Marketing

LAKELAND, Fla.- For the fifth consecutive year, Publix Pharmacy is the highest-ranking pharmacy in overall satisfaction in the supermarket segment according to J.D. Power & Associate Satisfaction Survey, a customer satisfaction benchmark study that provides pharmacy-specific performance comparisons among brick and mortar pharmacies.  

A trio of top executives at The Buckle were elevated to new roles at the 463 store specialty retailer.

Kelli Molczyk, with the retailer since 1999, was named Vice President of Women’s Merchandising after most recently serving as Divisional Merchandise Manager. Prior to that she held a variety of roles with the company in which she was instrumental in design and marketing efforts.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona - JDA Software announced the creation of JDA Labs – a research and development group assembled to drive game-changing innovation.   This global team, headquartered in Montreal, will innovate new and existing products and deliver patents, best practices and entirely new products to the market. JDA Labs currently  is driving research and innovation around three key areas: data science, user experience and product innovation.  

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Rolling Stones fans will sympathize with the devilish problem facing American customers, who couldn’t get satisfaction in the third quarter of 2014. The national level of customer satisfaction fell 0.7% in the third quarter of 2014 to 75.6 on a 100-point scale, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), pointing to weak spending growth for the fourth quarter.   

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has turned to a Sears veteran for leadership after longtime and occasionally divisive CEO Michael Jeffries abruptly retired.

Abercrombie announced it will be run by a newly created Office of the Chairman, which includes former Sears CEO and current non-executive chairman of Abercrombie; COO Jonathan Ramsden; Christos Angelides, who oversees the Abercrombie & Fitch division; and Fran Horowitz, who leads Hollister.

Martinez retired from Sears in 2000 after serving as chairman and CEO there for five years.

New York - In an abrupt move, Michael Jefferies, the longtime and often controversial chief of Abercrombie & Fitch, has retired as CEO and stepped down from the company’s board, effective immediately. His retirement caught the industry by surprise, particularly since it comes in the middle of the crucial holiday selling season.    

Cary, N.C. – The Pantry Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with net income but missed on revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income dramatically shot up to $14.7 million from $1 million in the same period a year earlier, aided by costs and expenses that remained level or dropped.   Revenue fell 3% to $1.95 billion from $2.02 billion, with declining fuel sales offsetting rising merchandising sales.   

CANTON, Mass. - Dunkin’ Donuts is launching its own green building certification program, called DD Green, to help franchisees build sustainable, energy-efficient restaurants.    In conjunction with the announcement, the company is celebrating the grand opening of a DD Green certified Dunkin' Donuts restaurant in Long Beach, California. Dunkin' Donuts will work with franchisees and construction managers to build 100 new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants DD Green certified by the end of 2016.