Strategy

Arlington, Va. -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) is calling on Congress to make “much-needed” changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The move comes in response to the Supreme Court of the United States' ruling Thursday upholding subsidies provided through ACA.

E-commerce solutions provider Digital River Inc. has named a Groupon executive as its next CFO.

Digital River has announced that Hoke Horne has joined the company as chief financial officer. In this role, Horne, who has more than 20 years of financial experience, will be responsible for the company’s accounting, finance, tax, corporate development and enterprise operations activities.

New York -- Dutch supermarket giant Ahold has agreed to buy Belgian rival Delhaize, creating the sixth largest food retailer in the United States. Keith Anderson, VP of strategy & insights for Profitero, and formerly a retail analyst with RetailNet Group, offers his thoughts on what led to the merger, and what it may bring.  

Medina, Minn. - Rockler Woodworking and Hardware has improved store workflow by implementing the ReflexisPlus and StoreWalk for ReflexisPlus task management and retail store auditing solutions. Rockler, which provides woodworking and do-it-yourself supplies, tools, and media implemented the Reflexis store execution and compliance solutions in three weeks in its 29 stores located across the U.S.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. - Dollar General Corp. has promoted one of its finance executives to interim CFO.

The discounter named John W. Garratt as interim CFO effective July 1. He follows David Tehle, who had previously announced his retirement in March 2015.

Garratt, who is currently the senior VP of finance and strategy, will now oversee all aspects of the company’s financial, accounting and information technology operations until a new CFO is in place.

New York -- Discounter 99 Cents Only has appointed a former Walmart executive as interim CFO — for the second time.

Less than a month after former Kmart executive Andy Giancamilli was named interim president and CEO, 99 Cents named Michael Fung to the role of CFO.

Sears has opened a new connected home flagship store near Silicon Valley and Ryan Ciovacco, president of consumer electronics and connected solutions, spoke with Retailing Today about the major initiative.

Following a recent open invitation to U.S. retailers from Alibaba’s Jack Ma, everyone from established American brands to smaller mom and pop operations are looking to plug into the China opportunity. But what most American retailers don’t realize is that even with the reduced friction that technology has recently afforded, selling to the Chinese consumer is harder than it looks.