Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart is improving customer experience by allowing shoppers to scan and pay for items away from the checkout counter. With Apple’s new EasyPay feature as part of its iOS app, shoppers with an iPhone 4 or 4S can buy some products simply by scanning the barcode, entering their Apple ID, and walking out with the item.

Wal-Mart has lower online prices on a selection of toys this month than Target’s website and Amazon, according to a Bloomberg Industries analysis. Prices for a group of about 80 toys are 1.8 percent higher at Target and 0.7 percent more expensive at Amazon.

Wal-Mart quarterly profit growth missed Wall Street's expectations, as the economy continues to weigh on customers at Wal-Mart. Still, key sales at those U.S. discount stores rose more than expected, reversing a string of nine quarterly declines.

Wal-Mart competes with almost everyone in retail, but increasingly suppliers see the giant focused on a new and, to some, surprising rival: Amazon. Wal-Mart could use a bigger dose of what gave Amazon 44 percent top-line growth last quarter.

In the latest acquisition by its digital technology division, Wal-Mart has acquired Grabble, an Australian technology startup that's developed a smartphone-friendly point-of-sale app which allows retailers to send digital receipts to customers' mobile devices.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores has acquired Australian tech start-up Grabble for an undisclosed amount. Founded in January 2010, Grabble provides retailers a point-of-service app for purchases. The discount giant will make the company part of its recently established Walmart Labs.

Wal-Mart has launched new applications for the iPhone and iPad designed to give its consumers tools to plan their weekly shopping trips as well as a new way to access the retailer both in-store and online.

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

WalmartLabs plans to open a 100-employee software-development center in Bangalore, India, by year-end. Wal-Mart Stores' digital division will create social and mobile applications, including apps that help in-store customers pinpoint the location of items they seek.