Mass Merchant

Target Corp. has named Don Liu as executive VP, chief legal officer and general counsel, effective Aug. 22, 2016.   Liu will oversee all legal, corporate governance and government affairs matters for the company. He will report to chairman and CEO Brian Cornell and serve as a member of Target’s leadership team.  

Toronto-based general merchandise retailer Canadian Tire Corp. has made a sudden shift at the top of the company’s executive structure.   Stephen Wetmore, who previously served as CEO of Canadian Tire from 2009-2014, has been named president and CEO of the company, effective immediately. Wetmore, who has remained on the board of directors after leaving the CEO post, will remain a director of the company but step down as deputy chairman of the board.  

Results of the 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend Retail Brands of the Year study show that some retail chains truly “get it” when it comes to engaging consumers.   Two retailers were named top brand in their respective categories for the fourth straight year. These are the Home Depot, which has been named hardware and home brand of the year. And Kohls.com, which has been named online department store brand of the year.  

Toys “R” Us may have closed its New York name brand stores, but the retailer still has a fondness for the city.    According to Fortune, Toys “R” Us CEO David Brandon has indicated he would like to add new Toys “R” Us stores to the company’s existing Babies “R” Us New York footprint. Just don’t mention the word “flagship.”  

Muji, the low-cost, high-design Japanese retailer that had heretofore concentrated its stores in fashionable districts of New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, is making a move into New Jersey.   Muji will open an 8,600-sq.-ft. store next month at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, its first mall location in the Greater New York area. Current shops are found on Fifth Avenue and in Soho and Cooper Square in Manhattan.  

Walmart has not been sitting idly by while Amazon racks up sales and attention for its Prime Day event.   The discount titan launched its own online sales promotion July 1. Offerings include a free 30-day trial of its ShippingPass program, which offers consumers unlimited, two-day free shipping for a year, special online rollback prices which will last 90 days or more, and free shipping with no minimum purchase on its e-commerce site from Monday, July 11 – Friday, July 15.  

The dust is clearing from the aftermath of the second annual Amazon Prime Day, and the industry can now see how well the online sales extravaganza actually performed.  

The advent of the back-to-school shopping season is expected to affect import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports.   According to the monthly Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, import cargo volume will see a small, but significant, increase in July due to retailers stocking up for back-to-school shoppers. A larger wave of imports is expected to pass through U.S. ports in later summer and early fall as retailers prepare for the end-of-year holiday season.