eCommerce

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma has named Julie Whalen as permanent CFO. Whalen replaces Sharon McCollam, who retired in March. Whalen had been serving as acting CFO since McCollam retired.

Whalen joined Williams-Sonoma, which operates namesake stores, Pottery Barn, West Elm, and other stores, in 2001 and has served in a variety of positions, including treasurer.

BURLINGTON, Mass. — Alco Stores has selected OrderMotion's OMX platform to provide the back office technology to serve its new e-commerce site.

Burlington, Mass. -- OrderMotion, a web-based platform for direct-to-consumer (D2C) campaign and order management, announced that Midwest consumer goods retailer Alco Stores selected OrderMotion's OMX platform as the back-office technology best suited to grow with its online volume demands while also leveraging its Magento eCommerce front-end system.  

Walmart and Target should see an influx of parents in the coming months, as both retailers topped the list of where consumers plan to do most of their back-to-school shopping this year, according to The NPD Group.

NPD asked the the open-end question:  “Where do you plan to do most of the back to school shopping for your child(ren)?" Out of 1,760 mentions of retailers where parents plan to do back to school shopping on behalf of their kids, Walmart secured 36% of them, followed by Target at 20%.

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers, Inc. has officially broken ground on its new Taubman Prestige Outlets Chesterfield project by hosting a groundbreaking ceremony on July 27.

As part of the ceremony, Taubman revealed a variety of store names that will make their debuts at the new outlet mall, among them Banana Republic Factory Store, Gap Outlet, J. Crew Factory, Brooks Brothers Factory Store, 2b Bebe, American Eagle Outfitters - Off Campus, and Sunglass Hut.

San Diego -- Walmart has completed its 100th solar installation in California, at a store on College Avenue in San Diego. After launching its solar pilot program in May 2007, Walmart strengthened its commitment to renewable energy in the state of California last year when it announced plans to expand its solar portfolio to more than 75% of its stores in California, approximately 130 stores, by the end of 2013. There are now 100 Walmart stores and Sam's Clubs in California using traditional and thin film solar installations.

SAN FRANCISCO — Williams-Sonoma has promoted Julie Whalen, SVP, acting CFO, has been appointed EVP, CFO.

Chicago -- A Thursday report compiled by Reuters and published in the Chicago Tribune said that U.S. authorities are weighing whether or not to launch a wide-scale investigation of the retail industry for bribery violations.

The news comes after Wal-Mart de Mexico came under scrutiny for potentially violating an anti-foreign bribery law, allegedly orchestrating bribes of $24 million to facilitate its growth in the region.