Wal-Mart

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.

Wal-Mart is looking to export products worth "hundreds of millions of dollars" from India as the world's largest retailer wants to make the country a major sourcing hub, the chief executive of its Asian operations said. India is an important country for the retailer--for sourcing materials due to cost advantages and because of the growth potential it offers when the markets in the developed world, including at home, are saturated. Only a small portion of India's retail market is organized at present, leaving huge space for expansion.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is cutting prices on thousands of products in an aggressive campaign to reinforce its reputation as a discount leader, as the company seeks to reverse months of slowing U.S. sales. The world's largest retailer was a rare beneficiary of the economic downturn, as large numbers of bargain-hungry Americans, including many middle-class families, flocked to its supercenters from supermarkets and specialty clothing stores. Wal-Mart's sales at U.S. stores open a year or more have edged lower recently, while other retailers have started to see an uptick in consumers' discretionary spending. That suggests to some analysts that Wal-Mart is having trouble hanging on to middle-class shoppers.

Creating a seamless cross-channel experience is likely your goal. But your customers may not be experiencing that, at least according to a March study from Forrester Research: US Online Retail Forecast, 2009 To 2014.

Retail brand consultants Interbrand Design Forum today released the Most Valuable U.S. Retail Brands report, the second ranking of the top 50 retail brands. Walmart claimed top honors as the most valuable retail brand, followed by Target (No. 2), Best Buy (No. 3), The Home Depot (No. 4) and Walgreens (No. 5).

Organizational design emphasizes structure. But today’s organizational analysts believe relationships between people inside and outside an enterprise create economic value by sharing knowledge and generating new knowledge. Value networks are a new form of organizational thinking based on human interdependence.

The biggest snowstorm of the season to date is scheduled to arrive along major population centers on the East Coast on Sat. Dec. 19, the final Saturday before Christmas, also known as Super Saturday, which is traditionally one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
                   

These days, decisions on all sorts of purchases go through many consumers’ personal “boards of buyers,” sort of a shopping version of the id, ego and superego. This imaginary board consists of the assorted moods we’ve all developed this year to stomach the economic bad and keep afloat financially.

This year alone, Green Mountain’s stock has jumped by more than 120 percent. The company has maximized its selling opportunities by supplying McDonald’s with its “premium” coffee. More recently, in April Green Mountain struck a deal to sell its Keurig coffeemakers and the little containers of coffee designed for them in more than 3,000 Wal-Mart stores. Along the way, Green Mountain embarked on a growing list of sustainability projects. During a session at last week's Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Boston, Green Mountain’s vice president of environmental affairs, Paul Comey, shared several ways Green Mountain not only practices sustainability in a profitable way, but also how it publicizes its green practices to consumers.

Although it's been a while since last Thanksgiving, I had the pleasure of ordering an Xbox online at that time and thought the whole learning exercise would be worth sharing with you.