Marketing

Samsung Electronics America has appointed Rajiv Mehta as SVP of its customer service division.

Since joining the company in 2011, Mehta has been responsible for all customer operations in the United States including its call center, field and depot operations and warranty administration. Mehta also oversees the company’s Quality Assurance Lab.

New York – Retail marketers say social media and digital, customer data and brand awareness are their top three marketing challenges. Findings from a retail marketing survey SAP conducted with University of Arizona students also showed that survey participants said 100% of respondents cited digital advertising among the most important marketing tools for their organization.

In recognition of its support of national defense and the uniformed service community Safeway received the Military Officers Association of America’s highest honor.

Safeway was presented with the organization’s Distinguished Service Award at an event in Washington, D.C., in recognition of its outstanding support as an employer of Guard and Reserve members and veterans. The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) ’s highest honor. MOAA was founded in 1929 and has 380,000 members.

Tokyo – Uniqlo opens new stores in Berlin, and in three U.S. locations on Friday, April 11. The 2,700-sq.-ft., three-story Berlin store is located on the Tauentzienstrasse shopping boulevard and is Uniqlo’s first German store.

The Berlin store is also the largest Uniqlo store in Europe and features revolving mannequins wearing origami headdresses and LED ticker-tapes listing all the cities where Uniqlo has stores around the world.

L'Oréal Paris has added celebrity hair colorist Kari Hill to its roster of experts, the beauty brand announced.

With more than 15 years of experience coloring some of the most well-known manes in Hollywood, Hill’s artistic perspective lends to her mastery of varied hair coloring techniques. She will join L'Oréal Paris global consulting colorist Christophe Robin in lending her insights and expertise to trend forecasting, product development, content creation and consumer education for the brand.

Zynga, a leading social game developer, has appointed former Best Buy executive David Lee as CFO and chief accounting officer, effective April 14. Lee will report directly to CEO Don Mattrick.

He succeeds CFO and CAO Mark Vranesh who is leaving the company. Vranesh will work with Lee over the next month to ensure a seamless transition of responsibilities, according to the company.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. has received a request for additional information and documents from the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") in connection with the FTC's review of the previously announced agreement and plan of merger among Safeway and Albertson’s.

Guy Hayward was named CEO of Massmart to fill a position currently held by Grant Pattison, the executive who engineered the sale of a majority stake of the South African retailer to Walmart.

Pattison joined Massmart in 1998 and served as CEO since 2007, helping to engineer the sale of a majority stake in the company to Walmart several years ago. Assuming the CEO role on June 1 will be current COO Guy Hayward. He joined Massmart in 2000 as CFO and was later named COO and also played a key role in the Walmart and Massmart transaction.