Supply Chain & Merchandising

New York -- Foot Locker said that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Runners Point Group, the specialty athletic store and online retailer based in Recklinghausen, Germany. The results of the two companies will be combined with an effective date of July 7, 2013.

Runners Point Group operates more than 200 athletic retail stores, principally in Germany under the Runners Point and Sidestep banners, as well as an online business. It had sales in 2012 of $254 million.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar reported lower net income in the third quarter of 2013 as its shoppers continue to hold off on discretionary spending.  The discounter also named Jason Reiser to the position of senior VP merchandising.

Family Dollar posted net income of $120.9 million, down 3% from $124.5 million in the year-ago period. Its results, however, topped expectations.

Sales rose 9% to $2.57 billion. Same-store sales increased 2.9% as a result of higher customer transaction totals and traffic volumes.

PLANO, Texas — Crossmark, a leading sales and marketing services company in the consumer goods industry, has named John Compton to its board of directors to serve along with principals of Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm.

New York -- A group of 17  North American retailers, including Walmart, J.C. Penney, Gap, Target and Macy’s, on Wednesday announced a five-year safety pact aimed at improving conditions in garment factories in Bangladesh. It calls for inspecting all factories that supply their garments within a year, and an agreement to set up basic safety standards within three months.

The announcement by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety comes after a separate safety plan was announced on Monday by a group of mostly European companies.

Key changes that took effect last week within Target’s merchandising organization are intended to maximize the retailer’s long range opportunities within the rapidly growing grocery business.

Washington, D.C. -- Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase a modest 1.1% in July over the same month last year, but a slow summer should be followed by significant increases as retailers head into the holiday season this fall, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.


BOISE, Idaho — The Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates, the largest cooperative of independent food wholesalers, is showing its support for product safety by endorsing the use of best-in-class recall process management technology from Recall InfoLink. 

The Recall InfoLink solution has been successfully deployed at ROFDA members Affiliated Foods of Amarillo, Associated Grocers-Baton Rouge, Olean Wholesale Grocers and Associated Grocers of the South. Other members are expected to implement the system later this year.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Former Sam’s Club executive Jason Reiser is heading to Family Dollar to be the company's SVP of merchandising. He replaces John Scanlon, who left the company at the end of March.

Family Dollar announced the key changes to its merchandising organization on the heels of better-than-expected third quarter results for fiscal 2013 ended June 1.