Costco

Maybe it's the gargantuan boxes or pallets stacked to the ceiling, but Instagrammers love taking photos at Costco. Over at Wal-Mart, shoppers prefer Twitter, and Safeway shoppers check in with Yelp. All of these behaviors go by the same name — social media moments, according to LocalResponse, a mobile advertising provider. The company released its first study of retail check-ins from more than 136,500 social media moments at 10 top U.S. retailers, using four social networks — foursquare, Twitter, Yelp and Instagram — over the summer.

Target, Costco Wholesale and Gap are among 15 retailers recognized on the Ethisphere Institute's 2012 "World's Most Ethical Companies" list. The other retailers honored were Safeway, Whole Foods Market, Starbucks Coffee Co., Patagonia, Wegmans, Marks and Spencer, Best Buy, eBay, Timberland, OfficeMax, Petco, and Ten Thousand Villages. Ethisphere evaluates hundreds of companies, naming only those that surpass their industry peers to the "World's Most Ethical Companies" list. The 2012 list features 145 companies in more than three dozen industries that show leadership in promoting ethical business standards.

Costco is moving to a new e-commerce platform that will improve the online visibility of its website. The transition is planned for this summer and "will bring users to costco.com via search engines, which our much older current system does not allow," said Costco CFO Richard Galanti during a recent conference call.

After receiving such great feedback on our inaugural list last year, we here at Retail Online Integration decided to make this an annual feature to highlight the leading female executives in cross-channel retail. The women on this year’s list, as were those on last year’s, are the best and brightest in the cross-channel retail industry.…

When a big-box store such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco or Sam's Club comes to town, local businesses get nervous. How can they compete with the "everyday low prices"? How will they keep their customers? How will they attract new ones? After all, they don't have the advertising budget, inventory or buying power that big-box retailers do. While there's some reality to all of the concerns that a local or small business might have, they're really just excuses. Plenty of local and small businesses flourish long after these larger stores move into their territory.

Despite making a clean break with Costco in late 2010, Apple could be looking to expand its footprint with one of the wholesale retailer's rivals, a new report suggests.

Consumer Reports recently conducted a survey of more than 26,000 of its readers about which are the top retail stores. Some stores were big-name disappointments while one store stood out above the rest.

One of the toughest parts of running any business is recruiting top talent and getting that talent to stick around. But when you oversee a small business, the challenges become a little bit bigger: How can you compete with the bigger companies' deeper pockets to give your employees an experience that makes them want to stick with you?

Career community Glassdoor has announced the results of its fourth annual Employees' Choice Awards for Best Places to Work. The top 50 winners were selected by the people who know these companies best, the employees.

Slipcover and home accessories supplier Sure Fit Inc. has acquired the assets of the Patio Armor brand from Trilink Global LLC.Financial terms were not disclosed nor was the size of the acquired company.Patio Armor products include heavyweight fabric covers for patio furniture, grills and other outdoor items. Its major accounts include The Home Depot, Costco, Amazon and Factory Direct. The company is based in Atlanta and will retain its own headquarters.Tom Atchison, who has served as director of sales of the Trilink business since 2008, has joined Sure Fit as VP of sales - outdoor division."The Patio Armor brand