Mass Merchant

Walmart’s deeper affiliation with NASCAR continued this week as the good old boys headed to Alabama’s Talladega super speedway for the Good Sam Club 500 where race fans were provided the opportunity to participate in Race Time at Walmart activities.

It looks like there are going to be some unhappy folks in Walmart’s supplier community later today. That’s because there are only a few seats remaining for the Emerging Trends in Retail conference that is organized each fall by the Center for Retail Excellence in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — In honor of Adopt-a-Dog Month in October, Sam's Club announced that it is pledging $20,000 of Simply Right branded pet food, supplies and Sam's Club gift cards to four U.S. animal shelters in need of support following recent natural disasters. The pet food is part of Sam's Club's new proprietary brand Simply Right line of quality and affordable pet care products, available exclusively to Sam's Club members.

No one said being an international retailer was easy, a lesson Walmart continues to learn the hard way on distant shores. This time the country in question is China, a market where despite having a long history and extensive operations, the company managed to run afoul of local officials who temporarily closed 13 stores because, according to media, reports, some pork products were incorrectly labeled as organic. Walmart has been in China for about 15 years and currently operates 349 stores, consisting of 245 Walmart stores and 104 units that are still branded as Trust-Mart.

Crossmark and FLW Outdoors announced a new joint venture called Out Front Marketing and have already signed on Walmart as a client to use the firm’s “Mobile Brand Boxes” to promote Walmart’s USDA Premium Beef program.

Under most circumstances, Walmart and Target are like oil and water, but when the issue is fighting retail crime even fierce competitors see the wisdom of coming together to battle a common enemy.

Such is the case with retail theft, and earlier this week the Retail Industry Leaders Association welcomed a select group of senior level asset protection executives, product manufacturers and academic researchers to the 2011 Asset Protection Leaders Council (APLC) meeting in Minneapolis to launch the APLC’s process driven shrink initiative. 

NEW YORK — Macy's has announced Doo-Ri Chung as the next acclaimed fashion designer to take part in the designer capsule collection series for the retailer's contemporary fashion 'Impulse' department.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Supervalu reduced it full-year profit forecast Wednesday morning, even though the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter sales and profits as a result of strategies president and CEO Craig Herkert said are yielding results.