Corporate Governance

Research Triangle Park, N.C. -- ChannelAdvisor Corporation, a provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions, is expanding its Webstores Amplifier with support for Bigcommerce, an e-commerce website platform that allows small and medium businesses to quickly set up online stores. The ChannelAdvisor Webstores Amplifier simplifies product creation, automatically synchronizes inventory and standardizes fulfillment across multiple online channels and retail websites for its customers.

Fremont, Calif. -- The Men's Wearhouse has sent a letter to the independent directors of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. urging them to consider Men's Wearhouse's recent all-cash offer to acquire Jos. A. Bank for $57.50 per share, or about $1.6 billion. Jos. A. Bank initially rejected the offer, which expires March 28, 2014, on Jan. 20.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company has announced a new leadership structure that it says positions the company to leverage its assets and operations, and gain maximum benefit from the retail, consumer, mobile and digital shifts currently underway in the global marketplace.

Toronto – Sears Canada, which laid off more than 1,300 employees on Jan. 15, is cutting an additional 624 jobs. In a press release, the retailer said it is modifying its store structure to improve efficiency and increase the effectiveness of the chain of communication between management and the store associate teams within the stores.

Philadelphia -- Urban Outfitters, Inc. has selected TXT Integrated Retail Planning from TXT Maple Lake to support end-to-end retail planning across regions, brands and channels, from strategy through to assortment execution. The solution will help Urban Outfitters, Inc. manage the whole spectrum of its retail planning processes: strategic, merchandise planning, store grading, open to buy (OTB) and assortment planning, both pre-season and in-season.

Wayne, N.J. – Toys “R” Us is launching a nationwide in-store and online awareness campaign encouraging its customers to support the athletes participating the Special Olympics. Starting Feb. 1, by texting "Cheer" to 80888, customers can make a $5 donation via their mobile device that will help Special Olympics athletes.

Framingham, Mass. - Joe Doody, president North American commercial, has been named vice chairman of Staples, Inc., and Shira Goodman, executive VP, global growth, has been named president, North American commercial of Staples, Inc. Both Doody and Goodman will continue to report to Ron Sargent, chairman and CEO. The appointments are effective February 2.

Minneapolis – Target reportedly said a data breach at an unidentified vendor led to hackers obtaining phony credentials that allowed them to gain access to Target’s systems and steal the information for 40 million credit and debit cards, as well as the personal data of about 70 million consumers. According to the Associated Press, Target did not offer any specific details on who the vendor was or how hackers obtained the credentials.

Washington, D.C. -- President Obama in his State of the Union address last night said he plans to sign an executive order increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour for workers on new government contracts and asked Congress to approve the same increase for all workers — and the National Retail Federation is not happy.

NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay issued a response ahead of the president’s address.

Two of Staples' senior most executives were given new responsibilities to bolster the company’s re-invention efforts and competitive posture in a market that has become more challenging with the addition of a newly merged Office Depot and OfficeMax.