Despite consumers’ early holiday shopping start this year, the National Retail Federation expects a year-on-year increase of 2 million shoppers from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, it said Wednesday, though the estimated 158.3 million are below the 165.3 million who shopped in 2019.

Target bumped up sales guidance for the holiday quarter to “high-single digit to low-double digit growth” in comparable sales, compared with previous guidance for a high-single-digit percentage increase, said Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke on a Wednesday earnings call. Q3 revenue exceeded expectations, popping 12.7% for the quarter ended Oct. 30.

In a breakthrough for right-to-repair advocates, Apple said Wednesday its new Self Service Repair program will make genuine Apple parts, tools and manuals available for consumers who are “comfortable” servicing their own devices. Advocates greeted the news with a mixture of glee and trepidation over what they said was a program that at first appearance was rife with limitations and unknowns.

Privacy laws in Virginia and Colorado show it’s possible to establish an effective legal framework without a private right of action, House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., told an FCBA event Tuesday. She urged Congress to pass a “forward-thinking, pro-innovation,” national privacy standard.

Walmart is “off to a good start” for the holiday season, and customers “should expect to find the items they want,” said Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs Tuesday on a quarterly call. Walmart’s inventory position is “good,” despite macroeconomic and industry challenges, and stores and fulfillment centers are “well-staffed,” said Biggs. The company decided last year to “be aggressive with inventory positioning,” and it paid off, he said. Inventory grew 11.5% in Q3 as Walmart prepared for an expected strong holiday sales season. See Q3 materials here.

The 1974 Trade Act “does not authorize” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to increase the “original” Section 301 Lists 1 and 2 tariffs on Chinese goods under the “circumstances present” in the Lists 3 and 4A duties, argued Akin Gump lawyers for sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products in their final written brief Monday at the U.S. Court of International Trade before the litigation moves to oral argument Feb. 1. HMTX and Jasco, plus the thousands of complaints their September 2020 lawsuit sparked, seek to get the tariffs thrown out and the paid duties refunded with interest.

The interactive promise of the metaverse will take music’s ability to be “the one true global language to an entirely new level,” said Warner Music Group CEO Steve Cooper on a Monday earnings call. Cooper sees the metaverse as “super exciting” for the music business, due to its potential scale and global reach.

Third-quarter TV imports to the U.S. rose exponentially from Q2, signs of a summer inventory build as retailers prepared for the holiday selling season amid components shortages and supply chain bottlenecks, according to Census Bureau data accessed Saturday through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb portal. Year-over-year TV unit volume declined significantly due to tough comparisons with the 2020 quarter when COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions fueled historically strong consumer TV demand in all screen sizes.

Amazon violated California labor law when it concealed from warehouse workers state-required information about COVID-19 cases in the workplace, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) alleged Monday. Amazon would be required to change its practices under a stipulated judgment agreed upon by the state and the company. Also Monday, California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) Executive Director Ashkan Soltani said the fledgling agency is focused on speeding up staffing as it develops and prepares to enforce updated state privacy rules.

The digital component of CES will extend beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, said Jean Foster, CTA senior vice president-marketing and communications, at the CES Unveiled New York event Wednesday at the Rainbow Room. “When you actually allow people to join digitally, we can reach many, many more people, so that will be an ongoing part of the show.”