Marketing

GE has appointed Charles Nugent as VP, manufacturing, for GE Oil & Gas, reporting to Lorenzo Simonelli, SVP and CEO of GE Oil & Gas.

GE has 192 officers globally who lead large revenue-generating businesses or are in critical technology or functional roles, charged with helping to drive growth.

Nugent has been with the company for 30 years, holding a number of leadership roles in plant management and operations with GE Aviation. Most recently, he served as senior executive of product management at GE Aviation.

Kronos Foods, a privately held, leading manufacturer of gyros and other Mediterranean and specialty foods, has named Howard Eirinberg as the company's CEO.

Eirinberg, who succeeds long-time CEO Michael Austin, now chairman of Kronos Food, joined the company in 2011 to lead all sales and marketing initiatives for the company's wide-ranging operations in meat, bakery, dairy, dessert, restaurant and distribution. Eirinberg is credited for growing sales by launching new products like chicken shawarma into the club and foodservice channels.

New York -- Rwanda, Nigeria, Namibia, Tanzania and Gabon occupied the top five places of the first-ever A.T. Kearney African Retail Development Index (ARDI), a new study designed to help large, organized retailers determine where and how to best enter Sub-Saharan Africa's rapidly growing retail market. The ARDI not only identifies the markets in Africa most attractive for retail expansion today, but those that offer the most potential in the future.

REI, a leading specialty retailer of outdoor gear and apparel, achieved record annual sales of $2 billion in 2013, up 5.9% from $1.9 billion the previous year, despite a challenging retail environment and severe winter weather.

Comparable store sales, including direct-to-consumer sales, increased 2.9%.

Foodland Super Market, Hawaii's largest locally owned and operated grocery retailer, recently launched a mobile app for both iPhone and Android. The app, built in partnership with mobile commerce provider DoubleBeam, was rolled out Jan. 29 and has seen a tremendous customer response with more than 19,000 downloads in the first three weeks.

To celebrate the start of the men’s and women’s college basketball tournament, appliance and electronics retailer Hhgregg is kicking off its March into Hhgregg event,”which will award more than $50,000 in prizes from LG Electronics.

From now through April 7, Hhgregg shoppers can enter daily online, via smartphone, on Facebook and in-store. Winners will be selected instantly, weekly, and one grand prize winner will be selected on April 8.

The Hain Celestial Group introduced Garden of Eatin' Butternut Squash Corn Tortilla Chips. The gluten-free snack features a combination of butternut squash and organic yellow corn.

Leading online cash back shopping platform Ebates has acquired Extrabux, a free comparison-shopping website where consumers discover the best prices, find coupons and earn cash back on their online purchases.

As a result, the two companies have a growing membership base in China and have launched Ebates.cn.