Corporate Governance

Hong Kong – A subsidiary of global export company Li & Fung is partnering with two Chinese department store retailers to open as many as 300 stores in the Shanghai free trade zone. Li & Fung Trading (China) Holdings Ltd. is forming a joint venture with Shanghai Bailian Group Co. Ltd. and Beijing Wangfujing Department Store (Group) Co. Ltd. Li & Fung holds a 20% stake and each department store chain owns a 40% stake.

Whole Foods Market is kicking off summer with a slew of promotions designed to appeal to the shopper who keeps a healthy lifestyle.

From June 24 to June 30, the retailer’s Whole Body departments will host events, classes, demonstrations and promotions* to showcase Whole Foods Market’s large selection of active living products—from protein powders and superfoods to sun-care and reusable water bottles.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- Norman de Greve will join CVS Health as chief marketing officer, effective July 15. In this role, de Greve will be accountable for marketing strategy across the enterprise.  

Currently, de Greve is president of the Boston and Detroit offices of the DigitasLBi marketing agency. de Greve has experience in cross-channel communications planning, brand campaigns, media, loyalty and analytics.

In addition to his 14 years at DigitasLBi, de Greve spent time in management consulting.
 

The National Retail Federation is recognizing the nation's top law enforcement officers with the organization's annual loss prevention awards.

Recipients of the Ring of Excellence, Law Enforcement Retail Partnership and Retail Case of the Year will be honored during an awards ceremony at NRF PROTECT, the retail industry’s largest event for retail loss prevention executives in North America.

New York – Disney and Ralph Lauren, vertical brands with a strong retail presence, are the highest-ranked retailers in a new Brand Keys survey of what brands U.S. consumers consider the most patriotic. To determine the rankings, Brand Keys drilled down into consumer response to 230 brands to see which were most associated with the value of patriotism.

Following is a list of the retailers who made the list of top 50 most patriotic brands, with their emotional engagement strength for patriotism:

No. 3: Disney (96%)

Dufftown, Scotland - Providing customers with their own unique experience with the brand is of the upmost importance to Scotch whisky provider Glenfiddich. The company is using interactive technology to let customers located in Thailand virtually tour the Glenfiddich Distillery located in Dufftown, Scotland.

Retailers face a tough battle to generate growth in the face of unprecedented competition from global rivals and digital rivals, but many are overlooking what could be their best opportunity. Improving the way employees interact with customers – whether in stores, online or even via call centers – is a proven route to enhanced sales performance, but too few retailers are focused on doing so.

Orlando, Fla. - Darden Restaurants Inc. plans to separate a portion of its real estate assets through a combination of sale leaseback transactions and a new, publicly traded real estate investment trust ("REIT"). Under the plan, Darden will transfer approximately 430 of its corporate stores to the REIT, with substantially all of the REIT's initial assets being leased back to Darden.