Mass Merchant

Los Angeles -- Guess Inc. said Wednesday that profit for the quarter ended Oct. 29 fell 4% as the clothing company's tax rate increased. The chain reported net income of $66.3 million, compared with $69.1 million in the year-ago period. The company's effective tax rate rose to 32.3% during the quarter from 29.1% a year earlier. As a result, the incomes taxes Guess paid rose 5% to $31.9 million.

Target previously acknowledged that the return of layaway at Walmart impacted its early-season toy sales, and now comes another interesting revelation in Target’s November sales release.

New York City -- In a heavy promotional environment starring early sales and steep discounting, the department store players turned in mixed performances in November. Industry-wide retail sales on Black Friday rose 7% to $11.4 billion, the largest amount ever spent, according to ShopperTrak.

Atlanta -- A report released Thursday by First Data Corp., which tracks same-store consumer spending via credit, signature debit, PIN debit and EBT cards at U.S. merchant locations, found that dollar volume for the Thursday-Friday shopping period grew 6.3% over last year, and transaction growth was 7.3%.

The First Data SpendTrend analysis showed that Electronic/Appliances, Clothing and Accessory Stores, and NonStore Retailers were some of the merchant categories that saw a boost in dollar volume growth this year.

CHICAGO — Eva Kohn of Valassis Inc. and Subriana Pierce of Supervalu were named co-chairs of the Network of Executive Women CPG Retail Diversity Forum 2012 scheduled for March 6 to 8 in Dallas. The NEW Diversity Forum, formerly the Multicultural Workforce Conference, is the consumer products and retail industry’s leading diversity and inclusion event.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Walmart is looking to help holiday shoppers find the perfect gift this season with the launch of a new social shopping application.

New York City -- Most retailers are reporting strong sales gains in November, with their performance boosted by heavy traffic over a promotion-fueled Black Friday weekend. Among the retailers that reported results beating Wall Street expectations were Macy’s, Costco Wholesale, Limited Brands and The Buckle.

Target was a notable exception in November, reporting a same-store sales gain of 1.8%, missing Wall Street’s expected 2.8% gain.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday it has debuted a social networking application, calling it Shopycat.

The app uses Facebook data to recommend gifts to consumers, on the company's Facebook page. It is one of the first products to roll out of @Walmartlabs, a unit of the company charged with developing social-networking and mobile technologies for the retailer.