TARGET

NEW YORK — Walmart topped the list of retailers on the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, according to a study commissioned by WPP Group and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor.

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study identifies and ranks the world's most valuable 100 brands by their dollar value, an analysis based on financial data combined with consumer measures of brand equity.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target will open a single-level store in New Mexico, the first of its kind in the state. The store, located in Albuquerque, is scheduled to open in 2013 and will occupy 155,000 sq. ft.

The store will feature covered, ground-level parking, with the store elevated directly above. It will offer guests the everyday essentials and exclusive brands they have come to expect from Target. In addition, the store will include a selection of fresh produce, fresh packaged meat and pre-packaged baked goods to further enhance guests’ experience.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target has announced its plans to open new Target Clinic locations at four Target stores in northern Virginia and four Target stores in North Carolina, marking the first Target Clinics to open in these states.

The new clinics currently are under construction and will open on July 29.

MINNEAPOLIS — First-quarter earnings at Target exceeded a profit forecast the company increased last month after a strong start to the quarter.

Sales increased 6.1% to $16.5 billion and same-store sales advanced 5.3%. The sales momentum, combined with rigid expense control, enabled the company to report first-quarter earnings per share of $1.04, which exceeded a guidance range that had been increased to 96 cents to $1.02 from 88 cents to 98 cents in early April, following better-than-expected same-store sales during the first two months of the quarter.

NEW YORK — Consumers gravitate toward traditional pharmacies for their everyday health-and-wellness needs, according to the "2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend" survey released Monday. Among retail pharmacy operations, Walgreens enjoyed the greatest brand equity among consumers based on top consumer scores in "familiarity" and "purchase consideration" categories. Overall, Walgreens' brand equity was tabulated at 69.9, CVS/pharmacy came in at 67.4 and Rite Aid 62.5.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — More retail websites this year achieved a "threshold for excellence" on customer experience analytics firm ForeSee's annual Top 100 E-Retail Satisfaction Index.

ForeSee reported that 36-out-of-100 online retailers achieved a satisfaction score of 80 or higher, compared with 28-out-of-100 websites that received the distinction last year. Although Amazon.com topped the list with a 2012 satisfaction score of 89 — up three points from 2011 — many other retailers, particularly retail pharmacies and grocery retailers, earned a high score:

MINNEAPOLIS — April same-store sales at Target increased 1.1% and helped the company achieve a 5.3% first-quarter comps increase that was the highest in six years. How much of the performance was due to record warm weather versus good execution of a solid strategy against the back drop of an improved economy is debatable.

MINNEAPOLIS — Another 90 Target stores are slated to receive fresh food in June as part of a major remodeling initiative that has become known simply as PFresh.

The stores will remain open during the remodeling process and are scheduled for grand-reopening on June 24. The 90 stores currently being remodeled represent the second of three waves of stores that will undergo transformation to the PFresh store design, so named because the most significant change involves the allocation of roughly 10,000 sq. ft. to fresh foods and expanded freezer and cooler doors.