Sales & Marketing

Vendors are leaving billions on the table because they forget to market to the chief marketing officer (CMO) rather than just the CIO and IT department.

According to a new study from IHL Group called “Hidden Treasure – The CMO’s Budget in Retail,” in 2015, the amount of IT purchased through the CMO’s budget will amount to $7.5 billion in North America. This figure is nearly as much as will be spent on core POS for 2015, or 12% of all North American IT spend for retail and hospitality in North America.

New York - Macy’s knows the holiday spirit doesn’t suddenly fade on Dec. 26. The retailer is offering “Week of Wonderful,” a seven-day shopping event from Sunday, Dec. 28 through Saturday, Jan. 3.  During Macy’s ‘Week of Wonderful,’ customers will find a wide assortment of fresh products at affordable prices to usher in the New Year.   

Redwood Shores, Calif. - Jill Puleri will join Oracle Corp. as senior VP and general manager, Oracle Retail. Having held various leadership positions in sales, marketing and consulting, Puleri brings more than 20 years of experience in the retail industry, most recently serving as the worldwide retail industry leader for IBM Global Business Services.   Puleri will be responsible for leading the Oracle Retail Global Business Unit and report to Mike Webster, Oracle's senior VP and general manager, retail and hospitality.

Deerfield, Ill. – Cost synergies from its ongoing merger with U.K. drugstore chain Alliance Boots GmBH helped boost net earnings at Walgreen Co. 16% to $809 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 from $695 million the same quarter a year earlier. The combined synergies for Walgreens and Alliance Boots in the first quarter were approximately $140 million and remain on track to reach at least $650 million in fiscal 2015.

Sales rose 7% to $19.6 billion from $18.33 billion. Same-store sales increased 5.7%.

San Jose, Calif. – “Super Saturday,” the Saturday before Christmas (Dec. 20), was not quite super for retailers expecting a sales bonanza. According to data from in-store analytics provider RetailNext, compared to the equivalent date in 2013, net sales were down 9%, store traffic was down 10.6%, total transactions fell 8% and average transaction value was 0.9% lower.   However, there were a couple of bright spots. Conversion rate rose 0.4 percentage points and sales per shopper increased 1.8%.

Home Depot EVP Marvin Ellison will become president of J.C. Penney on November 1 and succeed Mike Ullman as CEO of the department store retailer next August.

New York - Retail sales worldwide, including both in-store and Internet purchases, will total nearly $22.5 trillion this year. According to new figures from EMarketer, the global retail market will see steady growth during the next few years, and in 2018, worldwide retail sales will increase 5.5% to reach $28.3 trillion.  

A federal judge has ruled that customers suing Target for last year’s data breach may move forward with their claims.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in St. Paul, Minn., dismissed claims by plaintiffs in certain states but largely denied Target's request to toss out the proposed class action lawsuit.

Magnuson rejected Target's argument that the consumers lacked standing to sue because they could not establish any injury.