Walmart Pulls Its North American Account From MediaVest by Noreen O'Leary at Adweek. "A Walmart rep confirmed the split...She declined to share further details about what is happening to the business...According to Starcom MediaVest Group, the agency staffs 95 people on its Walmart team. They are primarily based in New York, with two in Chicago, one in California and one in North Carolina." Read more   Ecommerce sales pick up strongly after Christmas, with 15% growth in January by Chloe Rigby at Internet Retailing. "That’s more than double the 7% boost recorded last January and suggests, says the IMRG, [...]

  Online sales tax supporters hope gamble pays off by Mario Trujillo & Naomi Jagoda at The Hill. "Supporters of online sales tax legislation have been promised a vote in the Senate this year, but the timing is vague and House consideration is uncertain. To secure considerations of the online sales tax bill known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, advocates traded away one of their major bargaining chips by allowing a separate long-term ban on local Internet access taxes from going forward." Read more   What The Lowe's Robot Will Do For You—And The Future Of Retail by Jessica Hullinger at [...]

  Target HR chief Jodee Kozlak heads to Alibaba; retailer promotes Stephanie Lundquist by Evan Ramstad at Star-Tribune. "Stephanie has played a critical leadership role in Target’s transformation efforts, developing and initiating the human resources strategies necessary to drive long-term growth for Target,” Cornell said. “She’s been a leading voice as we push ourselves to think differently and work in new ways across Target.” Read more   Why Do So Many People Go Crazy for Wegmans? by Robert Klara at Adweek. "Wegmans feels like a European food hall—and you understand that the people who are selling you the food are [...]

  Target debuts Generation Kind, an anti-bullying clothing line by Embry Roberts at NBC Today. "But the message is just the beginning. To ensure that kindness is catching, each T-shirt comes with a friendship bracelet — perfect for anointing new members of your kind-minded squad. In keeping with the line's mission as an anti-bullying resource, each tag bears the phone number for a non-profit crisis hotline run by partner organization Teenline." See the shirts / Read more   'Red flag' that Cabela's sale is soon?; chairman puts 11 million shares into trust by Paige Yowell at World-Herald. "It could mean that [...]

  Target to team with Gwen Stefani for live music video commercial during Grammys by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "The four-minute live commercial/music video will include multiple sets and costume changes — and Target promises there will be guest appearances and other surprises. It will be performed Monday at a soundstage in Los Angeles while the Grammy Awards event happens across town at the Staples Center." Read more   Whole Foods Q1 Comp -1.8% "For the quarter, total sales increased 3% to a record $4.8 billion." Read the release   Whole Foods Is Undergoing a 'Fundamental Transformation,' Says Co-CEO [...]

  Home Depot co-founder reveals he has cancer by Maria Saporta at Atlanta Business Chronicle. "Arthur Blank said from all the tests, the doctors believe the cancer is contained and “removing the cancer physically is the best way to treat it.”He expects it will take a couple of weeks to recover from surgery, so it would be equivalent to him taking a vacation. No other additional treatment -- radiation or chemotherapy or hormonal therapy -- is planned as of now." Read more   Burberry Accuses J.C. Penney of Ripping Off its Check Pattern by Phil Wahba at Fortune. "Taking a dig [...]

  After challenging holiday, Sears to speed up store closings via Yahoo. "Comparable-store sales in the fourth quarter dropped 6.9 percent at Sears, and 7.2 percent at Kmart, which the also company owns..." Read more   Asda gets its new chief customer officer from Walmart at International Supermarket News. "Mr.Murray, a former P&G marketer is currently working with Walmart as its senior vice-president of creative and customer experience." Read more   Why aren’t stores selling more clothes? Maybe we are just bored of the skinny jean. by Sarah Halzack at Washington Post. "Overall, bottoms take about 10 years to fully evolve,” [...]

  Costco delays credit-card switch by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. "The original contract with Amex ends March 31 this year but “our plan is to extend that” by a few months until the Citigroup deal kicks in, said Richard Galanti...The timing of the transition is “fluid,” Galanti said. “It’s between Amex and Citi — negotiating and completing the agreements to do that transition.” Read more   Target takes gender-neutral approach with new kids home brand by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "It was an aisle of pink, fairy princesses, ponies and flowers,” Julie Guggemos, Target’s senior vice president [...]