Transform SR Brands LLC

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will no longer sell merchandise featuring the Confederate flag in its stores or online. The retailer is removing the flag, long a source of controversy due to its connections to slavery and use as a symbol by white supremacists, in the wake of a racially-motivated mass shooting at a historically black Charleston, South Carolina church.

New York – The in-store experience is getting a lot more high tech for customers at select Price Chopper, Kmart and Food Lion stores. News America Marketing (NAM), a publisher of coupons in the U.S. and Canada, has launched a new in-store holographic display campaign around soccer.

All good things must come to end — including, after nearly four years, my contributions to this column. “Retail Rap” will soon be forging on without me. This is the first of two final columns I’ll be contributing, and I’ll beg your indulgence if I wax nostalgic at times in this, column number 99, and in my last submission two weeks from now, Retail Rap number 100.

A study of 10,000 U.S. consumers revealed H-E-B, Publix and Trader Joe's are tops when it comes to making customers feel delighted.

Waban, Mass. – Grocery retailer H-E-B produces a positive emotional reaction with consumers. Based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers, H-E-B, Publix, Chick-fil-A, and Trader Joe's took the top four spots in the 2015 Temkin Emotion Ratings, which rates how customers feel about their interactions with 293 companies across 20 industries.

Rebel flags are now a hot commodity after numerous retailers yanked Confederate-related merchandise from their stores and websites.

Wal-Mart, Sears and eBay announced their decisions Monday, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called on legislators to remove the flag from the statehouse grounds. After doing so, sales of Confederate flags spiked on Amazon to claim first, second, and third place on the site's list of biggest sales gainers in the previous 24 hours. Prices ranged from under $2 to nearly $16 per flag.

On the heels of opening its 12,000th store, Dollar General has named five executives to key leadership positions within its merchandising and supply chain organizations.

The company announced internal promotions in both its merchandising and global supply chain functions as the company enhances its management team. The following promotions are effective immediately:

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Kmart is shaking up its marketing operation with moves including the recent appointment of former DSW Chief Marketing Officer Kelly N. Cook as its chief marketing officer. There was never a formal announcement, but Cook’s LinkedIn profile indicates that she joined Kmart in that position in April.