Wal-Mart

Major retailers are illegally selling prohibited toy guns online, the N.Y Attorney General's office alleged Thursday. Eric Schneiderman's office sent cease-and-desist letters to the retailers (Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Kmart, Sears and ToyArsenal.com) to halt sales of these toy guns to New Yorkers immediately. "Once this matter was brought to our attention, we placed a shipping block on our website to prevent the mentioned items from being sent to the state of New York. We're also confident that measures are in place to prevent these items from being sold at our New York stores," Wal-Mart said in a statement.

Workers at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in Pennsylvania who worked off the clock and when they were supposed to be on break, or who were forced to skip their breaks, will receive $151 million in unpaid wages and damages, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled Monday, upholding lower and appellate court decisions. The case affects nearly 187,000 people employed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from March 1998 through April 2006. 

Holiday shoppers would think a purchased Carmelo Anthony plush-doll would look like, well, Carmelo Anthony. If they bought it online at Wal-Mart, they'd be mistaken. The doll displayed at Walmart.com doesn't resemble the seven-time NBA All-Star and current New York Knick, but rather shares a remarkable likeness to Jeremy Lin. Although he once took a big spotlight for the New York team, Lin hasn't donned the New York Knickerbockers’ uniform since 2012. 

The retail industry had some great moments in 2014 — Apple Pay, gains in mobile commerce — however, there were some forgettable decisions made as well. Here's my take on retail's most cringeworthy moments of the year:

Why are black Barbies priced differently than white Barbies? It's a tough question and one that some of America's biggest retailers are having to answer amid the biggest shopping time of the year. For example, on Tuesday afternoon Wal-Mart's website listed an African-American ice skater Barbie for $11.87, while the Caucasian version costs just $9.88. The retailing giant said the pricing discrepancy was an unintended error. "They should always be the same price, across all ethnicities," a Wal-Mart spokesman said Tuesday evening. "This is just a pricing error. We corrected it immediately."

The traditional brick-and-mortar or e-commerce store of today won't exist in the next five years in their current form. Tremendous mobility and e-commerce technological advancements are supporting cultural shifts that change the way consumers shop and what they expect from retail stores. And, reciprocally, these consumer expectations are driving technological innovations that ultimately shape the way retailers choose to sell and deliver their products and services to consumers.

It's hard to say what shopping will look like in 10 years, or even 10 months, but it's probably safe to say that we'll still do the majority of it in brick-and-mortar stores. Which stores we choose for that shopping trip will vary by day of week, occasion and myriad other factors. The bottom line is that the utilitarian ideal of the "best for the most" is irrelevant in a world awash in individualism. It's been a wild time since that first iPhone, and there's no sign of stability yet. Product assortment is more important than store size, and someone who can actually help with advice and ideas is better than free shipping.

Wal-Mart said Thanksgiving Day delivered the second-highest online sales day ever, topped only by Cyber Monday last year. In a press release Friday, Laura Phillips, senior vice president of merchandising at Wal-Mart U.S., said more than 25 million people downloaded the retailer's Black Friday ad. Tablets, TVs, sheets, children's apparel and video gaming were the top five categories of the night, while Disney's "Frozen" Snow Glow Elsa doll was one of the night's top toys.

Black Friday weekend is the year's biggest promotional event for most major U.S. retailers, and yet there are prominent holdouts ignoring it - or at least being discreet about their specials. Tiffany & Co., Dollar Tree and T.J. Maxx are among the chains that aren't promoting Black Friday on their websites. That's a sharp contrast with the supersized fonts advertising sales at Wal-Mart, Macy's and Best Buy.

A lawmaker in Ohio wants stores in the state to pay triple wages for employees who work on Thanksgiving, an effort that comes as Macy's, the holiday's quintessential retailer, is allowing its workers to choose whether to work that day. Both are attempts to counter frustration among workers and their families over holiday store hours that have expanded into the holiday. State Rep. Mike Foley, a Democrat from Cleveland, said his bill would allow employees to bow out of the holiday shift without job sanctions while protecting family time from excessive consumerism.