Unilever Co.

Hangzhou, China - Alibaba Group is providing the Chinese arm of a major global CPG company direct access to the Chinese consumer market. Alibaba and Unilever China are launching a comprehensive strategic partnership focused on areas including rural China penetration, cross-border e-commerce, Big Data-driven advertising, and supply chain optimization.

This agreement builds on a partnership that started five years ago with a single Tmall store. Through this strategic partnership, Alibaba Group and Unilever China will work together to:

As more brands evolve to a direct-to-consumer model, Unilever is expanding its direct selling to China by launching a flagship store on JD.com.

The Unilever flagship store on JD Worldwide, which is JD.com's cross-border e-commerce platform, will feature products from a range of Unilever’s most popular global brands such as Ponds, Dove and Vaseline. Notably, the flagship store will make available three product lines from Lux's shampoo range, which are currently the best-selling shampoo products in the Japanese market.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Domino's Pizza has announced several key internal leadership appointments and promotions, including naming Joe Jordan, 41, as VP and chief marketing officer.

Jordan has been with Domino's since 2011 when he began serving as the VP of marketing innovation. Most recently, Jordan was VP of field marketing where he spearheaded the realignment of interdisciplinary resources to better support franchisees at the local level. Prior to Domino's, he held marketing roles at Accenture, Philips, Unilever and PepsiCo Inc.

Former Walmart President and CEO Mike Duke talks with First Lady Michelle Obama at the quarterly meeting of member CEOs of the Business Roundtable on March 13, 2013. Photo credit: Walmart.

Washington, D.C. – Mike Duke, former president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, has joined global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group. Mike Duke as an operating executive in the Global Consumer & Retail group. He began his duties in mid-April.

Former Walmart CEO and current board member Mike Duke is the newest operating executive at the Carlyle Group, which suggests the pace of deal-making activity in the retail and consumer packaged goods world could be about to heat up.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart is launching the spring “Fight Hunger. Spark Change” campaign, a nationwide initiative inviting the public to take action in the fight against hunger. Working with food companies including Campbell’s, ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Kellogg Company, Kraft, and Unilever, Wal-Mart aims to donate up to $3 million to Feeding America based on customer participation in the #WeSparkChange social media challenge.

Australian specialty tea retailer T2 has made its U.S. debut, opening a store in the heart of Manhattan's Soho neighborhood. The shop stocks over 200 teas from around the globe along with an extensive assortment of teapots, cups, sifters and other related items.

T2 STEPS ONTO THE GLOBAL STAGE

Australian specialty retailer T2 is looking to tap into the growing global market for premium teas — and it’s doing so with a style all its own. The company’s first international store, in London’s hip Shoreditch neighborhood, took top honors as the Store of the Year in the Retail Design Institute’s 2014 International Design Competition.

New York -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association announced that top executives from Target, Walgreens and Cabela’s have joined the association’s board of directors.

RILA announced four new members of its board, including Target chairman and CEO Brian Cornell, Walgreens president Alexander Gourlay, Cabela’s president and CEO Thomas Millner and Newell Rubbermaid president and CEO Michael Polk.

(L-R) Target's Brian Cornell and Walgreens' Alexander Gourlay