"Target Hires New CIO (Who Used to be Home Depot's CIO)" by Jennifer Bjorhus at Star-Tribune.  "Bob DeRodes, 63, held similar positions at Home Depot, Delta Air Lines, Citibank and First Data. He also founded DeRodes Enterprises LLC, a company that consults on information technology and business operations, including for several U.S. government agencies in Washington."  Read more   "Yesterday:  Wal-Mart Convenes Key Partners to Talk Recycling, Sustainability" by Kim Souza at City Wire.  "Wal-Mart announced plans to create a sustainability store on Walmart.com – shopping portal, expected to launch by the of this year. This shop in a [...]

  "CNBC's Top 25: Who Had the Biggest Impact on Business Since 1989 (Jeff Bezos #5)"  See the Top 25 list   "Deloitte:  80% Want to be Left Alone in Store"  "Consumers largely prefer to navigate the aisles and the checkout without a store associate's help. Eight in 10 (80 percent) respondents in Deloitte Digital's study said they prefer to obtain product information on their own device or from an in-store device like a kiosk, rather than ask a sales associate."  Read more   "CR Magazine's Top 100 Corporate Citizens (Target #61, CVS #79...)"  See the Top 100 list   [...]

  "The $1.5 trillion opportunity retailers overlook" by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC.  "By the year's end, Deloitte predicts $1.5 trillion, or 50 percent, of all in-store sales will be influenced by digital devices.  "The fact is, traditional retailers are leaving too much money on the table and are allowing strictly online retailers to capture a growing share of revenue that could be theirs," the study said." Read more   "A Walmart Fortune, Spreading Charter Schools" by Motoko Rich at NY Times.  "In effect, Walton has subsidized an entire charter school system in the nation’s capital, helping to fuel enrollment growth [...]

  "Amazon's Q1 Sales Satisfy the Street (Reports Profit!)" by Brad Stone at Businessweek.  "Amazon reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday, notching $19.74 billion in net sales. That beat Wall Street’s estimates of $19.43 billion and marked a 23 percent jump, compared with the same period a year ago. The company also reintroduced something its investors haven’t seen in a while: a profit. It reported earnings per share of 23¢, in line with estimates."  Read more   "Amazon.com Announces First Quarter Sales up 23% to $19.74 Billion"  "Second Quarter 2014 Guidance:  Net sales are expected to be between $18.1 billion and [...]

  "Ex Wal-Mart CEO's deferred pay: $140 million" by Gary Strauss at USA Today.  "Departed Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke's deferred pay should provide enough money to shop beyond discount retailers for many years.  Duke, who retired Jan. 31, had $140.1 million in deferred compensation at year's end, Wal-Mart said Wednesday in its annual proxy filing. That's more than $27 million over what Duke had accumulated in retirement accounts in 2013."  Read more   "Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon Received $25.6 Million Last Year (But Pay is Tied to Future Performance)" by Mark Friedman at Arkansas Business.  "Nearly all of the company's [...]

  "Wal-Mart de Mexico's Net Profit Down on Year" by Anthony Harrup at WSJ.  "Sales rose 2.2% to 102.6 billion pesos...Walmex Chief Executive Scot Rank said the company continued to see lower customer traffic at its Sam's Club membership stores, which account for 26% of its sales in Mexico."  Read more   "Why Is Miranda Lambert Working at Walmart?" at Wild Country 97.1.  "Miranda Lambert served a lot of happy customers over the weekend.  The country megastar and avid animal lover worked outside a Walmart in Madill, Okla. to find forever homes for several shelter dogs."  See the pics / [...]

  "Report:  Wal-Mart Plans to Open up to 35 Central America Locations in 2014" at CNBC via Women's Wear Daily.  "According to the report, the company's Walmex unit—made up of its Mexico and Central America operations—will look to add between 30 and 35 stores in Central America this year. Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras could all house new Walmex locations, the retailer's regional corporate affairs director, Aquileo Sánchez Viquez, told the newspaper." Read more   "Walmart's Director for Social Media Strategy Bolts for Campbell Soup Co." by E.J. Schultz at Ad Age.  "Campbell Soup Co. has hired [...]

  "Millionaires Prefer Costco, Target, Home Depot" by Sarah Mahoney at Marketing Daily.  "The American Affluence Research Center finds the country’s richest are looking forward to major home improvements, with the accompanying large furniture and durable good purchases that go with them, in the months ahead...The twice-yearly survey is based on a sampling of 330 adults, in households with a net worth of at least $828,000, and an average net worth of $3.1 million."  Read more   "Barron's Cover Story: Buy Home Depot" at Timothy Kelleher Corp.  "Seventy-eight percent of Home Depot's stores were within 10 miles of a Sears location...The bank's [...]