Home Depot

Atlanta — Kathy Daly-Jennings, who most recently served as head of industry, retail vertical for Google, has joined Havertys as senior VP, marketing. She will replace Thomas P. Curran, who will retire at the end of June 2014, and report to Richard D. Gallagher, executive VP, merchandising.

Prior to Google, Daly-Jennings held marketing leadership positions at The Home Depot and The Coca-Cola Company.  

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in May 2013 versus May 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Walmart experienced a 90.1% increase in ads per circular, largely due to a reduction in the number of circulars from 10 in May 2013 to six in May 2014. Despite this decrease, overall page count remained fairly stable. These fewer, lengthier circulars were the result of an increased willingness to promote a number of categories within one circular. Eight of last May’s 10 circulars consisted of four pages or fewer.

No company hired more veterans last year than Walmart, but that distinction was only enough to earn the company the 23rd spot on Military Times annual ranking of the best companies for veterans.
 

Framingham, Mass. – Staples has named a veteran marketing executive, Frank Bifulco, as executive VP marketing, effective June 23. Bifulco previously served as chief marketing officer at Home Depot.

In the newly created role, Bifulco will lead marketing across Staples. He will report to Ron Sargent, chairman and CEO, and will be a member of the company’s executive committee.

Just four months after launching a major ad campaign, Staples named Frank Bifulco to the role of EVP of marketing where he will drive the brand’s ongoing repositioning.

Phoenix — Sparty Holdings has acquired the 10,017-sq.-ft. Coldwater Plaza in Avondale, Arizona, for $2.085 million.

Evergreen represented Sparty Holdings in the transaction. CBRE (www.cbre.com) represented the seller, a partnership between North Dysart SG and Coldwater Dysart Partners.

The 10,017-sq.-ft. shopping center is 100% leased. Tenants include Pacific Seafood Buffet, Cricket Wireless, Hire Source Staffing, and Checkmate Loans.

Bad weather for retail dampened sales at Lowe's, but earnings surged well into the double digits for the first quarter, the company announced Wednesday morning.

Lowe's sales increased 2.4% in the first quarter, rising to $13.4 billion. Comparable-store sales increased 0.9%.

The Mooresville, North Carolina-based retail giant reported a net earnings surge of 15.6% to $624 million for the quarter ended May 2.

Atlanta – Severe weather dampened net income and sales growth at The Home Depot during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, causing increases in those figures to fall short of Wall Street estimates. Net income improved 17% to $1.4 billion from $1.2 billion.

Despite getting a slow start to the year, The Home Depot rallied in the first quarter thanks to solid results in non-weather-impacted markets.

The home improvement retailer reported first-quarter sales of $19.7 billion, up 2.9% from last year's first quarter. Comparable store sales were up 2.6%. Comp-store sales for U.S. stores were positive 3.3%.

The company also reported double-digit growth in net earnings — up 12.5% to $1.38 billion.

Ottawa, Canada - Amazon.com was the predominant low-price leader in several product categories from January through early April 2014. 360pi compared the pricing strategies of the industry’s top retailers, such as Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Costco and others, all based off of Amazon’s own product assortment relative to other retailers in power drills, televisions and outdoor gear.