Corporate Governance

Michael Francis left his role as Target’s chief marketing officer for presumably greener pastures at J.C. Penney. That gig proved short-lived, but Francis landed on his feet this past February as chief global brand officer at Dreamworks and he shared his thoughts on the studio, consumer products and retail in the June issue of License! Global. Click here.

New York -- A group of 17  North American retailers, including Walmart, J.C. Penney, Gap, Target and Macy’s, on Wednesday announced a five-year safety pact aimed at improving conditions in garment factories in Bangladesh. It calls for inspecting all factories that supply their garments within a year, and an agreement to set up basic safety standards within three months.

The announcement by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety comes after a separate safety plan was announced on Monday by a group of mostly European companies.

A social shopping list app called Divvy was chosen from among more than 76 entrants who participated in innovative exercise in crowd-sourced digital development conducted by Target and Fast Company.

The Divvy app was created by a New York-based group that called itself Team Pilot and received a $75,000 prize for their effort. The Divvy app which is designed to improve the group shopping experience by allowing multiple users to update a shopping list in real time while making it easier to split the bill and distribute receipts.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Former Sam’s Club executive Jason Reiser is heading to Family Dollar to be the company's SVP of merchandising. He replaces John Scanlon, who left the company at the end of March.

Family Dollar announced the key changes to its merchandising organization on the heels of better-than-expected third quarter results for fiscal 2013 ended June 1. 

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar reported lower net income in the third quarter of 2013 as its shoppers continue to hold off on discretionary spending.  The discounter also named Jason Reiser to the position of senior VP merchandising.

Family Dollar posted net income of $120.9 million, down 3% from $124.5 million in the year-ago period. Its results, however, topped expectations.

Sales rose 9% to $2.57 billion. Same-store sales increased 2.9% as a result of higher customer transaction totals and traffic volumes.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears was arguably synonymous with its “Big Book” catalog, but as the world became more technologically advanced and look books went digital, the retailer bade its catalog and catalog stores farewell and shifted to a new retail model of locally owned and operated dealer stores. 

By Greg Henry, DecisionPoint Systems Inc.

Dallas – Alliance Data Systems Corporation will provide private label credit card services for the US brands of Zale’s and acquire the existing card portfolio at a future date. In addition to providing private label credit card services for each Zale brand in the U.S., Alliance Data will provide turnkey credit marketing services to all Zale brands, including omni-channel and mobile services and technologies.