Looks like Monday merger madness has hit the largest retailer in the known galaxy. This morning, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) made public its intentions to purchase South African retailer Massmart Holdings. Walmart offered 148 rand ($21.13) per share, bringing the total price tag for the purchase to $4.26 billion.

The move is an attempt by the American retail giant to establish itself in the quickly growing African market. Massmart operates 290 stores in 13 African countries, most of them concentrated in South Africa. Walmart considers the acquisition of Massmart "a compelling growth opportunity" that could "provide a platform for growth and expansion in othre African countries."

Walmart (WMT) seems to have the big-box retail format cornered. It is growing sales faster than the competition, is expanding internationally with success and seems to be able to do no wrong (albeit with a few small sidesteps).

Shares haven't really done much in recent years, closing yesterday right above $50 after sitting in $40 land for much of the past three years. About this time last year, shares were on a trajectory to hit $60 -- which they made before declining again.

After years of pretty staunch resistance, Walmart (WMT) may finally be gaining access to the nation's third-biggest market: Chicago. In the past, labor unions and other organizations had banned the retailing giant from the metro area, citing unreasonable salaries and unfair treatment.

In an effort to respond to these concerns, WMT has devised the "Chicago Community Investment Partnership," which carries enough economic clout to win over the Windy City's decision-makers. As Alderman Anthony A. Beale summed up in a release, "most of all, [the city of Chicago] need(s) good jobs."

The Partnership, to be carried out over the next five years, promises the following:

Under a new program started by Wal-Mart (WMT), employees will be offered tuition money to help pay for a college degree. The program is being run through American Public University. The courses will be taught online in order to provide flexibility to employees already holding jobs at Wal-Mart.

The program will offer a 15% tuition reduction and Wal-Mart Stores will invest another $50 million over three years in other tuition assistance.

Wal-Mart employs 1.4 million people in the United States. Most earn an average of $11.75 per hour. Estimates are that 200,000 employees will be eligible for the program. A two-year degree would cost about $11,700, and a four-year degree would cost about $24,000.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) will be paying $86 million as the result of a class-action lawsuit in regards to back wages owed to California employees who left the company only to see built-up benefits apparently vaporize into thin air.

The amount is a small one for the retailing behemoth, and the retailer did not admit to not paying those back wages to some 232,000 former employees. The case, filed in 2006, claimed that back wages were either delayed beyond the amount allowed by state law or weren't provided at all to these former employees. The company had already settled another lawsuit in 2008 over similar issues for a total of $640 million.

In what is one of the largest corporate gifts in history Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) has pledged a cash-and-food donation of $2 billion to the nation's food banks. The donation, which includes 1.1 billion pounds of food and $250 million, will be distributed over the next five years. One-third of the food will reportedly be perishable, helping fill a need for produce and meat that tends to be lacking at food banks.

President of the Wal-Mart Foundation told The New York Times that WMT, as "the largest grocer in the country," should "be at the head of the pack in doing something about [the hunger problem]." A recent survey from Feeding America indicated that one in eight Americans uses a food bank to provide or supplement their food budgets.

When Kroger (KR) CEO David Dillon says that his company can fight Walmart (WMT) on areas outside of price, one has to wonder what he's referring to. As Walmart has shown over the past 18 months (inside of a recession), most of middle-class America cares about one thing at retail: price.

What could Kroger do to compete better with the world's largest retailer, price aside?

Walmart (WMT) has created an initiative it's calling "Global.com" that will try to standardize the online and brick-and-mortar interactions customers have in the global markets where it operates.

Walmart Vice Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright said "now that we have a well-defined blueprint to continue to grow our online business, it's time to leverage our size and global footprint to take advantage of this evolving customer trend." Evolving customer trend? What is this, 2004? It's no longer a trend, Mr. Castro-Wright; it's an absolute customer requirement. Right now.

Shoppers spent more time – and money – in malls last month, with many retailers posting on Thursday strong results in what tends to be the final month of their fiscal year. The rich are doing a better job of prying open their wallets, as RetailMetrics, a research firm that covers the industry, reported that luxury retailers such as Saks (SKS) enjoyed larger gains in January than bargain stores. Signs of life in financial markets have made wealthier consumers more willing to spend ... and we all know that a recovery has to start someplace.

Walmart (WMT) will be getting rid of more than 11,000 employees inside its Sam's Club wholesale stores and replacing them with outside marketers. Frankly, it's surprising the world's largest retailer didn't do this years ago.

Sam's Club offers so many products in bulk that goading some aisle surfers into buying 36-packs of portable sausages comes at a price: sampling and in-aisle live displays. The manufacturers of those products or their hired outsourcers will now get the joy of working those demo displays.

Retailers don't like competition. As it is, they get enough of it from each other in the pursuit of razor-thin margins. It's standard practice to squeeze manufacturers for lower prices and more concessions as part of this battle.

For years, it's also been the norm for retailers to push back on manufacturers' direct-to-consumer models, as it gives consumers one less reason to enter the store, results in smaller basket sizes and greater pressure on wallet share. When a consumer product giant decides to bypass the retailers, eyebrows rise across the consumer business industry, with manufacturers thinking about new revenue possibilities while retailers worry that other product companies will follow.

Retailers appear to have been rescued at the last minute, according to data from the International Council of Shopping Centers. Shoppers looking for deals the week before Christmas -- and making up for the day lost to stormy weather on the East Coast -- spent aggressively, sparing the retail sector a dismal 2008-like performance.

The healthy conclusion to the holiday season led to a positive change from November and made December one of only three months (including September and October) in which retail sales increased year-over-year.

Wal-Mart (WMT) has a New Year's resolution: to save more. Yep, it sounds like the kind of thing you'd see in a Wal-Mart commercial, "This year, I resolve to save more with everyday low prices!" But, it's actually quite real for the Bentonville, Arkansas company. The plan for 2010 is to purchase directly from manufacturers -- rather than procurement companies or suppliers -- which should reduce its supply chain costs for private label products significantly.

Currently, Wal-Mart spends around $100 billion to acquire the private label products it sells around the world, approximately 25% of its $400 billion in revenue. The discount retailer will also purchase more of these products internationally -- today, it picks up less than 20% of its private label goods on a country-by-country basis.

The holidays have ended, and the real sales have begun. Those choosing to sacrifice sentimentality for savings found retailers only too willing to help, as prices were slashed in the wake of the Christmas rush. Recipients of gift cards stand to see their purchasing power extended, as well, now that redemption time has arrived, and retailers are looking to squeeze in any extra sales they can to pump up their top lines before the books close on the fiscal year, which, for many, comes at the end of January.

Toys "R" Us has offered a deal on Nintendo (NTDOY) Wii games, with the second coming at half price, and Target (TGT) is nearly halving the price of wine glasses and dropping the tag on an argyle women's sweater by nearly a third. Walmart (WMT), which kicked off its cuts at the end of September, is throwing a $50 gift card on top of any Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 buy.

Anxious to grab every last dollar they can out of holiday shoppers, retailers are pulling out all the stops. Especially given the snowstorm on the East Coast last week, they have to make up some ground, and time is running out. They lost the Saturday before Christmas, one of the busiest shopping days of the year -- and a favorite of people like me who wait until the last minute.

"Super Saturday," as it's called, was off close to 13% compared to last year, says research firm ShopperTrak. Only $6.9 billion came in, off $1 billion-year-over-year. And, let's not forget that 2008 was a drag. Its $7.9 billion performance was down from $8.7 billion in 2007.