Walmart

Walmart held another one of its Global Sustainability Milestone Meetings on Thursday and shed new light on priorities and initiatives that promise to have far-reaching implications on suppliers as well as competitors.

The highlight of the meeting was an update on the company’s Sustainability Index which has been rolled out to 200 product categories and 1,000 suppliers with a total of 300 categories and 5,000 suppliers expected by year end, according to the company.

Walmart released an annual top toy list on Thursday with an important distinction from earlier versions – it was selected by kids and will be marketed and merchandise as “Chosen by Kids.”

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart on Thursday announced its annual holiday top toy list, but this year’s list has a new spin: It was put together with the help of kids. The chain brought together 1,000 kids ages 18 months to 10 years to test, play with, and help select the top toys for the season.

An already impressive speaker lineup was further strengthened this week when executives from Walmart.com, Salesforce.com, DataRank and Saatchi & Saatchi X were added to the lineup for the Emerging Trends in Retailing conference.

Walmart president and CEO Bill Simon prefaced his comments at the Goldman Sach Global Retailing Conference by saying he wouldn’t have much to say. That proved to not be the case as Simon said a lot about a wide range of subjects.
 

New York -- Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed a controversial bill that would have required Wal-Mart Stores and other large retailers to pay their employees at least $12.50 an hour. The bill applied only to retailers with stores of 75,000 sq. ft. or larger, at least $1 billion in annual sales and non-unionized workforces.

Chicago — Jones Lang LaSalle recently appointed senior VP Larry Kilduff, a 25-year industry veteran, as head of the firm’s Midwest Retail platform, which is based in Chicago. Prior to JLL, Kilduff owned and operated two retail real estate development companies and worked with leading retailers including Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Sears, Bon-Ton, Kohl’s and J.C. Penney.

Bentonville, Ark. – Starting Sept. 21, consumers will be able to receive immediate credit toward the purchase of a new smartphone when they trade in their current smartphone at more than 3,600 participating Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Club locations across the U.S. Wal-Mart's trade-in program offers an immediate credit from $50 to $300 for more than 100 smartphones.