Wal-Mart

The competition for used video games is heating up as the world's largest retailer enters the arena starting next week. Wal-Mart said Tuesday it would allow consumers to come into its stores and trade in used video games for an e-gift card for use on any item sold in Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores and online. Later this year, Wal-Mart will resell the pre-owned games in-store and online, after the games have been refurbished by CE Exchange. Wal-Mart currently works with CE Exchange on its smartphone and tablet trade-in programs.

More than two dozen attorneys general sent letters on Sunday to five of the country's largest retailers, encouraging them to stop selling tobacco products in stores that also have pharmacies, which would follow the example CVS set with its announcement earlier this year. The letters were sent to Rite Aid, Walgreens, Kroger, Safeway and Wal-Mart, five companies that are among the biggest pharmacy retailers in the country. "There's a contradiction in having these dangerous and devastating tobacco products on the shelves of a retail chain that services health care needs," the letters said. 

Customer satisfaction with retailers in the U.S. is at an all-time high, up for the third year in a row. While the industry improved overall, not all retailers received accolades, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). It was traditional brick-and-mortar retailers that set several customer records, while internet retailers’ ratings fell sharply — a departure from the trend in recent years. Despite strong gains in customer satisfaction in recent years, many traditional retailers’ scores remain below the average for their sector. In particular, some of the nation's largest retailers had among the lowest scores. 

The Container Store started a fund for employees in need and got a lot of pats on the back. A Wal-Mart store took up donations for employees in need during the holidays, and was pilloried for the effort. Two companies with two identical goals have two very different outcomes. What gives?

Wal-Mart disappointed investors on many fronts Thursday when it missed earnings forecasts, posted its fourth consecutive U.S. same-store sales loss and offered fiscal 2015 guidance well below what analysts were expecting. But despite myriad pressures that continue to inhibit the store's target low-income shopper, there was a bright spot amid all the gloom. The discounter announced that it will accelerate the expansion of its small-format stores, an area which many analysts have called integral in the evolving shopping environment.

L.L.Bean is No. 1 in online customer experience, according to the e-tailing group's 2013 Customer Experience Index, which is based on a mystery shopping study conducted during the fourth quarter of 2013. L.L.Bean received a top score of 88.75, followed by HSN at 87.25. Other retailers scoring higher than 80 included Office Depot, Overstock.com, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Sears, Abt, Target and Dick's Sporting Goods. The average score in 2013 was 71.06, up from 69.3 in 2012. Repeat winners from 2012 included Amazon and Office Depot.

In 2014, retailers will finally have a "it's not who you are in the inside, it's what you do that counts" moment regarding buzzy phrases like "omnichannel," "showrooming" and "big data." That is, retailers will intensively focus on how consumers interact with their brand in every way possible. As such, customer experience management (CXM) will move front and center in 2014, replacing omnichannel as the main driver for retailers. Expect customer-rich experiences anchoring retail goals throughout 2014.

There is a crisis in retail. During the 2013 holiday shopping season, U.S. retailers received approximately half the holiday foot traffic they experienced just three years ago, according to ShopperTrak. With consumer confidence growing in leaps and bounds, the decline in foot traffic signifies a tectonic shift in the way consumers shop and buy. Today's consumers lead busy lives and

In light of the leaked internal strategy for squashing unions at Wal-Mart as well as other firsthand accounts of shady management policies, an unidentified Wal-Mart employee of five years emailed Gawker this week with a list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). He or she seeks to explain why the big-box store's customer service is abominable. It's really thorough, so we've snagged a few choice quotes.     

No industry has been more transfigured in the past year than retail. Stores now behave like websites, tracking consumers as they browse. American malls have pretty much died (but may be on their way back to life). And in some parts of the country you can have your milk and eggs delivered to your home, along with your new iPod, on the same day. Those who lead the field strike the right balance between physical and digital, experience and affordability, and convenience and quality.