Strategy

Ra'Anana, Israel -- Woolworths Limited, Australia's leading retail group, has signed a five-year system integration (SI) services agreement with Retalix Ltd.
 
Under the agreement, Retalix will provide Level 2 and Level 3 support for more than 3,000 Woolworths locations and 25,000 point-of-sale terminals, serving more than 24 million customers every week across Australia and New Zealand.

Home Depot has opened its 100th location in Mexico, according to an article in El Financiero. The Atlanta-based retailer now operates 95 stores in 60 cities in Mexico, where it generates annual revenues of $1 billion, the newspaper said.

In the final quarter of 2012, Home Depot will open stores in the towns of Coahuila, Sonora, Veracruz, Michoacán and Nuevo León.

New York -- GA Keen Realty Advisors, LLC of New York, a division of Great American Group has begun marketing leases for 150 Bakers and Wild Pair shoe store locations across the country.

Brooklyn, N.Y. -- West Elm, a division of Williams-Sonoma, announced that it will open store in Indianapolis on Nov.15.

Located in The Fashion Mall at Keystone, it will be the first West Elm in Indiana. Through a partnership with Etsy, the store will feature a locally made collection of decorative accessories from artists in the Indianapolis area.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy has hired Sharon McCollam, formerly CFO of Williams- Sonoma Inc., as CFO, beginning Dec. 10.

McCollam, 50, had been COO and CFO at the home goods retailer before retiring. She also takes the title of chief administrative officer at Best Buy.

McCollam replaces James Muehlbauer, who said he was leaving in October. Muehlbauer will continue to advise the company until the end of the fiscal year in February.

New York – Gap is feeling the love this holiday season.

New York -- Dillard’s third quarter merchandise sales for the quarter ended Oct. 27 increased 4% to more than $1.4 billion, same-store sales increased 5% and operating profits increased 84% to nearly $73 million. Gross margins expanded 40 basis points to 37.1% and same-store inventory levels were down 1%.

Washington — Target, Walmart and McKesson were each recognized Friday as one of America’s more community-minded companies as part of the The Civic 50 — the first scientific evaluation to rank the companies that best use their time, talent and resources to improve the quality of life where they do business. 

The survey was conducted by the National Conference on Citizenship and Points of Light, and was published in the Nov. 9 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.