Strategy

New York -- Office Depot and OfficeMax Inc. on Tuesday moved one step closer to becoming one company as their shareholders voted to approve the merger between the two office supply rivals.
 

New York -- A group of 17  North American retailers, including Walmart, J.C. Penney, Gap, Target and Macy’s, on Wednesday announced a five-year safety pact aimed at improving conditions in garment factories in Bangladesh. It calls for inspecting all factories that supply their garments within a year, and an agreement to set up basic safety standards within three months.

The announcement by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety comes after a separate safety plan was announced on Monday by a group of mostly European companies.

Target Corp. appointed former senator and secretary of the interior Kenneth Salazar to its board of directors. He replaces Mary Dillon, who resigned her spot. 

Salazar, who recently began working for the law firm WilmerHale, served as a Democratic member of the Senate from Colorado from 2005 to 2009 and as interior secretary under the Obama administration from 2009 until earlier this year, when he was replaced by Sally Jewell. 

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS is offering holders of the Veterans Advantage VetRewards card $2 off every $10 purchase of CVS/pharmacy brand merchandise in stores. To take advantage of the offer, members are verified at VeteransAdvantage.com for access to a special downloadable coupon good every day at CVS/pharmacy. This coupon offer complements the existing 10% online-only discount for purchases made on CVS.com for Veterans Advantage members that was launched in 2012.

Key changes that took effect last week within Target’s merchandising organization are intended to maximize the retailer’s long range opportunities within the rapidly growing grocery business.

SAN FRANCISCO — Performance Marketing Brands, which owns and operates cash-back shopping sites that include Ebates.com, has appointed David Oppenheimer as the company’s new CFO. 

Most recently, Oppenheimer was CFO at ServiceSource, a global recurring revenue management and technology company. Oppenheimer will manage finance, accounting, HR, facilities and various operational and administrative functions for all PMB properties, including Ebates.com, Ebates Canada, FatWallet, AnyCoupons, One Receipt and Pushpins. 

By Greg Henry, DecisionPoint Systems Inc.

Washington, D.C. -- Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase a modest 1.1% in July over the same month last year, but a slow summer should be followed by significant increases as retailers head into the holiday season this fall, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.