Supply Chain & Merchandising

CHICAGO — Cargill, an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services, has unveiled an assessment tool that identifies, prioritizes and quantifies risks and opportunities in its supply chains so improvements can be made to them.

NEW YORK — Multichannel retailer Delia's, which primarily markets its brand to teenage girls, has appointed Whitney Randall as the company's VP and general merchandise manager, following the company's May/June financial results.

New York – Online apparel retailer Bonobos is automating its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure with the Opscode Hosted Chef solution. Using Hosted Chef and its Knife EC2 command-line plug-in for AWS, Bonobos' engineering team can now manage more than 150 cloud servers and ensure 100% uptime for its website operations. The retailer is automating processes including configuration management and application delivery, as well as responding to spikes in customer traffic and orchestrating application updates.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Columbia Sportswear Company has appointed Russ Hopcus as SVP of North American sales, a newly created position that will report directly to president and CEO Tim Boyle, effective July 29.

In this new role, Hopcus will develop and execute wholesale sales and distribution strategies for the company’s Columbia and Sorel brands in the U.S. and Canada.

Santa Fe Springs, Calif. -- Sona Enterprises, a direct wholesaler/distributor of more than 3,000 SKUs to gift shops, travel agencies, camping and hiking outfitters, auto dealerships/parts stores/repair shops, jewelry and convenience stores, has improved upon manual warehouse management procedures using the AcellosOne warehouse management system (WMS).

Twinkies fans devastated by the news that their Hostess snack cake was to be no more have been waiting for its comeback Monday, July 15. Walmart wants those folks to know that they don't need to wait until Monday to treat themselves.

“Twinkies Watch” is officially on at the retailer. Starting today, the new Hostess Twinkies will be available at select Walmart stores nationwide. All domestic U.S. stores will be fully stocked by 12:01 a.m. Sunday, July 14, and stores in Hawaii and Alaska in the coming weeks.
 

FORT WORTH, Texas — RadioShack released a statement in which it contends its balance sheet remains strong, with total liquidity of $820 million at the end of the first quarter.

The retailer released the statement a day after reports said it was considering hiring a financial adviser as a result of debt maturities, bloated inventories and slumping sales.

Minneapolis – Today and tomorrow, Best Buy is running a special promotion where consumers can bring in a working iPad 2 or third-generation iPad and receive a gift card worth $200 or more depending on model and condition of the iPad. As reported by All Things D, returns must be performed at a Best Buy store location and the gift card will be good for in-store or online Best Buy purchases.