Target November Comp Sales Decreased 1%.  “Target Corporation today reported that its net retail sales for the four weeks ended November 24, 2012 were $6,183 million, a decrease of 0.1 percent from $6,191 million for the four weeks ended November 26, 2011. On this same basis, November comparable-store sales decreased 1.0 percent.”  https://investors.target.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=65828&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1762842&highlight= 

“Amazon, Wal-Mart Pull Ahead In Cyber Monday Traffic” by Amy Reeves in Investor’s Business Daily.  “Experian said in a blog post that visits to Amazon’s website increased 36% over last year’s Cyber Monday, to nearly 35 million. It was the top e-tail site by visitor count. No. 2 Wal-Mart’s visits rose 21% to 18.6 million, while Best Buy came in third at 9.4 million, up 10% from last year.”  https://news.investors.com/technology/112812-634910-amazon-wal-mart-best-buy-lead-cyber-monday-traffic.htm

“Wal-Mart exec invites suppliers to partner in digital revolution” by Kim Souza in The City .  “(Stephen Quinn) said Wal-Mart’s huge scale, often seen as sluggish moving forward, would not be left in the dust. Quinn challenged dozens of suppliers to get onboard with the retail giant as they work to integrate multiple retail channels and provide genuine customer satisfaction.  “Take the Scotts lawn business. I can see Wal-Mart partnering with them on a YouTube commercial, as an example,” Quinn said. “Think of Wal-Mart as an experience platform, that you can work with for retail development kit. Seek us out proactively and increase score card performance.” https://thecitywire.com/node/25296#.ULdykofAfzk  

“With Target on the way, Canadian Tire gets busy” by Mark Reilly in St. Paul Business Journal.  “The Toronto-based company, which despite the name is a general merchandise retailer in the vein of Minneapolis-based Target, is shaking up its executive ranks to cut costs and streamline its management structure, The Wall Street Journal reports. Its senior vice president of technology, executive vice president of corporate development and “a small number” of other VP-level execs, are out.”  https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/morning_roundup/2012/11/with-target-on-the-way-canadian-tire.html

Walgreens Takes Its Fresh Food Offerings on the Road for Mobile Tasting Tour.  ” Walgreens is embarking on a mobile tasting tour providing samples of its innovative fresh food and refreshments to Los Angelenos where they work, live and play. The Walgreens “Up Market: Fresh” experience will be brought to consumers via a custom-made, 40 foot bus and will visit various Los Angeles locations between now and Dec. 5. The “Up Market: Fresh” bus’ daily location and featured sample menu items are shared via Twitter @upmarketfresh.”  https://news.walgreens.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5680

“Whole Foods engage consumers on Pinterest with non-food related content” by Ben Rogers in Wave Metrix.  “Whole Foods have successfully built a large community size in comparison to other retailers with over 80K followers. Perhaps surprisingly, our analysis shows that some of the most popular boards are the ones which aren’t related to food or cooking. 42% of engagement comes from boards which relate to topics like culture, beauty or ecology. This shows the importance for marketers to understand the interests of a community beyond the brand itself and offer valuable information which isn’t directly linked to their products.”  https://wave.wavemetrix.com/content/whole-foods-engage-consumers-pinterest-non-food-related-content-01020 

“Costco joins firms issuing special dividend payments this year” by Alana Semuels in LA Times.  “Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Hot Topic Inc. and Dillard’s Inc. are among retailers that have said they would pay their dividends this year rather than next year. Retailers usually end their fiscal years in January, so many don’t usually pay dividends until then.”  https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fiscal-cliff-dividends-20121129,0,4212751.story

“Ballmer:  Microsoft Stores exist to “sell, sell, sell” (and also help)” by John Callaham at Neowin.net.  “Ballmer said, “With 31 stores, we are driving ahead vigorously and we are there to sell, sell, sell! Help, help, help! And through help, sell more!”  https://www.neowin.net/news/ballmer-microsoft-stores-exist-to-sell-sell-sell-and-also-help