Strategy

Liberal economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Bloomberg financial columnist Barry Ritholz weighed in this week with points of view on Walmart’s recent investment in wages and other changes to improve worker satisfaction.

Both took shots at the company by revisiting some of the negative characterizations of how Walmart treats workers that have been repeated so often they have taken on a life of their own.

Krugman offer a more technical view on the company’s actions while Ritholz took more of a snarky approach.

Walmart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Doug McMillon invoked a baking metaphor at a retail conference in Northwest Arkansas this week to describe the company’s merchandising philosophy and approach to offering customers every day low prices.

Yahoo has named the former marketing chief at JCPenney as its new senior vice president consumer marketing.

Debra Berman will be joining Yahoo as our new Senior Vice President of Consumer Marketing, reporting to me. Berman will join the Yahoo marketing team on July 6, bringing with her more than two decades of marketing experience.

Shoe Carnival is planning to open smaller stores to leverage untapped markets in smaller communities, as well as the company's omnichannel capabilities.

Kmart has overhauled its marketing team by making several personnel changes and replacing its CMO with a veteran from DSW.

According to Ad Age, the company has named Kelly Cook as its new chief marketing officer after Mark Andeer left the company.

Cook will be leading the company's "omnichannel transformation," according to Ad Age.

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The CEO of 99 Cents Only Stores Inc. says he's confident that the company's core business strategy remains strong despite a sharp drop in net income in the first quarter.

<The Neiman Marcus Group says currency exchange rates put pressure on traffic in the first quarter as the company reported a smaller than expected boost in same store sales. 

The retailer said same store sales increased 2.2% for the third quarter ended May 2 as the strong dollar had some impact on the retailer’s business.

Toys”R”Us says it is making steady progress with its “TRU Transformation” strategy despite a decline in same store sales in the first quarter.

Same store sales for the first quarter ended May 2 fell 2.3% primarily because of what the company said was "a planned decrease in promotional activity.'' International same store sales rose 1.2%, lifted by increases in the learning and core toy categories. Total sales declined by $154 million to $2.32 billion.

Publix is exploring the possibility of opening smaller format stores in the North Florida area, according to the Gainesville Sun.

The Sun is reporting that the Southern grocery chain has been talking to Gainesville, Fla., city officials about a site near the University of Florida.

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Etsy and the West Elm division of Williams-Sonoma continue to fuel the maker movement with new initiatives that were launched to coincide with a Presidential Proclamation establishing the National Week of Making.

In conjunction with an event at the White House and a proclamation by President Barack Obama, online retailer Etsy said it planned to expand its Craft Entrepreneurship program to 30 cities by July 2016 from the current 19 cities.