Marketing

Chicago -- During a morning keynote session on Wednesday at the Internet Retailer Conference in Chicago, former Vice President and self-described “recovering politician” Al Gore related a couple of interesting facts about how the Internet is shaping modern commerce. First, he stated that when an online network increases in size its value increases by a squared amount, so that for example a network that doubles its number of users quadruples in value.

New York -- Golfsmith International will open a two-story, 15,000-sq.-ft. store on Fifth Avenue, near 38th Street, in Manhattan.
   
The store, opening on Friday, June 7, features three state-of-the-art club fitting studios with simulators that enable customers to test drive the latest equipment with the same technology used to fit tour pros. The store also has an indoor putting green and technology bar with GPS units, range finders and a variety of high-tech gadgets.

Detroit -- Whole Foods Market on Wednesday is scheduled to open a 21,506-sq.-ft. store in Detroit, in the city’s Midtown neighborhood. The store, which is smaller than the chain’s typical footprint, features an expanded lineup of private-label products and lower prices designed to appeal to more budget-conscious shoppers, according to various reports.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation has launched Retail Jobs powered by NRF, a recruiting and search tool developed specifically for retailers and job seekers.

The job board will serve as a fundamental part of NRF’s This Is Retail: Careers, Community, Innovation campaign, launched in April.

NEW YORK — Golfsmith International plans to open its first specialty golf store on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. By positioning its interactive store in the heart of the Big Apple, Golfsmith will reach both New York area golfers as well as tourists visiting the city from around the world.

To mark the store opening, the golf retailer has scheduled a number of activities from Friday, June 7 through Sunday, June 9, including $50,000 in cash giveaways, golf clinics from instructor Hank Haney and more than $7,500 in prizes.

SAN ANTONIO — CST Brands, the parent company of Corner Store and Dépanneur du Coin, has appointed Denise Incandela, EVP and CMO at Saks Fifth Avenue, to its board. She becomes the tenth member of a board chaired by CST president and CEO Kim Bowers. 

At Saks, Incandela oversees Saks Direct and Saks Fifth Avenue’s marketing programs, including advertising, sales promotions, loyalty, digital marketing, social media, customer analytics and market research.

CINCINNATI — Procter & Gamble has grouped its global business units into four industry-based sectors and placed Martin Riant, Deborah A. Henretta, David S. Taylor and Giovanni Ciserani as global heads of each to support the company’s current growth strategies.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart is launching an initiative to increase the amount of fresh produce on its shelves. The effort includes buying produce directly from growers for immediate shipment to stores, performing independent weekly fresh produce checks at stores and providing fresh produce training for associates.

West Chester, Pa. -- QVC has appointed Ted Jastrzebski to the position of CFO. Jastrzebski, who will assume his new role in July 2013, will oversee QVC's financial operations, reporting to Mike George, president and CEO of QVC. He spent the last eight years in global leadership positions at The Hershey Company, most recently serving as senior VP and president of Hershey Americas.

Fort Worth, Texas – RadioShack Corp. has promoted Marty Amschler to senior VP of franchise.

Amschler, who has been with RadioShack since 2009, will continue overseeing dealer franchise operations and also provide senior leadership to the company's commercial sales division and B2B sales team. He has close to 40 years of retail executive experience and previously held sales and franchise positions at companies including Kinney Shoe Corporation, The Athlete's Foot and NexCen Brands.