Wal-Mart’s deal for Kosmix

SAN FRANCISCO — Black Friday retail sales online this year topped US$1 billion for the first time ever as more consumers used the Internet do their early holiday shopping, comScore Inc said on Sunday. Online sales jumped 26% on Black Friday to US$1.04 billion from sales of US$816 million on the corresponding day last year, according to comScore data.

Michelle Obama visited a Wal-Mart in February to extol the fresh, healthy food in the company’s grocery aisles. But Wal-Mart, Obama’s corporate partner in a campaign to make food healthier and more affordable, has been running into problems with food that is not so fresh.

As a larger and larger portion of retail sales in the U.S. move online, customer service has become essential to e-commerce businesses that want to attract shoppers and keep them.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had the worst sales start to a month in seven years as payroll-tax increases hit shoppers already battling a slow economy, according to internal e-mails obtained by Bloomberg News. “In case you haven’t seen a sales report these days, February MTD sales are a total disaster,” Jerry Murray, Wal- Mart’s vice president of finance and logistics, said in a Feb. 12 e-mail to other executives, referring to month-to-date sales. “The worst start to a month I have seen in my ~7 years with the company.”

(NEW YORK) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer and the nation’s largest private employer, is making a pledge to hire every recently discharged veteran who wants a job. The plan is set to be announced as part of an address delivered in New York on Tuesday at the annual retail industry convention by Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart’s namesake U.S. business. (MORE:  Lawmakers Release Documents on Wal-Mart Bribery) Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., says it projects it will hire more than 100,000 veterans in the next five years.

(NEW YORK) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer and the nation’s largest private employer, is making a pledge to hire every recently discharged veteran who wants a job. The plan is set to be announced as part of an address delivered in New York on Tuesday at the annual retail industry convention by Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart’s namesake U.S. business. (MORE:  Lawmakers Release Documents on Wal-Mart Bribery) Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., says it projects it will hire more than 100,000 veterans in the next five years.

Value Expectations submits: Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) announced on Monday that it intends to acquire South African retailer Massmart Holdings (MSM) for 32 billion rand ($4.6 billion). The U.S.

Awkward! The National Retail Federation, which is dominated by traditional brick-and-mortar-based stores, just gave its top award to the guy who has been undermining their businesses for years. By the holiday shopping season of 2011, it was clear that Amazon.com could not remotely still be considered a plucky upstart in the retail world.