Data & Analytics

San Francisco -- Gap is launching the inaugural GapKids Class of 2014, a social media contest inviting parents to submit photos of their kids for the chance to be featured in a 2015 GapKids marketing campaign. This is Gap's next generation of Casting Call, a marketing program that lasted six years.

Dole Fresh Fruit’s sales and marketing team will be taking a trip to Kannapolis, North Carolina, to see the company’s Nutrition Research Laboratory on the state’s research campus.
 
The visitors will be led by Dole’s VP of nutrition research Nicholas Gillitt, who will show them around the campus and explain research in the hope that the marketing team will pass it on to consumers.
 

San Francisco – The Grand Cities Mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota leads all U.S. shopping malls in both the presence of shoppers who live and the presence of shoppers who work within three miles.

Supervalu welcomed nearly 4,000 independent grocery retailers to St. Paul, Minn., this week for the grocery distributor’s inaugural national sales expo and trade show.

RuMe, an earth friendly lifestyle brand, has appointed Farhan Yasin to its board of directors. Yasin joins RuMe's board to provide strategic guidance on the company's continued innovation and expansion within e-commerce, business operations and managing its rapid growth.

Orlando, Fla. -- Darden Restaurants, Inc., which operates the Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse banners among others, has completed the repurchase of approximately $900 million of the previously announced $1 billion debt retirement, leaving approximately $1.6 billion of debt on its balance sheet.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings announced that Alasdair James has joined the company as president and chief member officer for the Kmart business.

James is a seven-year veteran of Tesco, where he held roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as commercial director for the company's global business unit. Prior to that, he spent two years managing Tesco's China operations as executive VP and commercial director.

Austin, Texas -- A Shoppers Trend report released by RetailMeNot found that, once kids leave the nest, parents are just as ready as their kids to start a new chapter in life. In fact, nearly three-in-four parents (74%) surveyed indicated they would do things differently once their kids leave the house, with traveling (42%), spending time with friends (37%) and pampering themselves (33%) topping the list of changes.