Strategy

NEW YORK — Fashion designer Michael Kors has donated $5 million to God's Love We Deliver (God's Love), the New York-based non-profit organization that cooks and delivers individually tailored meals daily to people living with severe illnesses throughout New York City, Newark and Hudson County. This gift serves as one of the largest single donations to a social services organization in New York history. 

Cincinnati — With a focus on increasing square footage and building its presence in both new and existing markets, Kroger is poised for growth in 2013.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart and Humana have teamed up again to help Medicare beneficiaries afford their prescriptions. With annual enrollment open until Dec. 7, 2012, for 2013 Medicare plans, the Humana-Walmart Preferred Rx Plan announced that it offers one monthly plan premium of $18.50 a month for beneficiaries in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., regardless of where they live.

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General has added several name brand items to its toy aisles this year.

“Offering our customers the name brand toys they want at great prices is a priority for Dollar General,” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General’s EVP, division president and chief merchandising officer. “Shoppers will be delighted by the hot toys and classics that are in our stores this season.”

A few of the name brand toys featured at Dollar General include:

New York -- Learn how Chico's FAS is staying ahead of the information evolution and providing personalized customer interactions at a Chain Store Age webinar on Thursday, Oct. 18 ( 2 p.m. ET, 11 a.m. PT). Bob Murray, architect of Chico's Store Technology, will discuss such top-of-mind imperatives as loyalty, mobile, and seamless digital connections with the customer in the omni-channel market space.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation reported Monday that September retail sales – excluding autos, fuel and restaurants – increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, thanks to strong showings from clothing and electronics stores.

Unadjusted, retail sales gained 2.1% year over year.

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has appointed Phil Jones, formerly president of its west coast region, to lead its retail channel for independent garden centers and hardware co-op stores as SVP independent channel.

Foster City, Calif. -- Visa Inc. and 1-800-Flowers.com said Monday that V.me by Visa will be offered as a checkout option on the florist’s site, making the digital wallet service more broadly available so more consumers can purchase online by simply entering a username and password.

1-800-Flowers.com joins merchants such as Rakuten Buy.com, StudentUniverse.com, MovieTickets.com, BlueNile.com, ShoeBuy.com, ZooStores.com, Cooking.com, 88Hours.com and Scentiments.com, which are all using the digital wallet service.