Marketing

Seeing as how the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks falls on the final day of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, tournament officials faced the delicate challenge of developing a respectful way to observe the event.

What they came up with was the following: 

Suppliers to Walmart will have plenty of opportunities to hear from Walmart EVP merchandising Duncan Mac Naughton in the months ahead.

First up is Walmart’s annual meeting for financial analysts held each fall and slated for Oct. 11 to 12 this year. An agenda isn’t yet available, but Mac Naughton presumably will be a featured participant, or at least he should be considering Walmart’s ongoing efforts to revive U.S. sales and recent moves Mac Naughton has made to the structure and leadership of the merchandising organization.

Just in time for football season, Procter & Gamble and Walmart are out with yet another installment in their collaborative, family movie night entertainment initiative. The new movie, the eighth in the series, which first aired in April 2010, is titled, Game Time: Tackling the Past.

“This exciting sports drama showcases how a person’s true value is measured and is sure to get families revved up in time for the 2011 season opener,” according to promotional materials for the film set to air Saturday, Sept. 3 at 8 p.m. eastern time on NBC.

Johannesburg -- Massmart Holdings Ltd., the South African retailer controlled by Wal-Mart Stores, announced Thursday it will up its store counts in fiscal 2012 by 8.6% to 340 stores. The company will open 27 new stores during the period, mostly in South Africa and two in Nigeria.CEO Grant Pattison said the accelerated pace is to keep the company in front of its competitors.

Also on Thursday, Massmart reported an 11.6% rise in total sales for the year ended June 26 to $7.29 billion, and upped its forecast for the remainder of 2011.

By Howard Paster, [email protected]

Around the world, resurgent retail is inspiring the industry with creativity and challenging traditional ways of doing business. The store is evolving into a fluid idea that fits the mobile, global customer in search of new experiences to share.

Click here to download the report.

MALIBU, Calif. — U.S. toymaker, Jakks Pacific announced the appointment of Jack McGrath as COO.

DENVER and MONTREAL — Molson Coors Brewing Company announced that Torsten Kuenzlen, formerly president director of Coca-Cola’s Indonesia region, has joined as Molson Coors International's new CMO. Celso White, former VP and general manager, Americas concentrate operations at PepsiCo, has joined as MCI’s new chief supply chain Officer. In addition, Lee Reichert, formerly a partner with Lathrop & Gage LLP, has joined MCI as general counsel. All of the executives will be based in Denver, Colo.

QUINCY, Mass. — J. Jill, a leading multi-channel specialty retailer of women's apparel based in Quincy, Mass., announced that it has appointed Scott Edmonds to its board of directors.

Edmonds most recently was the chairman and CEO of Chico's FAS, where he led the company's growth from $155 million in sales and 200 locations to $1.5 billion and 1,076 locations over a ten year period.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation welcomed plans announced by the Obama Administration Tuesday to streamline hundreds of government regulations, but said the plan does not go far enough.