Sales & Marketing

Stamford, Conn. -- Stein Mart and GE Capital’s Retail Finance business announced Friday the multi-year renewal of the Stein Mart co-branded credit card program.

Plans with the new agreement include launching a private label Stein Mart credit card in early 2012 that will be integrated into the customer loyalty program to drive sales and customer engagement.

Although Walmart won’t provide official fourth-quarter sales guidance until Nov. 15 when it releases third-quarter sales, company executives sounded very bullish about Walmart’s prospects for holiday success and longer-term growth during an all-day meeting with financial analysts on Wednesday.

Middleton, Wis. -- American Girl, a division of Mattel, will open a store at Chesterfield Mall, in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Mo.

The 10,850-sq-.ft. American Girl store is slated to open in spring 2012.

Columbus, Ohio -- Facility Source, a global provider of facility maintenance and management solutions to retailers, has received an investment of $10 million from BMO Capital Markets’ Mezzanine Fund.

This infusion of capital will allow FacilitySource to fund growth and strategic capital expenditures, including expansion of its offices in North America and Europe, continued investment in its software applications to support retail facility management solutions, as well as pursue potential strategic acquisitions.

BOSTON — Global private equity firm Advent International has announced that Tom Ryan, former chairman and CEO of CVS Caremark, has joined the firm’s Operating Partner Program. In this role, Ryan will advise and work closely with Advent’s investment professionals to identify opportunities and generate post-investment value at retail and healthcare companies globally.

Columbus, Ohio -- Victoria's Secret Direct said Thursday that former Giorgio Armani Corp. CEO Bridget Ryan-Berman has been named CEO of the Internet and catalogue division of Victoria's Secret and a subsidiary of Limited Brands.

Ryan-Berman replaces Pia Ferrario, who will remain as CEO through the holiday season and then transition into an advisory role with the company.

Ferrario joined Limited Brands in 1989 and was named CEO of Victoria's Secret Direct in 2007.

Walmart didn’t release a third-quarter same-store sales figure when it held a meeting with financial analysts on Wednesday, but it might as well have. Everything else the company’s senior executives said about the performance of the U.S. stores division indicated the nightmare that has been nine consecutive quarter of negative comps will end on Nov. 15 when quarterly results are reported.

New York City -- Amazon is testing robotic delivery lockers that people can use to receive items they order from the website, according to published reports.

Wired magazine reported online that the company was conducting the tests in Seattle and New York at Rite Aid and 7-Eleven stores, as well as other locations. The new service would allow people to select a locker location for delivery and then go to retrieve their items automatically using a six-digit code.