Sustainability

Macy’s has announced a series of new initiatives in its multi-year strategic program to enhance environmental sustainability. They are consistent with the company’s sustainability principles first adopted in 2008 and implemented with increasing intensity during the past six years.

Results through 2013 include a 38% reduction in the company’s electricity usage since 2002 and a 95% adoption rate of recycled or certified paper used in the company’s marketing materials.

A $500,000 grant from the Sam’s Club Giving Program will help fund an innovative program to provide technical assistance to small child care operators in low income communities.

Washington, D.C. -- The NRF says the members of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety have made tremendous progress in the past year, demonstrating their true commitment to safer working conditions in the Bangladesh ready-made garment industry. In an official statement, NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said the group has made many achievements to improve the safety of Bangladeshi factory workers.

Washington, D.C. - The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), the standards and technology division of the National Retail Federation (NRF), has released the Compliance Audit Interchange. The CAI is a specification that allows organizations to share compliance audit results securely with other companies who source from the same supplier location.

Tiffany’s long-standing CEO Michael J. Kowalski will retire from the company March 31, 2015. Kowalski, who has been a member of the company’s board of directors since 1995, will continue to serve as non-executive chairman.

The board has tapped Frederic Cumenal, currently the company’s president, as Kowalski’s successor; he will step up to the CEO role April 1, 2015.

Kowalski joined Tiffany in 1983, became CEO in 1999 and assumed the role of chairman of the board in 2003.

New York – Uniqlo will open a store at Great Mall in Milpitas, California, on Sept. 12. The store will be the first Uniqlo location to feature a 100% eco-friendly design, with LED lighting, greener materials and high-efficiency elements throughout.

The new Uniqlo also include specialty shopping vignettes that will create a store-within-a-store feel in the women and children’s departments. In-store display materials will also include updated digital screens.

PPG Industries, a leading coatings and specialty materials company, has elevated EVP Michael H. McGarry to chief operating officer, effective Aug. 1. He will remain based at PPG’s global headquarters in Pittsburgh and continue to report to chairman and CEO Charles E. Bunch.

McGarry will have executive oversight responsibility for all of PPG’s strategic business units and operating regions and for the information technology (IT), environment, health and safety (EH&S) and purchasing functions.

Uniqlo plans to open a store at Great Mall in Milpitas, California, on Sept. 12 — the first location to feature a 100% eco-friendly design, with LED lighting, greener materials and high-efficiency elements throughout.

The new store will also include specialty shopping vignettes that create a store-within-a-store feel in the women and children’s departments. In-store display materials will also include updated digital screens.

Electrolux president and CEO Keith McLoughlin reflected on the company's progress during the second fiscal quarter, pointing to prospects for growth.

However, net sales decreased by about 4.9% year-over-year, totaling $26.3 billion for the three-month period. That decrease was slightly smaller for the six-month period — 2%.

Meanwhile, the company posted a net loss of $92 million for the quarter. For the first six months, the company's net income of $339 million compares to net income of $1.003 billion for the same six-month period last year.

Paris -- The focus of c-suite and senior executive attention has shifted from economic uncertainty to data, technology and the supply chain, according to the Global Top of Mind Survey from KPMG International and the Consumer Goods Forum. Over half (54%) of respondents cited digital strategy for mobile/digital platforms as top of mind for their business during the next 12 months.