Marketing

Amy Heidersbach, who has spent the last four years at eBay overseeing various marketing efforts, including Pay Pal, has joined customer experience management company Needle as SVP, chief marketing officer.

Heidersbach led PayPal’s $12.5 billion enterprise and retail solutions unit while at eBay and also was also on the executive team that founded X.commerce, the online auction house’s ecommerce platform division. Heidersbach brought X.commerce together with ecommerce platform Magento after it was acquired by eBay in 2011.

Digital business company Acquia launched Acquia Campaign Cloud, offering customers a software as a service that it says is faster and more affordable than similar products like the Adobe Marketing Cloud.

With a single dashboard that’s meant to help manage client campaigns, as well as templates and multichannel delivery opportunities, and the company’s Cloud Site Factory powers the Campaign Cloud. The new service also comes with Acquia Lift and the recently acquired TruCentric, which personalizes experiences with content.

Kohl’s has further endeared itself to residents of America’s Dairyland with a sizable donation to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

A lot of change is taking place at Target these days, but one thing the company isn’t messing with is a generous dividend that has helped sustain the value of the stock price.

The Target board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of 52 cents a share this week, a 21% increase from the 43 cents paid last quarter. Target is among an elite group of companies that has paid a dividend for 188 consecutive quarters since it became publicly held in October 1967.

Chine-based e-commerce company DHgate allows consumers and business to purchase goods directly from Chinese manufacturers and has big growth plans after hiring veterans of Amazon, Google, eBay and Alibaba.

Burlington, N.J. — Burlington Stores Inc. had an all-around strong first quarter of fiscal 2014 that included a better-than-expected net income of %11.77 million, up from a net loss of $5.56 million in year-ago period. The retailer expects to open 25 net new stores during the fiscal year, including the opening of one new store and closing of one existing store in the second quarter.

Minneapolis — Christopher & Banks Corp. more than quadrupled its net income to $2.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to $0.6 million in the same quarter the prior year. The women’s apparel chain also plans to open six new outlet stores and three new stores in its MPW (Missy, Petite, Women) format during the fiscal year.

New Albany, Ohio — Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has named Christos Angelides president of its Abercrombie & Fitch and Abercrombie Kids brands, a position he is expected to take in October 2014. Angelides, 51, will report to A&F CEO Mike Jeffries and will have overall responsibility for all product and customer-facing activities for the Abercrombie & Fitch and Abercrombie Kids brands.  

He will also be accountable for the financial performance of the brands.

Houston — Francesca’s Holdings Corp. on Tuesday reported a 21% drop in profit during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, to $8.6 million from $10.9 million.  Harsh winter weather and higher expenses related to its boutique business contributed to the decline in net income. The company also reduced its annual outlook.

Francesca’s plans to open 85 new stores during fiscal 2014, including 16 in the second quarter.

Atlanta — Kathy Daly-Jennings, who most recently served as head of industry, retail vertical for Google, has joined Havertys as senior VP, marketing. She will replace Thomas P. Curran, who will retire at the end of June 2014, and report to Richard D. Gallagher, executive VP, merchandising.

Prior to Google, Daly-Jennings held marketing leadership positions at The Home Depot and The Coca-Cola Company.