Marketing

Walmart’s view of the shopper is a whole lot clearer now that the company has resumed sharing point-of-sale data with the likes of Nielsen, SymphonyIRI Group and NPD. No wonder chief merchant Duncan Mac Naughton and consumer insights head Cindy Davis expect good things to happen.

West Chester, Pa. -- QVC on Thursday announced the promotion of Steve Hofmann to CEO of QVC Europe, reporting to QVC president and CEO, Mike George. 

In the newly created position, Hofmann will oversee QVC's European markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy, and accelerate growth opportunities throughout Europe. He maintains his current responsibility as CEO of QVC Italy and will continue to be based in Milan.

Austin, Texas -- NetSpend Holdings said Thursday it has entered into a distribution agreement with Family Dollar to sell the NetSpend Visa prepaid debit card at the discounter’s store locations nationwide.

Family Dollar and NetSpend plan to make the prepaid cards available in more than 7,200 locations beginning this month, NetSpend officials said.
 

Goodlettsville,Tenn. — Dollar General has awarded grants to more than 593 nonprofit organizations, libraries and schools through the chain's literacy foundation.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. announced that founder Richard Schulze would step down as chairman after an independent board investigation found that he had failed to report allegations of personal misconduct by former CEO Brian Dunn to the board's audit committee.

Schulze will serve out the remainder of his term as director. Best Buy said its board has elected director Hatim Tyabji to succeed Schulze as chairman, effective at the conclusion of the annual meeting on June 21.

Montvale, N.J. -- A&P president and CEO Sam Martin will star in the retailer's new integrated marketing campaign highlighting the company’s vision to be the best neighborhood food and drug store, the company said Wednesday.

The campaign’s theme is “shopping just got a whole lot better,” and it will mark the first time that A&P will run one marketing campaign across all of its A&P, The Food Emporium, Pathmark, Superfresh and Waldbaum’s stores.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark held its annual meeting of stockholders at its headquarters on Thursday, and the tone attendees heard was a positive one.

According to president and CEO Larry Merlo, the company is well-positioned for growth in an evolving healthcare market.

Merlo made note in the meeting of Walgreens’ battle with Express Scripts, which has created opportunity for CVS to pick up significant prescription business.

Omaha, Neb. -- Midwestern discount department store retailer Gordman’s Stores said Friday that profit for the quarter ended April 28 rose 10.6% to $8.1 million, compared with $7.3 million in the year-ago period.

Sales rose 13.8% to $133.9 million, from $117.7 million. Same-store sales climbed 4.7%.

“We are pleased with our overall performance and remain confident in our ability to realize our sales and profit guidance for fiscal 2012," said Jeff Gordman, president and CEO.