Wal-Mart

Kantar Retail IQ has released a report comparing a basket of goods bought at Target with an identical basket bought at Wal-Mart. The findings were good news for Target customers, because the study found that Target is cheaper than Wal-Mart.

The biggest players in the world of retail have come together to form a Super Friends-like coalition, whose mission is to address the environmental and social impacts of their products. Made up of global retailers like Nike, Wal-Mart, Target and Gap among others, the “Sustainable Apparel Coalition” intends to create a universal Apparel Index that would eventually give retailers the opportunity to publish environmental scoring metrics on their products.

Wal-Mart has made a push to capitalize on Amazon’s ongoing tax troubles in California, by reaching out to the online retailer’s business partners. In a public statement, Wal-Mart said that it was “committed to supporting the affiliate programmes which help to drive Walmart.com's online business.”

Retail giants, non-governmental organizations, academic experts, and the Environmental Protection Agency are banding together to reduce the social and environmental impacts of apparel and footwear products sold worldwide. 

Target posted an 11 percent gain in fourth-quarter profit thanks to strength in its retail division, a discount credit card program and a cleaned up credit card business.

Wal-Mart is losing customers to dollar stores as it stuggles with pricing, and it continues to recover from a poorly executed decision, since reversed, to pare down the number of items it offered.

Borders Group filed for bankruptcy in New York today after management changes, job cuts and debt restructuring failed to make up for sagging book sales in the face of competition from Amazon and Wal-Mart.

Bernadette Clark used to visit Wal-Mart twice a week. Now it's twice a month. She got fed up last year when Wal-Mart stopped stocking some of her favorite brands and she couldn't count on low prices.

Who hasn't been reeled in by the lure of a money-back rebate, reducing the purchase price of that new dishwasher or refrigerator you need? The process sounds so simple, too: Just fill out a rebate form, mail it back with a proof of purchase, then sit back and wait for the check to arrive in the mail. At least so it seems.

Wal-Mart said it will be spending half a billion dollars this year to expand in Canada, the latest example ot a retail rush north to take advantage of Canada's relatively robust economy and eager-to-spend consumers.