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Analysts and investors were greatly disappointed to learn that the fourth quarter revenue of Amazon.com (AMZN) was up, but profits were down. The conclusion by the Wall Street Journal and others after hearing the news about Amazon's disappointing profit numbers was that Amazon is spending faster than it is earning, and therefore is not a very good investment. This reaction says a lot about short-sighted investment profiteers and nothing about the business savvy of the retail industry leader who has defined Internet retailing.

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When Wal-Mart (WMT) announced that it would be repositioning its legendary Wal-Mart greeters away from the front of the store and station them instead in high-traffic areas inside the store, retail industry and customer service experts immediately took it as a sign that Wal-Mart was abandoning its customer service values, and the Wal-Mart customer experience would become one of a cold, big box store without a soul. The power that critics have assigned to one employee to set the tone in a a store the size of a typical Wal-Mart filled with the number of employees on duty in a typical Wal-mart is as laughable as the notion that Wal-Mart is anything besides a cold, big box store anyway.

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With high retail space vacancy rates, low commercial real estate prices, and the promise of economic recovery, store openings were the name of the retail game for the U.S. retail industry in 2011. (Click here for a complete list of 2011 store openings.) The predictions for the coming year, however, include economic uncertainty, political tension, and spend-wary consumers. So it's a wonder that any U.S. retail chain is brave enough to invest in any new store opening in 2012.

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When retail companies want to build their Facebook audience, a good bribe will usually do the trick. But when people declare they like a retail company only if there's a coupon, freebie, or special discount given in return, how much do those likers really "like" you? Actually they like you quite a bit, according to a recent survey by ComScore.

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After picking up a to-go meal at a Chili's (EAT) restaurant in Texas, I went online and filled out the customer feedback survey that I had been directed to by my Chili's restaurant receipt. The gist of my feedback was "Who spilled the salt shaker?" I expressed great dissatisfaction at the meal that was salty to the point of being inedible to anyone who was not a deer. I also answered affirmatively that my bad Chili's experience would have a negative influence on my decision to dine at a Chili's in the future.

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If Oprah Winfrey opened her OWN retail operations (perhaps a chain of cute little "Favorite Things boutiques?") there's little doubt that it would be big, it would be successful, and it would quickly be global. But Oprah doesn't have her own chain of retail stores (yet). And Oprah has never been the CEO of a global retail organization (yet). So why would a retail industry leader care what Oprah had to say about anything?

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It's no surprise that customer satisfaction with Amazon.com (AMZN) is high. It's also no surprise that when asked to score the largest online Internet retail shopping websites, customers gave the highest marks to Amazon.com based on their Internet shopping experiences during the 2011 holiday shopping season.

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Deeply discounted year-end clearance sales are giving U.S. consumers both a happy year-end and happy New Year gift reminiscent of the Great Recession retail inventory dump of 2008.  After-Christmas shoppers won't have to look very hard to find merchandise discounted up to 90% at major U.S. retail chains like Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, Kohl's, and Barnes and Noble on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and on the bonus last last-minute shopping day of the holiday season on Monday, January 2nd, an official work holiday on the 2012 calendar.

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The U.S. retail industry would have preferred to bask in the glow of its own record-breaking Christmas retail sales results for the 2011 holiday season a little longer before getting yanked back to post-holiday reality by the Sears (SHLD) and Kmart store closing announcement. Immediately after the Sears and Kmart store closings were announced, analysts and journalists began concluding that ending an old year and starting a new year with major closings by a major U.S. retailer signals trouble for Sears Holdings (SHLD), trouble for the economy, and a generally unhappy New Year.

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