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Wal-mart

Food Brands, Retailers Roll out Thanksgiving Promos - Including Online

From Wal-Mart’s $35 dinner for 8 to Butterball’s “turkey texts” to Papa John’s night-before-Thanksgiving pizza offer, food makers and sellers are busting out deals and marketing in time for next week’s holiday.

Wal-Mart is advertising that shoppers can buy a Thanksgiving dinner for 8 people for less than $35, with price reductions on items like stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, wine,...
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Toy Recalls Down by Half in 2008

Toy recalls in 2008 are down 46% from last year, dropping from 138 to 74, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Reports of lead contamination - which last summer was the cause of the Elmo and Dora the Explorer toy recalls - have dropped from 97 in 2007 to just 45 so far this year.

Increased surveillance by the agency, which included ramped up inspections at nine US ports, was...
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Online Consumers to Spend Less in Stores, Slightly More Online, for Holidays

Online consumers intend to spend less in stores during this holiday season than last, but slightly more online - where they expect free shipping and deals not available in stores, according to The Consumer Internet Barometer from The Conference Board and TNS.

Bargain hunting will remain the driving force behind online sales, notes the quarterly report, which surveys 10,000 households across the...
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$1 Billion in Sales Taxes Stay in Retailers’ Pockets

A little-known law that allows retailers to keep a small portion of the sales tax they collect is costing the public sector about $1 billion a year in forfeited funding, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The law - active in 26 states - was put in place before computerized cash registers and was meant to compensate retailers for the expense of gathering the funds.

Illinois, one of the 13 states...
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Holiday Shoppers Continue Shift to Online; Cite Convenience, Price

Consumers will continue to shift their gift buying online this holiday season, citing convenience, time constraints, and price among the primary reasons for shopping on the web, according to (pdf) a Nielsen Online pre-holiday survey.

With the current economic downturn, there is an increased focus on price this year, with 53% of consumers citing price as a reason to buy online, compared with 46%...
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Consumers Embracing Online and ‘Green’ Shopping This Holiday Season

Online retailing will continue to grow this holiday season, with a record 71% of consumers spending at least part of their holiday budgets via the internet, according to Deloitte’s 23rd Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends.

That figure is up 5 percentage points from 2004.

The online channel ranked No. 2 this year for holiday gift-shopping, behind only discount department...
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Earnings Fall below Target at No. 2 Discounter

Target has lost the battle for the title of No. 1 discount retailer in the US - Wal-Mart took point long ago. But as third-quarter financial results roll in, it is becoming even more clear that the gap between the two is widening.

Hurt by both the difficult retail environment and its struggling credit card unit, Target reported total revenue of $15.11 billion, a mere 2% rise from Q3 last year...
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Wal-Mart Lawyers Tackle Black Friday Ad Sites, Target Search Engines

Last week, some Black Friday websites received “leaked” Wal-Mart ads regarding deals available at the big-box. But less than two weeks before the shopper’s holiday, Wal-Mart’s legal team has sent takedown notices to those sites, writes MarketingVox.

Moreover, Wal-Mart is apparently also targeting search engines that linked to the content. Lawyers told SearchAllDeals.com, a search...
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State of U.S. Same Store Sales - October 2008 Data Update

RetailerDaily has compiled comparable store sale data from the SEC filings of ten major U.S. retailers spanning 2007 and 2008 up to the most recently released October numbers. The data excludes fuel sales (which would have distorted numbers because of high gas inflation in 2008) and is available in Excel format from the link below:

Among the highlights this year, Wal-Mart shows more...
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Wal-Mart’s Profits Rise 10% in Q3

Wal-Mart’s mix of merchandise and “save money, live better” marketing bolstered total sales in the quarter (ended Oct. 31) to $98.64 billion, up 7.4% from the year-ago period, the company announced.

Earnings were $3.14 billion ($0.80/share), up 10% from $2.86 billion ($0.70/share) in 3Q07.

Wal-Mart’s international division - though vulnerable to exchange rates and currency fluctuations -...
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