Sales & Marketing

New York City -- Rona, the largest chain of home improvement retailers and distributors in Canada, has appointed Dave Carr to the position of VP retail, Western Canada, and François Hardy to the position of VP dealer-owner network development.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday it has reorganized reporting relationships, putting its U.S. marketing team under the leadership of the chief merchandising officer. Marketing currently operates as a separate group and the move, said Wal-Mart, is designed to improve shopper communication.

The new plan will have U.S. chief marketing officer Stephen Quinn reporting to U.S. chief merchandising officer Duncan Mac Naughton. Before the change, Quinn reported to Bill Simon, Wal-Mart U.S. president and CEO.

NEW YORK — The second day of JCPenney’s launch event in New York City revealed the retailer’s long-term financial plans to generate profit and shareholder value while reinventing itself.

COO Mike Kramer outlined the company's financial outlook, including an enhanced profit formula derived from the simplified business model unveiled the day before, based on a new three-tier pricing strategy, newly organized promotions and an overhaul of the merchandise assortment.

JCPenney got a lot of love this week from investors and the media after the company’s senior leadership unveiled a simplified pricing and promotional strategy that sounded an awful lot like another well-known retailer’s success formula.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer said Friday it has appointed J.K. Symancyk to the newly created role of COO. The grocery and superstore retailer has also hired Peter Whitsett as executive VP of merchandising and marketing.

Symancyk will report directly to Mark Murray, president of Meijer, and will have three direct reports: Janet Emerson, executive VP of retail operations; Rick Keyes, executive VP of supply chain and manufacturing; and Peter Whitsett, who is operating in the role previously held by Symancyk.

Rona, the largest chain of home improvement retailers and distributors in Canada, has appointed Dave Carr to the position of VP retail, Western Canada, and François Hardy to the position of VP dealer-owner network development.

After beginning as an employee of a TOTEM store lumberyard in 1992, Carr quickly climbed the ranks to become assistant manager, then store manager. After managing several stores in Alberta, Carr became a regional manager, then general manager, and finally VP of TOTEM in 2008, three years after Rona's acquisition of the company.

Walmart makes a big deal out of its culture, and as a result it invites criticism whenever changes are made to long-standing company policies that are somehow seen as diminishing the culture. That was the case again this week when reports surfaced that people greeters working the overnight shift had been reassigned other duties.

Walmart will report fourth-quarter and full-year results in a few weeks, and the numbers, while they are sure to be extraordinarily large, will pale in comparison to the superlative-defying figures that Apple posted earlier this week.