Consumer Electronics

New York -- Every retailer needs a good CFO and that’s especially true at Conn’s where the company’s business model requires balancing the need to grow sales against the charge off risk associated with extending credit to subprime customers.

Conn’s, the 90-store retailer of furniture, bedding, appliances and consumer electronics, named Thomas Moran CFO on July 9. He replaces Mark Haley, Conn’s chief accounting officer, who had filled the position on an interim basis since last December.

Every retailer needs a good CFO and that’s especially true at Conn’s where the company’s business model requires balancing the need to grow sales against the charge off risk associated with extending credit to subprime customers.

Nashville, Tenn. -- IHL Group has added a noted retail technology analyst with nearly 30 years of experience to its ranks.

Jeff Roster is joining IHL in the new position of VP of retail strategy. He will oversee IHL's retailer engagement, vendor briefings and strategic IT services practice.

Sam's Club is looking to expose more of its shoppers to 3D printing technology by expanding its partnership with MakerBot.

The retailer announced it has expanded its availability of MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printers to all 651 Sam’s Club locations nationwide. Select clubs will also feature a new in-club display that prominently showcases a physical MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer, so customers can learn about the technology first hand.

New York -- Fresh off the opening of its store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Apple is opening another location in New York City.

The tech giant will open a store on July 11, in the Queens Center mall, in the borough of Queens, giving it a total of eight locations in the city.  

The Queens store will reflect the diversity of the surrounding community. It will feature some 130 associates fluent in 24 languages apart from English.
 

Hartland, Wis. – Battery, lightbulb and smartphone/tablet repair franchise Batteries Plus Bulbs is expanding its omnichannel experience — and that includes its physical store portfolio.

The company has launched a new e-commerce site, with a new and improved infrastructure, that ties its online presence more tightly to its nationwide network of more than 650 stores. And as part of its omnichannel growth strategy, Batteries Plus Bulbs plans to open 50 new locations across the country in 2015.

Apple's newest store in New York City is located in one of its most diverse burroughs and store employees will be fluent in a dozen languages.

According to the New York Daily News, Apple is opening the store on July 11 in the Queens Center mall located in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens.

"We are really excited to bring our eighth store in NYC to Queens," Jason Barlia, market director at Apple Retail, told the Daily News. "When we saw this location it made a lot of sense."

Los Angeles - Although summer vacations have just begun for many schoolchildren, parents already have back-to-school shopping on their minds.

According to the new Consumer Pulse survey of parents with kids in grades K-12 and college from Rubicon Project, 56% of respondents said they plan to spend more money per child than they did last year to prepare the students for the upcoming school year.