Walmart tests HappyOrNot kiosk across from HQ by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "During a 20-minute period on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 14) there were no shoppers who used the kiosk to rate their experience. Traffic in the store was heavy ahead of inclement weather and last minute Valentine's Day shoppers. Wal-Mart did not say if this kiosk would be added to other stores, only noting it is a test." Read more   Walmart to set up 15 cash & carry stores in Andhra Pradesh, India in 5 years at Economic Times. "The company currently had three stores in Andhra [...]

  Wal-Mart adds new restrictions to ‘Savings Catcher’ tool by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "Beginning Feb.14, we are removing some departments consisting mostly of items that do not have a like for like match at other retailers, such as produce and bakery items. Additionally, we are limiting our comparisons to offers of other mass market retailers, grocery and dollar stores, removing comparisons with drug stores,” the email stated." Read more   Amazon Left Out of FAA Drone Plan by Bart Jansen at USA Today. "The FAA needs to begin and expeditiously complete the formal process to address the [...]

  Wal-Mart and Mexico launch initiative to improve lives of farmworkers by Richard Marosi at LA Times. "Wal-Mart said it is taking action to ensure that workers are treated with "respect and dignity," reminding its in-house buyers that they should buy produce only from farms that meet the company's standards for decent treatment of workers." Read more   Target brings back Mark Schindele for real estate role by Nick Halter at Minn./St. Paul Business Journal. "His new job is senior vice president of Target Properties, where he'll lead " a broad and diverse team responsible for: store planning and design, real [...]

  Amazon disputes report claiming deliveries arrived late this holiday by Tricia Duryee at Geek Wire. "Amazon is downplaying the results of a new study today that claims 10 percent of shoppers said packages arrived later than expected over the holidays...In an interview with Reuters, Amazon’s head of Prime Greg Greeley, dismissed the results, calling them “very suspect.” An spokeswoman additionally told Reuters that “Our internal data shows significantly better results.” Read more   West Coast ports mostly shut for 4 of next 5 days as longshore dispute drags on by Justin Pritchard at AP via Seattle Times. "29 West [...]

  Wal-Mart says to invest C$340 million in Canada at Reuters. "Wal-Mart said on Wednesday it would spend about C$230 million of the planned investment to complete 29 supercenters, including the expansion of several stores to add full grocery departments...Wal-Mart had planed to spend C$500 million in Canada in the last fiscal year...The newly announced supercenters...will boost its supercenter count in Canada to 309 by the year ending January 2016." Read more   Target Agrees To Pay $4 Million Settlement For Overcharging Customers at KPIX 5 SF Bay "Since 2008, the retailer was allegedly charging more at the register than [...]

   Lowe’s to launch innovation center in India by Varun Aggarwal at Economic Times. "Lowe's expects to spend approximately $350M in their annual IT capital expenditures, including Omni-Channel capabilities. "We met with other retailers, asked them to explain how they were working on newage technology, and many of them pointed us to the global innovation centres they have in place in India," (Robert) Niblock told ET in an exclusive interaction." Read more   PwC Names 'Top Ten Favorite Retailers' (Amazon #1, Walmart #2, Target #3) by Andria Ching at MarketWatch. "PwC didn’t ask respondents to name their absolute favorite...Unlike past [...]

  What Target is cooking up for its stores by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. "Here’s a rundown of some of Target’s recent experiments: Home redesign.  Instead of dishes and cups being stacked up on shelves, Target is testing more of a lifestyle layout...Target first began testing this redesigned home department at the Quarry store in November. It will be rolled out to 15 more stores this spring..." See the list of 8 experiments   West Coast ports to reopen after weekend shutdown by Chris Woodyard at USA Today. "At the normally busy Port of Los Angeles, cranes sat idly perched over [...]

  Disappointed shoppers say Target bargains off the mark on first day of liquidation by Bill Mah at Edmonton Journal. "Despite store signs and ads promising markdowns of 30 per cent, shoppers at the West Edmonton Mall store Thursday said most items were discounted only 10 per cent, with some 20-per-cent deals...“I kind of thought they would be a little bit cheaper,” shopper Val Kendall said. “Everything’s only 10-per-cent off. We keep looking for the 30s, but I’m not finding them.” Read more / See the in-store video   ...Globe & Mail Canadian Poll:  97% aren't excited by Target's liquidation sale. [...]