International Business

Three executives were named to new roles at leading appliance and consumer electronics manufacturer Haier America.

Haier America, part of the $29 billion Haier Group, named Gina Copeland SVP of air quality, Sanjay Gupta VP of product platform development for major appliances and Paul Riley as VP of sales and marketing for major appliances.

Shanghai, China -- M&M’S celebrated the grand opening of its first M&M’S World store in Asia – M&M’s World Shanghai, a 17,000+-sq.-ft. entertainment destination that marks the brand’s fifth M&M’s World flagship store. Current flagships include Times Square, New York; Orlando; Las Vegas; and Leicester Square London.
 
Spanning two floors and combining iconic Chinese landmarks and cultural elements, the store features a large array of candies and M&M-branded merchandise.

RuMe, an earth friendly lifestyle brand, has appointed Farhan Yasin to its board of directors. Yasin joins RuMe's board to provide strategic guidance on the company's continued innovation and expansion within e-commerce, business operations and managing its rapid growth.

Sears Holdings has appointed former Tesco executive Alasdair James as president and chief member officer for the Kmart business.

In this role, James will be responsible for driving the Kmart format strategy, managing the Kmart P&L and aligning merchandise, marketing, pricing and selling with the needs and wants of Shop Your Way members.

New York -- Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s founder, Dennis "Chip" Wilson, reached an agreement to sell half his stake in the women's yoga-wear company to Advent International of Boston for $845 million. The deal will give Advent, which owned shares of Lululemon from 2005 to 2009 and was one of the company's early venture capital backers, 20.1 million shares, or 13.9% of the company (Lululemon went public in 2009). It also gives Advent two seats on the board, including Advent's managing partner David Mussafer, who will become co-chairman of the retailer.

Trace One, which provides solutions to branded and private-label goods companies, has added Chris Morrison as its chief marketing officer.
 
In his new position, Morrison will oversee the company’s global communications, product strategies and marketing. He’ll be a part of the rollout of new Trace One solutions and assist in expanding the company’s global reach.
 

New York - Following a strong economic pick-up in fourth quarter 2013, values for both imports and exports fell during first quarter 2014, compared to the previous quarter. According to a new report from supply chain research firm Panjiva, imports dropped 5.42% and exports 3.84% from fourth quarter 2013, though activity in March fared better than in January and February.
 
Some of the report highlights include:

A massive new Academy Sports and Outdoors distribution center in Tennessee is expected to fuel the retailer’s growth for years to come when the 1.6 million-sq.-ft. facility opens in 2016.