Data & Analytics

Philadelphia — The Pep Boys: Manny, Moe & Jack named Hertz Corp. veteran Scott P. Sider, 54, as its new CEO, effective June 15. He most recently served as group president of Hertz Corporation’s largest division, Rent A Car Americas, with over 3,200 locations.

The announcement comes more than eight months after Pep Boys CEO Michael Odell resigned on the heels of disappointing second quarter earnings.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Extreme-value retailer Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings on Monday filed for an initial public offering. With a tagline of "good stuff cheap,”  Ollie’s operates 181 stores in the Eastern United States, expects to open 25 to 30 stores in fiscal 2015 and sees the potential for more than 950 locations across the country. (For more on Ollie’s, click here.) 

As more brands evolve to a direct-to-consumer model, Unilever is expanding its direct selling to China by launching a flagship store on JD.com.

The Unilever flagship store on JD Worldwide, which is JD.com's cross-border e-commerce platform, will feature products from a range of Unilever’s most popular global brands such as Ponds, Dove and Vaseline. Notably, the flagship store will make available three product lines from Lux's shampoo range, which are currently the best-selling shampoo products in the Japanese market.

Franklin, Tenn. — Retailers are interested in mobile POS (mPOS) technology, but a number of challenges exist to its widespread adoption. According to a new study from IHL Group, “mPOS: Houston, Do We Have A Problem,” 78% of retailers planning to make a new mobile POS decision by mid-2016.

In addition, 66% of enterprise retailers say they want their existing POS software vendor to provide their mPOS solution. However, it takes chain retailers an average of 9.7 months to deploy a mobile POS solution. 

Charlotte, N.C. – June is the traditional wedding month, and Belk Inc. is making things easier for marriage-minded customers with a new wedding registry app. The Android and iOS app offers features including a registry checklist and tips for brides and grooms-to-be.

In addition, a thank you note assistant automatically tracks gifts and givers. Users can also set up a registry and scan items directly from mobile devices.

Target’s annual meeting was pretty much a non-event on June 10, aside from the fact that a corporate structure in which Brian Cornell serves as both chairman and CEO doesn’t sit well with many shareholders. 

A nine month search is over for automotive retailer Pep Boys who turned to rental car giant Hertz for a new CEO to lead the 800 unit parts and service chain.

Pep Boy had been looking for a new CEO since last September when former CEO Mike Odell stepped down after seven years with the company and longtime board member John Sweetwood was tapped to fill the CEO position on an interim basis.

Hangzhou, China — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will reportedly launch a paid streaming video service in China in August 2015. According to Reuters, the service will be called Tmall Box Office (TBO) and offer both originally developed content and content from third-party providers.