Corporate Governance

IBM aims to increase the solutions and services it offers the retail industry with two new centers. On Sept. 24, IBM opened a new global headquarters for IBM Commerce and new hub for its Watson artificial intelligence platform in San Francisco.

In addition, IBM is partnering with The Fung Group on a new large-scale laboratory for rapid experimentation with omnichannel retail technologies, which opened in Shanghai, China on Sept. 24.

Nine large U.S. companies on Wednesday committed themselves to achieving a major sustainability goal — and three of them are retailers.

Walmart, Starbucks and Nike are among the firms joining RE100, a global initiative led by The Climate Group to engage, support and showcase influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. Other firms joining the campaign include Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Salesforce, Steelcase, Voya Financial.

Another digital-native retailer is going the mall route. And this one is aimed at shoppers who love to play with makeup.

NYX Professional Makeup on Oct. 2 will open its first-ever physical store, at the Westfield Santa Anita Mall, Arcadia, California. The Los Angeles-based brand, which was acquired by L'Oreal in June 2014, says it plans to roll out additional stores nationwide and globally in select urban centers throughout 2016.

Former Save-A-Lot CFO Rob Anderson has joined PetSmart as CFO.

Anderson assumes his new role at the nation’s largest pet specialty retailer on Oct. 5 amid rumors that PetSmart and Petco are exploring a merger. Anderson is a veteran financial executive who most recently served as CFO of the $4.8 billion discount grocery chain Save-A-Lot.

Retailers always take a gamble when targeting promotions, and The Limited is doing its best to improve the odds. The specialty apparel retailer is using the First Insight InsightTargeting predictive analytics solution to determine which products and prices will appeal most among specific customer segments.

InsightTargeting combines data from First Insight's real-time consumer engagements with behavioral data from CRM and social media platforms.

Johnny Rockets is launching a fast-casual concept that the company hopes will appeal to time-starved millennials on the run.

Called Johnny’s Burger Factory, the 1,000-sq.-ft. eatery is located at the Walden Galleria mall, in Buffalo, New York, and will open on Sept. 26.

Sam’s Club and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation are investing in an innovative program to help spawn the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. is trying to make its Iris smart home solution more accessible. The home improvement retailer is the newest participant member of the ZigBee Alliance.

Launched in July 2012, Iris by Lowe’s is a smart home solution created to monitor and control virtually everything in the home anytime, anywhere. Lowe’s is the most recent of 450 members currently working to develop and promote ZigBee Internet of Things (IoT) standards.

REI has promoted Rachel Ligtenberg to VP of retail following a 25-year tenure with the company.

In her new role, she adds retail operations to her current responsibilities of leading store design, visual merchandising and the co-op's flagship strategy.

Ligtenberg will continue to enhance REI's retail experience through new store design concepts to showcase its products, services and educational programs.

REI has promoted Rachel Ligtenberg to VP of retail following a 25-year tenure with the company.

In her new role, she adds retail operations to her current responsibilities of leading store design, visual merchandising and the co-op's flagship strategy.

Ligtenberg will continue to enhance REI's retail experience through new store design concepts to showcase its products, services and educational programs.