Wal-Mart unexpectedly announced the retirement of its current Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott. He will be replaced by Mike Duke. Scott will remain as chairman of the board. Wal-Mart remains one of the few companies actually benefiting from the recession as more buyers turn to the store in order to save. Mike Duke will be tasked with how to keep these new customers in the years to come.

Wal-Mart same store sales climbed just slightly as consumers continue to flock to the company and away from higher priced retailers. It's sales exceeded expectations in what may be the worst back-to-school season in seven years. However, all is not well, as the company faced its slowest growth since 2007 and is anticipating a very slow Christmas later this year.

According to Wal-Mart's Chief Financial Officer, Wal-Mart is dedicated to maintain low prices despite growing pressures from its suppliers. Wal-Mart suppliers are now facing the steepest inflation in the U.S. in over 17 years as rising costs have now stretched beyond oil and food. Wal-Mart stated that they are not only trying to maintain prices, but also increase the number of price cuts in its grocery... More

Shares of Wal-Mart dropped 6.3 percent Friday, the steepest drop since 2002, after the company reported that it expects stores opened within one year to rise as little as 1 percent. The rise would signal the slowest gain in over five months. The company reported that most consumers have spent the U.S. tax rebate checks, which have led to the company's current spur in sales.

Discount retailers outperformed earnings estimates this month as stimulus checks appeared to have boosted same-store sales. Wal-Mart and Costco both contributed to the indexes rise in same-store sales of 5.7 percent in July compared to a 2.9 percent gain in June.

Fair trade, the social movement towards alleviating poverty and promoting sustainability while providing a fair price to small farmers, has been gaining support rapidly and earlier this year Sam's club began offering fair-trade tea, bananas, and roses; however, in actuality all of the large quantities of tea, bananas, and sugar are imported to the U.S. by large plantations. And in order to coop with... More

Wal-Mart's Sam Club stores will be limiting the volume of rice sold to customers to 4 bags per person. Wal-Mart states that "supply and demand trends" are the reason for the restriction, and that the company plans to continue with the restrictions as long as they are allowed by law. Currently, only New Mexico and Idaho are the only two states that prohibit such actions.

As retailers continue to get hit by drops in consumer spending, Wal-Mart announces that it plans to only open 81 new stores in March. For Wal-Mart the 81 new stores represents significantly slower growth as the company opened up over 195 stores during this period last year.

Wal-Mart has decided to drop its support for HD-DVD and exclusively support Sony's Blu-Ray format. The move comes just after both Netflix and Blockbuster reported that they are only going to be offering video rentals in Blu-Ray format. It is now overwhelming clear that Blu-Ray has won to win the hi-def war.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported that its same-store sells, a key measure in the retail sector, missed its January targets and reported that sells increased by 0.4% well below analysts' forecasts of an increase of 1%. This slow growth in same-store sells is the lowest for Wal-Mart since March 2003, and it bolds bad for the economy as consumer spending currently accounts for nearly two-thirds of economic... More

After just less then a year after its online movie site went live, Wal-Mart has quietly canceled the service. Amy Colella, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart, said that Wal-Mart has shut down the site as Hewlett Packard Co no longer supported the web platform powering the site. She also noted Wal-Mart would not be looking for another partner, and does not plan to offer online downloads of movies in the... More

Both Wal-Mart Stores and Macy's Inc. announced that they are extending hours and increasing discounts to entice late shoppers during the final weekend before Christmas. Merchants are in need of strong sales in order to meet forecasts. The National Retail Federation has predicted the worst holiday sales season in over five years due to higher food and energy costs amid the mortgage crisis.

Wal-Mart plans to further roll out their RFID product tracking by placing RFID sensors on every product item and then installing an RFID tracker on its forklifts. This would allow forklift drivers the capability to see exactly where merchandise is located in store warehouses. Wal-Mart expects the advanced inventory tracking will save the company another $287 million. Ron Moser, the RFID technology... More

Wal-Mart reported earnings on the low end of analysts expectations; however, it raised its next quarters earnings estimate due to expected lower expenses. At the same time, Wal-Mart's number 1 competitor Target announced that their full-year earnings will come in slightly lower then analysts were hoping for.

Cargill is voluntary recalling over 840,000 pounds of beef sold at Sam's Club stores after four children from Minnesota developed E. coli. The beef is sold under the brand name American Chef Selection Angus Beef Patties. All four children started to reveal symptons between Sept. 10 and Sept 20th. Two of the four children were hospitalized and one remains in the hospital.