Though Wal-Mart dominates the global brick and mortar retail scene, even it had to watch Amazon surpass it in online traffic.

U.S. traffic on Thanksgiving Day in 2007 increased 20 percent compared to Thanksgiving 2006, Hitwise reported today. 

Compared to most retailers, Wal-Mart is really, really big.  So it only makes sense that the company is doing away with Cyber Monday, and is instead focusing on an entire “Cyber Week.”

The early birds are rising earlier this year as searches for Black Friday-related websites spike a bit earlier than last year.

Could what, one might wonder? Unless the Wal-Mart shopping public that bought out the first run of 10,000 Everex, Ubuntu-powered, $199 PCs returns them in droves, maybe it’s time for Microsoft to become concerned.

Walmart.com says it is not going into the online grocery delivery business.

Wal-Mart is threatening legal action against some Web sites that may release its Black Friday ads in advance.

Wal-Mart plans to begin reselling satellite based broadband from Hughes Communications.

Wal-Mart is taking a step backwards when it comes to online customer service. The retail giant said it would no longer offer its customers the choice of being able to speak to a customer service representative if they have problems with an order.

Wal-Mart said today that it is launching "DRM-free" MP3 music downloads. Single tracks will be 94 cents a piece and a whole album will sell for $9.22.

What’s the one thing Facebook was missing?  Well, in my opinion, it wasn’t Wal-Mart’s official presence.  But like it or not, there is now a sponsored Wal-Mart group on the social networking site.

Wal-Mart today said it is adding customer reviews and ratings on its Web site.

Retail giant Wal-Mart has teamed with Skype and will start selling Skype Certified hardware in their 1,800 locations throughout the U.S. In addition consumers will have access to headsets, webcams and handsets that are compatible with Skype along with pre-paid cards.

When it comes to pure, unadulterated retail, there are few stores that do it any better than Wal-Mart. The company has made a reputation in offering consumers a one-stop shop for everything from cereal to motor oil.

Fortunately, for all things pure and noble, this new free marketplace of ideas works as a circle – what goes around comes around eventually. Wal-Mart and Edelman, meet your blogospheric comeuppance, served with a side of cold irony.

If you don’t disclose you’re being paid to blog, you’re gonna create a mess, like Edelman and Walmart did.

A travel blog featuring a couple traveling the country by RV and camping in Wal-Mart parking lots turned out to be a fake, its pro-Wal-Mart message backed by the Edelman PR firm.

A long week of commentary after news of the Wal-Marting Across America blog’s real backers and bloggers became known has finally elicited responses from top man Richard Edelman and company VP/A-list blogger Steve Rubel.

So, apparently, it seems Wal-Mart needs to go ahead and fire whoever’s working on their online marketing campaign. Two separate aspects of the campaign have been blasted in just a week. One angered parents, the other was exposed as a fraud.

The Hub will be the retailing giant’s online attempt to win over the online teen crowd and bolster its flagging fortunes in the hotly competitive apparel market.

Many prognosticators have foreseen a great war–a battle for world domination. These soothsayers have named Wal-Mart, Google, and Starbucks as the most powerful of the behemoths that will be involved. And in a move that is not likely to ensure victory, or even confer an advantage, Wal-Mart is staking out a powerful claim by attempting to patent the humble smiley.