Sales & Marketing

New York - Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer of TripAdvisor, has been appointed to the XO Group board of directors and will serve as an independent director on the board's Compensation Committee. XO Group is parent company of wedding and pregnancy sites including The Bump, The Nest and The Knot.

Los Angeles -- Newegg announced the addition of Visa Checkout, a new payment service that simplifies the process of buying online. Visa Checkout can be used when shopping Newegg from a desktop computer and mobile devices.

Plano, Texas -- J. C. Penney Company will open its first-ever store in Brooklyn, further increasing its New York City footprint, on Aug. 29. The all-new 124,000-sq.-ft., single-level store, located in Gateway Center, will provide a look at Penney's updated store model, which includes a new footwear format.  

Under Armour’s newest board member is former ESPN president George Bondenheimer.
 
"We are excited to have George Bodenheimer joining our board," Under Armour CEO and chairman Kevin Plank said "His pioneering vision and his experience building and leading a global sports media brand will bring important perspective and expertise to our company as we continue to expand the UA brand globally."
 

North Bergen, N.J. – Vitamin Shoppe Inc. reported net income of $16.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, down 8% from $18.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Expenses related to Vitamin Shoppe’s March 2013 purchase of Super Supplements chain helped reduce the retailer’s net income.

Pittsburgh – In a surprise announcement, GNC Holdings Inc. said that Joe Fortunato, chairman, president and CEO of the company, is stepping down. It named Michael G. Archbold, 53, CEO and CFO of The Talbots Inc., as CEO and member of the board, effective immediately. The change comes a week after GNC announced its second disappointing quarter this year.

Online retailer Overstock.com is launching a partnership with nonprofit Give Back Box to make donating used clothes easier for its customers.
 
Soon, customers who order products from Overstock.com will be able to use an enclosed Give Back Box shipping label to send their used clothes to nonprofits nationwide.
 

While some retailers and brands are now conducting actual e-commerce from their Facebook pages, the “buy” button holds the potential to substantially increase Facebook’s potential as a platform for executing omnichannel transactions. Smart retailers will offer, and even encourage, buy online-pick-up-in-store functionality through the buy button. Many consumers prefer the immediacy of picking up an item in a nearby store to waiting for a delivery, and retailers benefit from the resulting increase in store traffic and secondary purchases.