News

Better than expected second quarter sales and profits at TJX Companies prompted CEO Carol Meyrowitz to strike an optimistic tone about the discount retailer’s future prospects.

Mall-based specialty retailer Aeropostale has appointed Julian R. Geiger as CEO, effective immediately — a role he previously held until 2010. Geiger succeeds Thomas P. Johnson, a former Brooks Brother executive who replaced Geiger after he left.

In 2011, Geiger was appointed president and CEO of Crumbs Bake Shop. He resigned from Crumbs at the end of December 2013, and rejoined the Aeropostale board in May, and will remain a member.

Shopping site Shopsavvy announced an update to its mobile app this week that adds functionality for users who are looking for the right price on the product they want.

The update increased the number of participating retail outlets from fewer than 40,000 to about 500,000. Additionally, products can be tracked by their barcodes using the app’s built-in scanner.

Shopping site Shopsavvy announced an update to its mobile app this week that adds functionality for users who are looking for the right price on the product they want.  

The update increased the number of participating retail outlets from fewer than 40,000 to about 500,000. Additionally, products can be tracked by their barcodes using the app’s built-in scanner.

Amazon released the book titles its editors chose to include in the online retailer’s Big Fall Books Preview. The books on the list, which will be released in the coming months, are expected by Amazon to be the most popular 20 books of the season.

The books chosen span genres from fantasy to memoir to history, and everything in between, and include new titles from Jodi Picoult, Steven King and George R.R. Martin — whose “A Song of Ice & Fire” series serves as source material for the HBO series “Game of Thrones.”

Mars has appointed Jean-Christophe Flatin as president of global chocolate, effective Oct. 1. Flatin, who is currently global president of Royal Canin, a unit of Mars Petcare, replaces Grant F. Reid, who recently moved into the role of office of the president for Mars.

NBTY, a global manufacturer, marketer, distributor and retailer of vitamins and nutritional supplements, has named Steven Cahillane CEO.

A 25-year consumer goods industry veteran, Cahillane comes to NBTY from Coca-Cola, where he led the successful integration of Coca‐Cola Enterprises' North American bottling operation and drove significant market share gains as president of Coca-Cola Americas.
 

Staples has enlisted Kenshoo, a global leader in predictive media optimization technology, and RevTrax, a promotions platform that drives and measures in-store sales through digital coupons, to help the company optimize omnichannel campaigns in Canada.

Weakness in Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift fragrances were called out as key drivers of a 28.4% sales decline and even bigger loss in Elizabeth Arden’s fourth quarter.

Toys“R”Us is teaming up with nine-time baseball All Star Albert Pujols for its yearly Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids. This year’s issue marks the 20th anniversary of the publication, which focuses on products sold in Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us stores that are good for special needs children’s development.