Wal-Mart

) Wal-Mart Stores on Friday said its chief merchandising officer John Fleming is leaving the company on Aug. 1 after 10 years of service.

Wal-Mart launched a public-relations campaign ahead of a City Council committee vote later this week, vowing to build "several dozen stores" and create 12,000 jobs in Chicago over the next five years. The announcement was the first time Wal-Mart has provided specifics on its goals for store openings, job creation and tax revenue. But the City Council has yet to take any action on approving Chicago's second Wal-Mart store. Wal-Mart has been thwarted in its push to grow in Chicago for six years. A weakened economy and high unemployment rates have swayed dozens of ministers here to reverse their stance and start supporting the opening of Wal-Mart stores on the city's South Side.

Retailers stand to reap billions from the financial-overhaul legislation being finalized by Congress this week, possibly giving them a long-sought victory by slashing the "swipe fees" that credit-card companies charge merchants for every debit-card transaction. Members of the House and Senate announced an agreement Monday to include the debit-card fee cuts in the final version of the overhaul bill — a loss for the financial industry, which had mounted a furious campaign to eliminate or water down the proposed regulations.

But now, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart’s warehouse chain, is offering a program called eValues that strives to offer bargains tailored to each member, based on that member’s buying history. Industry experts said they expected other retailers to move toward more individualized offers, too. Today, most retailers offer across-the-board discounts or deals aimed at categories of customers.

As Best Buy faces heightened competition from rivals Wal-Mart and Amazon.com, the largest U.S. electronics retailer is confronting a longstanding disadvantage: fewer women shoppers. Best Buy's customers and worker are overwhelmingly male, a vestige from its days as a seller of speakers and stereo equipment. While Best Buy estimated earlier this year that it commanded roughly 22 percent of U.S. consumer electronics sales, its share of sales to women was just 16 percent, and only 31 percent of store workers are women. Now, the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer is trying to bridge its gender gap.

Kim Siefke, e-commerce manager, web design and development at Bealls, spoke at last month's retail Marketing Conference in Orlando, Fla. on how her company has used rich media to grow its online and cross-channel sales. Joining Siefke in presenting a session titled “How Rich Media Can Help Drive Cross-Channel Success” was Wayne Sadlowski, vice president of business development at Adobe Scene7, a provider of image server software.

Wal-Mart announced a program Thursday in which its workers can receive college credit from the online American Public University and receive a tuition discount from the school. The company also said it will commit $50 million over three years to help workers pay for books and tuition above the reduced tuition rate. After the reduction, tuition will cost $212.50 per undergraduate credit hour and $255 for graduate credits.

The sharp cuts at U.S. Walmart stores, which came ahead of Memorial Day weekend, have already pushed rivals such as Target into price wars. And the markdowns are expected to keep coming throughout the summer. They're one of the boldest moves the world's largest retailer is making to turn around sluggish business at its U.S. namesake chain and win back shoppers from rivals. The cuts aren't across the store but target 22 foods and other essentials at an average savings of 30 percent — splashy enough to get attention and perhaps change perceptions. The retailer is also restoring items like certain soups and laundry detergent it stopped carrying when it tried to declutter its stores. It's also pushing more basic clothing such as socks and underwear after putting too much focus on trendy items that didn't sell.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. became the largest retailer by building sprawling stores in suburbs and rural towns. But now it is exploring opening a number of small outposts to penetrate the nation's cities and fight the spread of no-frills grocery chains, which are luring away some of its core customers. It is one of several recent statements by Wal-Mart declaring that its U.S. expansion will center less on its warehouse-sized Supercenters and more on far smaller urban stores, as well as condensed locations where consumers can pick up merchandise they order online.

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that thousands of female Wal-Mart employees can sue the world's largest retailer as a single class over allegations that it paid them less than men and gave them fewer promotions. The 6 to 5 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco is the latest step in a nearly decade-long battle to bring the case to trial. Wal-Mart said that it now plans to request that the Supreme Court review the ruling. But attorneys for the women said they hope the case will go to trial by the end of the year. The appeals court did not rule on whether discrimination occurred at Wal-Mart but on whether female employees could sue the company collectively. The original class covered women who have worked at Wal-Mart's sprawling fleet of about 3,400 stores since 1998, initially estimated to number about 1.6 million, which would have made it the nation's largest sex discrimination case.