International Business

Goodlettsville, Tenn. - Dollar General Corp. has promoted one of its finance executives to interim CFO.

The discounter named John W. Garratt as interim CFO effective July 1. He follows David Tehle, who had previously announced his retirement in March 2015.

Garratt, who is currently the senior VP of finance and strategy, will now oversee all aspects of the company’s financial, accounting and information technology operations until a new CFO is in place.

New York -- Dutch supermarket giant Ahold has agreed to buy Belgian rival Delhaize, creating the sixth largest food retailer in the United States. Keith Anderson, VP of strategy & insights for Profitero, and formerly a retail analyst with RetailNet Group, offers his thoughts on what led to the merger, and what it may bring.  

The woman who put the “T” in Tarjay is stepping down from her role as chief merchandising officer and adding some uncertainty about the retailer’s direction under the leadership of chairman and CEO Brian Cornell.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation praised the Senate’s passage on Wednesday of Trade Promotion Authority

San Jose, Calif. – Digital technology stands ready to significantly disrupt retail and many other industries, yet many companies are not showing concern.  

Armonk, N.Y. – IBM and Box are launching a global, cloud-based partnership that will integrate their existing products and services and develop new solutions targeted across industries including retail. The strategic alliance brings together Box’s cloud content collaboration platform with IBM Analytics and social solutions, IBM security technologies and the global IBM cloud.

Retail consulting firm McMillanDoolittle has posted an interesting blog on Gap Inc.’s ongoing efforts to turnaround its troubled namesake brand. Here is the full posting:

Beijing, China - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is both thinking and acting globally with a major expansion of its cross-border e-commerce initiatives. Alibaba’s new global effort includes the launch of 11 official country pavilions on its Tmall Global platform.

Chicago - True Value Co. has added National Lumber and Hardware, a 50-plus-store chain in Puerto Rico, as the newest purchasing partner of the cooperative. The growth of True Value’s international presence is a key initiative as the company focuses on its long-term strategic plan.

“We’re excited to enter into this new relationship with National as this marks an important expansion of the Puerto Rican market for True Value,” said Lars Hybel, VP of International, True Value Co.
 

New York -- The combination of Royal Ahold and Delhaize Groupe creates a new super-regional chain along the Eastern Seaboard that will serve 50 million customers weekly and generate annual sales of more than $60 billion.

The merger announcement was highly anticipated following months of speculation followed by confirmation of talks between the companies. Now that the merger agreement has been reached, Ahold and Delhaize said they expect the deal to close by mid-2016.