Sales & Marketing

Dole Fresh Fruit’s sales and marketing team will be taking a trip to Kannapolis, North Carolina, to see the company’s Nutrition Research Laboratory on the state’s research campus.
 
The visitors will be led by Dole’s VP of nutrition research Nicholas Gillitt, who will show them around the campus and explain research in the hope that the marketing team will pass it on to consumers.
 

San Jose, California – U.S. shopping trends showed some improvement in July 2014, although not all metrics experienced positive change, compared to the same month a year earlier. According to the RetailNext Insights Report of more than 13 million shopping trips in July 2014, sales per shopper increased 3.5% from July 2013.

Gold River, Calif. – Specialty online health- and beauty-care retailer SkinStore is using predictive technology from Coherent Path to help deliver personalized offers that build long-term customer loyalty. The cloud-based Coherent Path solution is designed to enable retailers to understand the trajectory of customer journeys and deliver the products, offers and experiences that drive satisfaction, loyalty and customer lifetime value.

Retail spending growth was at an 11-month high in July and consumers turned to planes, trains and automobiles as summer vacation travel led strong spending during the month, according to data reported today by First Data Corporation, a leading global payment technology and services company.

San Antonio – Motor fuel and convenience store operator CST Brands Inc. reported net income of $32 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, down 22% from $41 million in the second quarter of the prior fiscal year. Until May 1, 2013, CST was still a wholly owned subsidiary of Valero and, as such, second quarter 2013 results do not include all of the expenses associated with being a public company.

Mobile commerce platform provider mShopper is facing off with Google over responsive web design, and is driving a petition requesting an amendment to Google's stance on the matter.

mShopper recently launched a new mStore designed to help online retailers drive conversions and improve sales using mobile devices. According to mShopper CEO David Gould, responsive web design will have an adverse effect on mStore and mobile commerce in general.

San Francisco -- Gap is launching the inaugural GapKids Class of 2014, a social media contest inviting parents to submit photos of their kids for the chance to be featured in a 2015 GapKids marketing campaign. This is Gap's next generation of Casting Call, a marketing program that lasted six years.

Outdoor equipment and apparel company Black Diamond named former Sony and Gap executive Zeena Freeman as president and eventual CEO.

The Salt Lake City-based manufacturer of outdoor performance equipment and apparel said Freeman would join the company as president, reporting to co-founder and CEO Peter Metcalf, who she will succeed in that role next June.