Sales & Marketing

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears has added returns and exchanges to its In-Vehicle Pickup service. The new integrated retail service, powered by the chain’s Shop Your Way loyalty program mobile app, lets members pick up, return or exchange their purchases for free – guaranteed in five minutes or less – without ever leaving their vehicle.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop announced the appointment of Voin Todorovic as the company’s new CFO, effective Sept. 15. He assumes CFO responsibilities at Build-A-Bear Workshop from Tina Klocke, who had been serving as both the company’s CFO and COO. Klocke is leaving to pursue her interests in the not-for-profit business sector. She will remain with the retailer through first quarter 2015 and will retain her position as COO during this time.

Plug and Play’s quarterly pitch competition event, Plug and Play Fall Expo 2014, is coming to Plug and Play’s campus in Sunnyvale, California. Fall Expo 2014 will feature 40-plus startup pitches, panel discussions and corporate networking. It will be held Thursday, Sept. 18, from 9:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. PDT.

Chain Store Age will be in attendance and we hope to see you there!

By Howard W. Herndon, BlackLine Payments Advisors

While much of the attention at this week’s Apple press conference was on the iPhone 6 and the company’s new smartwatch, we believe — along with many industry analysts — that the most important news of the splashy event was Apple Pay, the company’s new mobile payments system.

New York -- The hunt is on for a new president and COO at Dick's Sporting Goods. Dick’s disclosed in a regulatory filing that Joseph Schmidt is retiring as president and COO of the retailer, a role he has held since 2009, at year-end. In other changes, John Duken, executive VP of global merchandising since 2012, plans to retire, effective at the end of November.

Austin, Texas -- Revionics announced that Niemann Foods, a chain of grocery, pet food, hardware, pharmacies and gas stations in the Midwest, has selected Revionics as its price optimization provider.

Revionics will be providing Niemann Foods with their SaaS-based price optimization solution, which includes robust price management, science-based optimization, forecasting, simulation and effectiveness measurement.

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation give away so much money it is hard to keep track of it all and this was certainly evident during the holiday season.

On Thursday, the company announced another round of grants totaling $200,000 to 10 nonprofits groups as part of its “12 Days of Giving” Facebook campaign. Those grants mark the culmination of an innovating corporate giving campaign that integrated social media and resulted in a total of $1.5 million being awarded to 145 organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

New York -- Sears Holdings Corp. said in regulatory filing that it would borrow $400 million from the hedge fund of its CEO, Edward Lampert, who is also the company’s largest shareholder.  

Sears received the first $200 million of the loan from Lampert's ESL Investments on Monday, and expects to receive the remaining amount on Sept. 30.

The company said it would use the money for “general corporate purposes.