Marketing

As PetSmart officially changes ownership and goes private, the company is also making a leadership move.

The retailer has named retail industry veteran Michael J. Massey as its president and CEO, effective immediately. Massey, who most recently served as CEO and president of Collective Brands Inc., replaces David Lenhardt, who stepped down upon the closing of private equity firm BC Partners’s acquisition of the pet supplies retailer.

Framingham, Mass. - The majority of small business leaders (87%) are optimistic about the year ahead. According to a recent Staples small business survey conducted online by Research Now, leaders are focused on results, with the top three small business goals in 2015 consisting of increasing revenue (76%), driving profits (70%) and gaining more customers (70%).

Promotional marketing (46%), better organization (38%) and software technology upgrades (35%) are the top tactics small businesses plan to use to meet these goals.

New York -- New concepts remain the lifeblood of retail. Here are four currently in the works:

1. Ice hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer Hockey is throwing its puck in the retail arena. The company will open its first-ever store this summer, in the Boston suburb of Burlington, Massachusetts, followed by a second location in the fall, in the Minneapolis area.

Deliv, the crowdsourced, same-day delivery service used by many omnichannel retailers, has hired an ex-executive at eBay to be its new product chief.

Kenneth Pate, former VP of product management at eBay, will bring a decade of experience in omnichannel execution to the startup. The company says Pate will be responsible for the Deliv experience across the same-day delivery service value chain, which includes retailers, shoppers, drivers and mall operators.

Faced with dwindling expansion opportunities for traditional department stores, Macy is looking to significantly grow standalone beauty stores following its recently completed acquisition of the 60 unit specialty beauty retailer Bluemercury.

New York – Specialty apparel retailer FullBeauty Brands has signed a long-term renewal agreement to continue receiving private label credit card services from Alliance Data Systems Corp. Alliance Data will launch the newly branded credit card programs tailored for FullBeauty Brands and work to enhance the company's long-term loyalty efforts through a new integrated rewards program.

There has been a lot of discussion in the last several years about the strength of the grocery sector. I think it’s clear that a big reason behind that success has been the evolution of different formats and the explosive growth of a new generation of grocery concepts that represent a significant departure from the traditional grocery model.

The decade-old team effort between Lowe's and Habitat for Humanity was on display again this month in Las Vegas, but this time, a six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion joined the team as well.

Jimmie Johnson worked together with Lowe’s employee volunteers and other volunteers from Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas to raise the walls of a new home at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Kobalt 400 race weekend.