shoppers for walking into stores. Customers who have the shopkick app on their smartphones will be able to receive walk-in rewards at any of Old Navy's nearly 1,000 U.S. locations, Shopkick reported. To celebrate, Old Navy will offer $10 off of a $40 purchase plus 150 Shopkick reward points for the partnership's first weekend (Nov. 10 to 13), available exclusively through the Shopkick app: shopkick.com/oldnavy, according to a company press release. The Shopkick app works by detecting a

New York City -- Target Corp. is building a distribution center in Denton, Texas, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

Target is out with a beast of a holiday toy catalog that weigha in at 52 glossy pages that employs a variety of incentives to promote sales in advance of Thanksgiving weekend. Nothing unusual about that or the fact that the publication features all sorts of cool products and high quality photography that is sure to have kids drooling if parents make the mistake of leaving the thing lying around. Of course that might be preferable to buying the wrong toy and risking disappointment so Target has employed some interesting wrinkles to simplify holiday gift giving. For example, the

Kohl's is the nation's favorite fashion retail chain, according to an annual consumer survey conducted by Market Force Information, a provider of customer intelligence solutions. This is the third year in a row that Kohl's has earned the top spot.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. is adding a new benefit to its REDcard Rewards loyalty program: free shipping on Target.com purchases when guests use their REDcards. In addition, for the first time Target Debit Cards can be used on Target.com. Target’s REDcard Rewards loyalty program applies to the Target REDcards, including the Target Credit Card, Target Visa Credit Card and Target Debit Card. The program offers guests an extra 5% off Target’s already prices on nearly all items purchased in stores and online when they use a REDcard.

New York City -- Consumer spending slowed in October, sending a note of caution as retailers head into the holiday season. Eleven retailers missed expectations for same-store sales, while three chains beat estimates, according to a preliminary tally by Thomson Reuters. However, while the October results were not as promising as some retailers had hoped, sales for the most part rose and most chains reported results that were only slightly off from analysts’ estimates. Some analysts blamed Wall Street for underestimating how much caution is still out there. "This is expectations getting ahead of reality," said AlixPartners managing director

Forget getting up early for Black Friday, shoppers will now need to stay up late. Best Buy announced it's joining Macy's, Target and Kohl's in opening at midnight following Thanksgiving.