Data & Analytics

Former Office Depot executive Monica Luechtefeld has joined the board of e-commerce solutions provider PFSweb.

Luechetfeld spent 20 years at Office Depot serving in a variety of leadership roles in the areas of e-commerce, supply chain, information technology, marketing and business development. She left Office Depot in 2012 after holding senior roles such as EVP of European e-commerce, EVP of e-commerce and digital marketing and founded her own consulting firm. Luechetfeld was also a founding member of the National Retail Federation’s Shop.org organization.

Washington, D.C. -- Retail employment increased 18,200 in March and 229,000 year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation. The increase is consistent with recent positive economic indicator reports and bodes well for income and consumer confidence as the industry enters into the busy spring selling season.

Cologne, Germany -- EVO Payments International, a card payment acquirer and payment service provider operating in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, is releasing a new graphical user interface called Clever Pay GUI in Europe. EVO designed this new interface to make payment acceptance for online businesses easier and faster.

Merrimack, N.H. -- Specialty retailer Brookstone Holdings Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with a plan to sell itself to Spencer Spirit Holdings, owner of the Spencer’s retail chain, for about $147 million. The purchase price comprises $120 million in cash, $7.5 million in new notes and about $18.5 million of assumed liabilities.

Under the agreement with Spencer Spirit, Brookstone would continue to operate its stores in malls and airports, along with its catalog, website and wholesale business, under the Brookstone brand.

The shift toward electronic payments has had the unintended consequence of hindering shoppers’ ability to donate to charitable causes at the point of sale, but not anymore.

The American Red Cross has enhanced its ability to respond to disasters with support from Dell to open a new digital operations center in north Texas.

The Red Cross embraced social media in a big way in 2012 when it became apparent that Twitter, Facebook and other digital communication methods were the first place people turn when disasters strike. The relief organization opened the Red Cross Digital Operations Center roughly two years ago in Washington, D.C. with support from Dell and now the two are working together to open the north Texas location.

Asset protection has been given a high priority at Family Dollar where the operator of more than 8,000 stores said it plans to equip each of its locations with electronic article surveillance (EAS) equipment from Checkpoint Systems.

Checkpoint’s technology is already in 3,500 stores and the rollout, said to be one of the fastest in the retail industry, is occurring at a clip of about 120 stores each week.

Ottawa, Canada -- Greg Soussloff has joined 360pi as VP of customer value. Soussloff brings 20 years of sales and sales management experience to this role.

Prior to joining 360pi, Greg was the U.S. senior director for retail and consumer goods for SAS’ Americas division, where he helped in securing enterprise agreements with retailers and consumer goods companies including Macy’s, eBay, Nike, Kellogg, Wal-Mart and Nestle. Soussloff will be located in Dallas, as part of 360pi’s U.S. presence.