Retail

New York -- Consumers engage with retailers on Facebook more than they do on the retailers’ own websites. Nine-in-10 consumers say how much they spend is impacted by their social media engagement with a brand. These are some of the findings of a study by Infosys, a leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing.

New York -- Despite severe winter weather travails during the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said Tuesday that December retail sales didn’t take the hit that many feared.

In fact, taking advantage of heavy promotions and last-minute deals, shoppers were able to move the December retail sales needle up 0.4% month-to-month, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, and up 4.6% year-over-year.



New York -- Checkpoint Systems announced that Kohl’s Department Stores has deployed Checkpoint’s RFID solutions across select departments in its stores.

“RFID will further enhance our customers’ shopping experience by providing improved operational visibility, enabling us to more efficiently identify items which need to be replenished on the sales floor,” said Ken Bonning, senior executive VP, Kohl’s Department Stores.

PetSmart is making changes to its management team and organizational structure in conjunction with the retirement of president and COO Joseph O’Leary. The changes will become effective April 4.

Assuming the role of president will be current CEO David Lenhardt.

Atlanta -- Christine Day, the outgoing CEO of Lululemon, has been appointed CEO at Luvo, a start-up frozen-food company that focuses on healthy, low calorie, low sodium meals. Day’s appointment is effective April 1.

New York -- SAP AG  announced the launch of SAP Shopper Experience a personalized and engaging retail mobile app that transforms the entire consumer shopping experience with social media sharing, loyalty programs and a self-payment system for shoppers.

SAP also released the latest version of the SAP Retail Store Ops Associate mobile app, which allows store associates to execute core merchandising, inventory and customer service functions directly from the shop floor without leaving a consumer’s side.

Target is investing $5 million in a coalition of cyber-security organizations to launch a marketing campaign to educate the public about phishing scams and security.

The coalition includes the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance, the National Cyber Security Alliance and Better Business Bureaus.

"Cyber-security is fast becoming one of the biggest marketplace challenges for businesses and a huge concern for their customers," Council of Better Business Bureaus president and CEO Mary Power said.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. will invest $5 million in a multi-year campaign to educate consumers about cybersecurity and the dangers of phishing scams.