International Business

DALLAS — Zale Corporation has promoted Bridgett Zeterberg to the position of SVP, general counsel and secretary. Zeterberg joined Zale in September 2010 and became general counsel and secretary in February 2012.

She is responsible for all legal, compliance and contractual matters, as well as corporate and board governance. She will continue to report to Theo Killion, CEO.

CHICAGO — Grainger, a leading broad-line supplier of maintenance, repair and operating products serving businesses and institutions, has appointed Dr. Michael Ali as the company’s SVP and CIO. He replaces Tim Ferrarell, who has assumed the new role of SVP, innovation and continuous improvement.

The state of gender equality among senior executive and in boardrooms is abysmal and “leaning in” isn’t enough to fix it, HSN CEO Mindy Grossman told a group of 300 retail and CPG executives recently.

Grossman was a featured speaker at the annual Network of Executive Women (NEW) Executive Leaders Forum in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., last week. According to Grossman, woman “can lean in for the next 30 years and it will not be enough unless we hold boards and CEOs accountable."

New York – The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P), which exited bankruptcy last year, is reportedly looking to sell itself. A report in the Wall Street Journal indicates that an internally distributed company memo from A&P chairman Gregory Mays to store managers states a sale of A&P is one of several options for funding growth, along with raising capital and refinancing.

Walmart.com is already a large, fast growing and dynamic organization, but global e-commerce president and CEO Neil Ashe is intent on executing an integrated vision of commerce that no one else has — or can.
 

St. Louis — Build-A-Bear Workshop narrowed its second-quarter loss to $6.2 million from $7.5 million in the year-ago period, boosted by improved sales and store productivity.

Total revenues were $81.9 million , up 1.9% from the $80.4 million reported in the second quarter of 2012.  Same-store sales rose 7.3%, including an 8.6% increase in North America and 1.7% increase in Europe. E-commerce sales rose 5.2%.

Walmart has opened its first supercenter in Canada’s eastern Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The retailer, which has operated in Canada for nearly two decades, plans to invest $90 million this year in the renovation and expansion of nine locations in New Brunswick and Novia Scotia.

Seattle — Amazon.com increased net sales an impressive 22% during the second quarter of fiscal 2013. But the Internet retailing giant reported a net loss of $7 million due to operating expenses and investments in warehouses, digital content and other areas, compared with net income of $7 million in the year-ago period.