Walmart has always been bigger than however many stores the chain happened to have, or its customer count or employee rolls. America’s best-known retailer invariably has been a sort of reflection on the country itself — and, now, on the world.

That’s why it can’t be too surprising that Wal-Mart corporate's latest financial results were disappointing to its American execs and investors. Same-store sales in the US fell by 1.8% during the quarter ended January 28 after CEO Mike Duke had said at the beginning of the period that US sales for the quarter would come out “positive.”

It shouldn't come as a shock that Walmart has been performing relatively better overseas these days.Continue reading...

Ikea's latest UK campaign is sure to please fans of cat videos: 100 cats roaming their Wembley store to promote their 2011 catalog.

The tagline  — "happy inside"  — is part of a competition: guess which pieces of furniture the cats choose to settle on  — and win that piece. Linked, of course, to Facebook, the campaign gives "herding cats" (and keeping cats off the furniture) a whole new meaning.

The campaign, which echoes its highly praised "Malmo" Facebook-tagging promotion, comes from Mother London. Feh Tarty, Mother's creative director, tells Brand Republic that "The idea behind the work is that cats know better than anything what makes them feel happy inside. They live their lives in pursuit of their own comfort.”

Across the Atlantic, a new campaign is now breaking in the US.Continue reading...

For Starbucks, it's all about surviving the onslaught of such competitors as Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's and finding a new way to extend brand sales. We've watched the coffee purveyor for months as it aggressively pushed into the retail environment, even as it closed stores.

Now, CEO Howard Schultz has made clear what we've expected all along — that Starbucks will increasingly sell itself as a consumer brand on store shelves. His strategy, according to the Wall Street Journal, is "to leverage Starbucks's retail stores to build a stronger consumer packaged goods business." In effect, Starbucks plans to test products in its own stores and then roll out the successful ones to supermarkets.

While Starbucks has sold some beverages, such as the Frappuccino, in supermarkets since 1996, only recently did it take its core coffee product and make it available in stores.Continue reading...

Call it a high concept store. Luxottica’s just opened Eye Hub store in Australia is 16,000 square feet of interactive merchandising and jaw-dropping design.

The basic layout is shaped like an eyeball and includes a wind machine, a treadmill, machines that simulate snow and water glare, and 41 touch screens that serve as cameras and mirrors for shoppers to check out the frames.

At the epicenter of the store is the ‘iris,’ home to the most expensive brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Bulgari and Versace. The products are displayed like a rare wine vault, and the store boasts the biggest selection of high-end eyewear in the southern hemisphere.Continue reading...

Tiffany & Co. next month starts selling its first women's handbag collection in 20 years, part of a bid to "extend its brand beyond jewelry," as Bloomberg notes.

The women's collection is priced between $395 for a tote bag to $15,500 for a "Laurelton" glazed crocodile leather satchel. But it's the "Holly" clutches, which come in both satin jewel tones and leather, that will likely prove the biggest lure for fans of Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Check out the Holly clutch, and why Tiffany's got a brand new bag, after the jump.Continue reading...

Karen Katz, EVP of luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group, would just as soon forget 2009.

"Luxury retail in general took the hardest hit during this recession," Katz recently commented. "Our customers pulled back dramatically from spending... that being said, we are very happy to see that business is coming back. The customer is definitely back in the stores."

Katz, who will take over as CEO of Neiman Marcus in October, hopes she has a recovery ahead of her. The company's sales did indeed see an uptick in revenue for the first half of the year, but Neiman Marcus was forced to do something out of character: use discounting to prompt sales.

That's always a risk for an upscale retailer, but Katz "remains confident the brand was protected as Neiman's kept its focus on exclusive merchandise."Continue reading...

Just when you thought a bricks and mortar library was an endangered species, they are starting to spring up in your favorite mall. Why mix reading with retailers and restaurants?

In a concerted effort to reintroduce the traditional library concept to their communities, the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association, is reinventing the concept for the 21st century, when book sales—and the joys of reading—are challenged despite the proliferation of e-readers and the efforts by tech giants such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google and other brands to promote e-books.Continue reading...

Spanish children's retailer Neck & Neck goes neck and neck against competitors with IBM predictive analytics to improve marketing campaign performance and sales.

The retail chain, which caters to “the best dressed children in Europe,” with 200 stores in nine countries, was able to quantify results after six months of using the software.

The results: campaign response rates increased by more than 25% and the average number of consumer sales grew by 15% in one year, even though fewer catalogs and promotions were mailed.Continue reading...