Sales & Marketing

ARLINGTON, Va. — Members of the Retail Industry Leaders Association on Wednesday arrived in Joplin, Mo., to help clean up the Midwest city that was hard-hit in May by a category F-5 tornado.

DALLAS — Tuesday Morning  reported fourth-quarter net sales of $194.8 million, a decrease of 3% from last year's fourth-quarter net sales of $200.8 million. Comparable-store sales for the quarter decreased by 4.5%, which was comprised of a 5.4% decrease in traffic and a 0.9% increase in ticket.

Dallas< — Alliance Data Systems Corporation  announced it has signed a long-term renewal agreement to continue providing private label credit card services for The RoomPlace.

Under terms of the agreement, Alliance Data will continue providing The RoomPlace with private label credit card services, including account acquisition and activation; receivables funding; card authorization; private label credit card issuance; statement generation; remittance processing; customer service functions; and marketing services. 

Boca Raton, Fla. — Office Depot Inc. announced Wednesday that it has appointed Kevin Peters as president, North America, a new position that combines the company’s previous North American Retail and North American Business Solutions divisions.

Peters was previously president of North American Retail.

Major retailers collectively dialed back the number of ads inserts and the number of pages in June when compared to the prior year, according to Market Track. The company each month provides RetailingToday.com with an exclusive look at the promotional activity among 16 of the nation’s leading retailers and the interesting statistic that stands out it June is a huge increase in the number of ad pages that hit the market. Click here for a review of promotional activity.

That was the provocative, if somewhat dated, question Smart Money used as a headline on a story this week based on a consumer survey conducted by Morgan Stanley analyst Mark Wiltamuth. He initiated coverage of Walmart with an ambiguous “equal weight” rating and was quoted as saying, “Many consumers no longer think Walmart has the lowest prices.”

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot has combined its two largest divisions and named Kevin Peters to the new role of president of North America. The change gives Peters, who previously served as president of North American retail, continuing oversight of the retail group in addition to leadership of the company’s North American business solutions division which is focused on large and mid-size commercial customers.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Payless ShoeSource announced that Sierra Kusterbeck, lead singer of alt-rock band VersaEmerge, will be the face and voice of the retailer's new, exclusive teen brand, Brash.