News

Duluth Trading Company has promoted Stephanie Pugliese to president and chief executive officer.

Pugliese is a former executive with Ann Taylor and Lands’ End.

The previous CEO and principal owner of Duluth Trading, Steve Schlecht, will continue as the company’s executive chairman. Pugliese’s appointment is effective immediately.

Target is continuing to re-define its digital offerings, this time by shutting down its two-year-old movie streaming service.

The Target Ticket service was shut down Tuesday, but customers will still be able to use the service to view already rented movies and TV shows until Target Ticket's closure on March 7.

Scott Kessler has been named chief information officer at Belk less than a year after joining the regional department store operator as its top omnichannel executive.   Kessler, who will report to John R. Belk, president and chief operating officer, has served as Belk’s senior vice president of omnichannel solutions delivery since March of 2014.  

Best Buy is finally joining the growing online gift registry market by offering wedding registry services.   More than 1.5 million couples register for wedding gifts each year. Options for these couples soon will improve with the Feb. 16 launch of the Best Buy Wedding Registry, enabling couples everywhere to register for their most-wanted tech essentials:  from wireless speakers to cameras and from Ultra HD TVs to ever-popular kitchen gadgets.  

Whole Foods Market's value message is resonating with shoppers as America’s favorite natural grocer delivered same store sales growth of 4.5% and record first quarter profits.

Whole Foods said sales for its first quarter ended Jan. 18 increased 10% to $4.7 billion due to the addition of new selling space and the increased productivity of existing stores reflected in the 4.5% comp increase, which pushed sales per square foot to $990.

New York -- Home shopping giant HSN is number one in online customer experience, according to the E-tailing Group's 2014l Customer Experience Index. Overall results for the 8th year of the study came in at 72.06, rising above the mark of 71.06 in 2013’s analysis. On the 2014 index, eleven merchants hit the 80+ pinnacle, with HSN have the top score at 88, followed by Office Depot (84.75) and Dick’s Sporting Goods (83).

New York -- Traditional preprint circulars continue to dominate many retailers’ promotional offerings but digital coupon momentum is accelerating, according to strong 2014 results by Coupons.com.

Total revenue in the company’s fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2014 increased 14% to $60 million and full year revenue increased 32% to $221.8 million. Total digital coupon transactions in 2014 increased 23% to 1.6 billion.

Los Angeles -- Fast-casual pizza franchise PizzaReb has entered into a financing agreement with Wintrust Franchise Services to support the restaurant company’s growth.

“We’re eager to build on the growth momentum we’re experiencing with our customers and franchise partners, and the Wintrust fund will greatly support our strategic development goals,” said Rodney Eckerman, co-CEO and founder, PizzaRev.

Randolph, Mass. - Distinctive Apparel has selected MarketLive as its new e-commerce technology platform to support its online and multi-channel retail operations. Privately-held Distinctive Apparel is the parent company for catalog retailers Chadwicks of Boston, Territory Ahead and Metrostyle, and all three brands will be joining the move.

Distinctive Apparel will deploy MarketLive’s full commerce suite, including a new Support Call Center module.

Pittsburgh -- In a first for Dick’s Sporting Goods, the retailer said it will serve as the official sporting goods retail sponsor to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and Team USA., as it prepares for the 2016 Summer Games, which will be held in Brazil.

Dick’s will focus on supporting U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls with jobs and equipment.