Sales & Marketing

Amazon.com is continuing to expand its assortment of Dash buttons.  

For the third year in a row, Walmart hosted more than 450 entrepreneurs during the company’s “Made in the USA” Open Call event held Tuesday, June 28 at its corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. The event, part of Walmart’s fourth annual U.S. Manufacturing Summit, is designed to find products made, assembled or grown in the U.S.  

The recent vote by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union will have the biggest retail impact on companies that have high U.K. exposure, including U.S. off-price giant TJX Cos., MarketWatch reported.    Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M is also among the retailers to be most impacted. The United Kingdom is the company’s third largest market, behind Germany and the United States. 

Photo: Jeff Rubin, Founder, CEO, It’Sugar (Credit: Patrick Gray, Kabik Photo Group)   Jeff Rubin, founder and CEO of It’Sugar, has always had a sweet tooth — and a passion for retail. His father owned a chain of toy stores in the Midwest. After leaving the toy business, he went on to open a chain of bulk candy stores.  

The demise of the American mall is greatly exaggerated, held Sandler O’Neill analyst Alexander Goldfarb during a discussion of Brexit on CNBC.   “Dead mall stories are great, but when it comes time to drive earnings cash flow in stocks, that’s where those big powerhouse malls show through,” Goldfarb said. “For the global investor looking for safety and security, [it’s] U.S. real estate.”  

Toms Shoes is expanding its fledgling store portfolio, and will open a location at Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota, in time for holiday shoppers.   Founded in 2006, Toms matches every shoe purchase with a donation to a child in need, and gives glasses, medical treatment and/or sight-saving surgery with each purchase of eyewear.  

Paperless coupons are supposed to easy, and Walgreens is doing its best to make them that way.   Walgreens customers now have the ability to redeem digital coupons from Walgreens and manufacturers for online purchases, as well as in-store purchases. Additionally, offers can now be “clipped” on product detail pages and in search results on Walgreens.com, and through the Walgreens mobile app.  

Michael O’Hanlon, who has been an executive with Wayfair Inc. for a decade, is transitioning to a new role with the company.   O’Hanlon has been named VP of government and industry relations. Previously Wayfair’s VP of corporate and business development since September 2006, O’Hanlon will now spearhead government relations strategy and ongoing collaboration with legislators, policymakers, regulators and other industry leaders at the federal, state and local levels.