Walmart

Minneapolis – While some retailers have been raising their spending threshold for free shipping in the past year or so, Target Corp. is taking the opposite approach. Target now offers free shipping for orders of $25 or more. The retailer said the price cut follows an enthusiastic response to its free-shipping offer during the holiday shopping season.

That is half the $50 minimum Target previously required for free shipping. The free rate applies to standard shipments that take three to five business days to arrive.

Bentonville, Ark. – In a reversal of corporate policy that did not offer workers paid sick leave until their second day of absence, Wal-Mart Store Inc. is reportedly now allowing employees to collect sick pay on their first day of not reporting to work due to illness. According to the Wall Street Journal, the change in policy is part of a larger effort to improve employee morale.

Target is raising the stakes in the free online shipping game by undercutting not only Walmart but now also Amazon.com.

Target announced it has lowered the threshold for free shipping on online orders to $25, making it among the most competitive among major retailers. Its previous free-shipping minimum was $50, which placed it in the higher end of the spectrum.

Sears Holdings continues to lose money –- lots of it –- and same store sales declined again during the holidays, but the severity of the company’s losses have diminished, which has Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert believing further improvement is coming as the company transforms to what he calls “a leading integrated membership-focused company.”  

New York -- On Thursday, in a move that could shape the minimum wage debate, Walmart announced it was raising the minimum wage of its employees to $10 per house, which is significantly higher than the Federal minimum wage. The news has met with a mixed reaction.  

Here's a sampling:
 
CNBC reports that Wall Street gives Walmart a big thumbs down for the news.

In a move that could alter political debate and improve the image of the world's largest retailer, Walmart announced that it will raise the minimum wage of its employees to as much as $10 per hour by 2016. The decision has received mixed reaction.

Here's a sampling of the analysis of Walmart's big announcement.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation credited the “power of the marketplace” in Walmart’s decision to increase wages of approximately 500,000 full-time and part-time associates in April to $9 an hour, which is well above the Federal minimum wage.

Increased traffic and better than expected same store sales growth at U.S. stores were bright spots in the retailer’s fourth quarter earnings CEO Doug McMillon characterized as good despite a one cent increase in earnings per share.