Marketing

Secaucus, N.J. -- The Children's Place Retail Stores said Friday that their executive VP finance and administration Susan Riley is leaving the company. The retailer said it will eliminate the role and look for a CFO.

The children's clothing company said VP finance John Taylor will serve as interim principal financial officer and Bernard McCracken, VP controller, will serve as interim principal accounting officer.

It was almost all good news for Advance Auto parts this week, as the company reported record fourth-quarter sales and profits. Fourth-quarter earnings per share increased 46% to 57 cents compared with 36 cents during the comparable period the prior year, and full-year profits rose to $3.95 from $2.83 the prior year.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Lowe’s personnel changes are becoming hard to keep up with.

MINNEAPOLIS-- Target is giving Lady Gaga fans something to celebrate. The retailer is offering customers the chance to pre-order an exclusive deluxe edition of her new album, "Born This Way," and download her first single and title track, "Born This Way" for free at Target.com/gaga beginning at 8 a.m. CST on Friday, Feb. 11 through midnight, Saturday, Feb. 26.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gap said that it has expanded its Gap and Banana Republic online presence to eight additional European countries through its dedicated European e-commerce sites.

Gap debuted the dedicated sites in the United Kingdom in August 2010 and then expanded to include nine additional European countries in October 2010. The newest announcement brings the total reach of it European e-commerce business to 18 countries.

Irwin Tools, a leading maker of hand tools and power tool accessories based in Huntersville, N.C., has named Ross Porter as its new president. Porter has held a variety of positions during his 18 years at Newell Rubbermaid, Irwin’s parent company. He most recently served as president of EMEA Transformation, where Porter led the company’s European transformation efforts, including implementation of a new European business model, integration and implementation of SAP enterprise system, and relocation of its European headquarters.

The retail consulting and research firm Customer Growth Partners is out with a new report highlighting the fact that department stores gained market share last year for the first time in nearly three decades. According to CGP’s study, department stores’ share of the U.S. retail market rose for the first time since the 1980’s, fueled both by innovation and superior mall anchor execution combined with top-line weakness at the granddaddy of off-mall big-boxes, Walmart’s U.S. division, which is now suffering through almost two years of lagging sales.

A lack of visibility into Walmart’s sales performance coupled with concerns about the pace of a U.S. sales recovery is contributing to some apprehension on Wall Street regarding the company’s fourth-quarter performance.

Walmart has sold AT&T iPhones in its store for several years now so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the company would be offering the iPhone 4 now that it is available on the Verizon network. The company announced availability of the product at 600 of its stores earlier this week, which is consistent with a broader strategy in the electronics and entertainment category to be a leader or at least a fast follower.

Crain’s New York Business this week reported on an interesting situation involving Walmart and the hype surrounding the company entry into the city. According to author Greg David, “as the opponents of Walmart continue their campaign to prevent the company from opening stores in New York, it remains a mystery how they intend to do that. David notes that the City Council has no power to intervene in leases signed at existing retail locations, and the company seems more determined than ever to take on the Big Apple.