U.S. retail and consumer merger & acquisition (M&A) activity during the first quarter of 2013 was defined by six multibillion-dollar transactions, including one of the largest consumer products deals in history, and alternative deal structures employed to achieve strategic objectives, according to PwC's U.S. retail and consumer deals insights Q1 2013 report.

CFOs remain optimistic about financial prospects and are focused on growth, as indicated by increased hiring, capital and R&D investments, according to buying consortium Prime Advantage's fifth annual Group CFO Survey.

Walmart has now officially joined the National Retail Federation (NRF) as a member. For those new to retail, this may seem to be no big deal, but the background is that Walmart and the NRF have been in what amounts to a blood feud for decades.

Despite the high expectations of wholesale buyers, nearly 40 percent of the top wholesale companies have extremely basic or nonexistent websites, missing an opportunity to enhance the buyer experience through e-commerce, according to a report from hybris, a commerce platform.

Unilever United States and Canada announced that all 26 of its manufacturing and non-manufacturing headquarter facilities are now zero waste to landfill (ZLF). Other countries in which Unilever has achieved this milestone reportedly include the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Japan.

There is only so much that a single organization is going to be able to achieve to improve the impact it has on the environment or society, without collaborating with the wider aspects of its supply chain.

Tesco PLC's ambitious U.S. experiment - 5-year-old grocery chain Fresh & Easy - has failed after costing its British parent billions of dollars, the company said.