Walmart

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores' investment in China continues to grow as the company now has a controlling stake in one of the country's fast-growing e-commerce websites. The company announced that it has reached an agreement to increase its investment in the holding company of Yihaodian, bringing its total ownership stake to approximately 51%. Closing of the transaction is subject to Chinese government regulatory approval.

Toronto -- A Thursday report by Reuters said that Sears Canada is cutting prices on more than 5,000 items as a competitive preemptive move before Wal-Mart and Target begin their expansion march across the country.

According to the report, Sears Canada will also roll out weekly sales promotions and new signage.

MINNEAPOLIS — It's a common dilemma for retail stores; customers come in to check out the latest merchandise only to then buy it at a competitor's website. According to a new survey from market research fim ClickIQ, nearly half of consumers who have shopped online within the past six months first checked out the product at their local retail store and then made the purchase online, often from a different source.

Ahead of Walmart's fourth-quarter sales and earnings report on Feb. 21, analysts have high expectations for the company. Reuters reported that nalysts on average expect to see the company's best U.S. sales performance in more than two years, and anticipate that Walmart's store traffic will improve.

To see more about what Reuters had to say, click here.

With China on pace to become one of the world's biggest retail market, any insight on developing a retail business in this area is welcomed, which is why it is no surprise that Scott Price, president and CEO of Walmart Asia, is scheduled to speak at the World Retail Congress Asia Pacific in Beijing this March.

Here we go again. Every so often the media gets a hint that Wal-Mart Stores is looking to expand into Russia and the speculation begins. The latest report from Reuters claims that the retailer still sees opportunity in the country as it looks to possibly by the X5 chain. X5, however, is denying reports that it is in talks with Walmart. Whether a purchase in Russia will happen anytime soon remains to be seen, but anything regarding the biggest retailer and one of the biggest markets will continue to garner attention.

Supply chain optimization solutions provider Quintiq Inc., announced that Walmart selected the company’s next-generation load assignment and dispatch system to lower the total miles driven and improve fleet efficiency.

“We are delighted with Walmart's choice of Quintiq,” said Victor Allis, CEO of Quintiq. “We believe this demonstrates that no supply chain is too large or complex for our state-of-the-art supply chain optimization software.”

Efforts to make food healthier and healthy food more affordable took center stage last week in Washington, D.C. when Walmart unveiled its new “Great For You,” packaging icon. This week in Orlando food safety took center stage at the Consumer Goods Forum’s annual Global Food Safety Conference where Frank Yiannas, VP food safety at Walmart and co-vice chair of the conference weighed in on collaboration, food safety at a cross roads and Tiramisu.