Sales & Marketing

NEW YORK — Tiffany & Co. plans to open a two-level shop in Moscow’s GUM department store, the city’s leading luxury shopping destination, located in Red Square. The 4,520-sq.-ft. space is the jeweler’s first wholly owned retail business in Russia, and is expected to open in the first quarter 2014.

Chicago -- ShopperTrak announced Monday the acquisition of interior analytics provider RapidBlue Solutions Oy, based in Helsinki.

RapidBlue uses radio frequency technology to collect shopper movement information, then transforms the anonymous data into information and insights that retailers can use to manage the marketing, merchandising and operations of their businesses.

Staples and Boys & Girls Clubs of America have brought teen actor Jake T. Austin on board for the 6th annual Staples for Students national school supply drive.

Austin will be featured in the campaign’s public service announcement, now available online and airing on television and radio stations starting next month.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will hold its Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Friday, June 7, including an executive update by president and CEO Mike Duke.

As many as 14,000 global Walmart associates are also attending the event, most arriving in time for elaborate pre-meeting activities. "Our success is only possible because of the hard work and dedication of our 2.2 million associates around the world,” said Susan Chambers, executive VP global people, at Walmart.

ST. LOUIS — Build-A-Bear Workshop’s board of directors has appointed Sharon Price John as CEO and chief president bear. She replaces Maxine Clark, who announced earlier this year her plans to retire from her chief executive bear position. 

Clark will remain a member of the board. 

Tokyo -- A Sunday report by Bloomberg said that 7-Eleven parent Seven & I Holdings Co. is planning more acquisitions here and may more than double the number of c-store stores it operates in North America.

The company “could increase our store number to 20,000 or even 30,000 [in North America],” chairman Toshifumi Suzuki told Bloomberg in an interview.  7-Eleven currently has more than 8,000 convenience stores in North America.

No time-frame for the planned expansion has been defined.

CHICAGO — Retail technology company ShopperTrak has acquired RapidBlue Solutions Oy, a leading European provider of retail data and analytics. 

Los Angeles -- Sport Chalet is using technology to reach out to high school teams and their fans. A new portal on the sporting goods and apparel retailer’s e-commerce site is specifically designed to allow the creation of team-focused online retail hubs. Schools can create their own logo design to brand each individual hub and also offer customized goods and shipping options, including direct shipment to customer homes as well as pick-up at a local Sport Chalet store or at the school. The portal is built on the KitOrder specialty team e-commerce platform.