eCommerce

By Garrick Brown, research director, Terranomics

Austin, Texas — Specialty golf retailer Golfsmith International has promoted Eli Getson to executive VP, general merchandising manager. In his new role, Getson will be responsible for all North American merchandising activity across the company's U.S. Golfsmith stores, Canadian Golf Town stores and e-commerce channels for both brands.
 

Ocean Springs, Miss. - A new e-commerce site providing hanging kitchen pot racks and wall racks, HangingintheKitchen.com, opens today.

The site continually updates inventory and also offers social media pages on Twitter and Facebook that offer product reviews, special offers and tips.

Brisbane, Calif. -- Bebe stores announced that it has promoted Liyuan Woo to the position of CFO.
   
Woo will succeed Walter J. Parks, COO and CFO, who is departing the company effective May 3. The COO position will be eliminated and CEO Steve Birkhold will assume the COO responsibilities.
 

Englewood, Col. -- The Sports Authority has appointed Paul M. Okimoto as the company’s new chief marketing officer.
 
Okimoto previously served as VP of marketing at RadioShack. He also held positions with the Nielsen Company as VP of corporate marketing and AT&T Wireless as head of integrated marketing communications.  
   

Minneapolis -- Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy is leaving the European market. The company is selling its stake in a joint European venture with U.K.-based consumer electronics retailer Carphone Warehouse Group PLC for cash and stock worth about $775 million USD.

Best Buy Co. will also pay Carphone 29 million pounds (about $45 million) related to existing agreements that will be terminated when the deal closes. The U.S. retailer also said that it will incur an approximately $200 million asset impairment charge related to the stake sale.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Pizza chain Domino’s, Inc. reported a 6.2% increase in domestic store sales during first quarter 2013, compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

Domino’s also reported 6.5% international same store sales growth and added a net 75 global stores. Net income increased from $20.7 million to $34.4 million, an almost 66% jump.

As of March 2013, Domino’s operates 10,330 global stores, including 4,923 domestic locations.

New York -- Uniqlo is taking a breather … but only a short one. The Japanese fashion retailer opened its seventh U.S. store — and its first in an outdoor lifestyle center location — on April 19, at Westchester’s Ridge Hill in Yonkers, N.Y. The two-level, 24,000-sq-ft. store comes on the heels of Uniqlo opening at Palisades Center in West Nyack, N.Y., in March. What’s next for the powerhouse brand that has made no secret of its intention to expand across the nation, with 200 stores by 2020?