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Lowe’s has partnered with Deluxe Corp. in a deal that will offer Lowe’s commercial customers services like web design and hosting, search engine marketing and optimization, logo design, and emailing marketing. Deluxe’s products and services will be offered through LowesforPros.com website.

Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts Miracle-Gro said Wednesday morning that its first quarter will see a bigger-than-expected loss, but it is maintaining its outlook for the full year.

Sales for the first quarter ending Dec. 31 are expected to decline about $30 million from the same quarter a year ago. The adjusted net loss in the quarter is expected to range from $70 million to $75 million, compared with a net loss of $65.6 million in the prior year.

The $1.20-to-$1.25 per share loss is greater than the $1.13 per share loss expected by Wall Street.

A survey conducted in September at the annual Shop.org Retail Summit in Boston showed that that almost half of all retailers surveyed planned to offer eGifting this holiday season, and 44% were looking at location-based deals as a key element of their mobile marketing strategy. 

The survey, sponsored by CashStar, found a growing number of concerns among retailers about the lack of personalization of gift cards. 

Paint manufacturer Valspar reported $1.07 billion in sales for its third quarter, a 22.5%   increase from sales in the same quarter of 2010. Net income for the quarter, which ended July 29, 2011, was $67.4 million, compared to $75.1 million a year ago.

San Diego-based WD-40 Co. posted third-quarter net sales of $85.5 million, an increase of 4% compared with the same quarter last year. Net income, however, slipped 12% to $8.1 million for the quarter ended May 31.

CEO Garry Ridge pointed to increases in commodity prices that have negatively impacted the company's gross margin, which was 49.3% in the third quarter, compared with 51.2% in the same quarter last year.

Builders FirstSource, one of the industry’s largest pro dealers, reported sales of $147.1 million for its fourth fiscal quarter, a 4.5% decline over sales of $154.0 million a year ago. The company estimates that sales increased 3.1% due to commodity inflation, but decreased approximately 7.6% due to volume and competitive pricing.

Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $24.6 million, compared with net income of $6.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2009. 

Sales were up, but earnings were down for San Diego-based WD-40 Co.

Sales for the first quarter ended Nov. 30 were $80.9 million, an increase of 4% from the first quarter last year. Net income for the first quarter was $9.1 million, down 4% from the prior fiscal year first quarter.