News

Mahwah, N.J. - Dirk Montgomery, executive VP and CFO of Ascena Retail Group Inc. since January 2013, has accepted a position with a healthcare-related company based in Florida. Ascena has initiated a search process for a new CFO.

Montgomery has agreed to remain through the end of the summer. Randy Pearce, a member of Ascena’s board of directors, chair of the Audit Committee, and former CFO of Regis Corp. from 1998 to 2011, will increase his involvement in overseeing the company’s finance department during the transition.

New York – The 2014 Harris Poll EquiTrend (EQ) study, which measures brand equity for more than 1,500 brands across 170 categories, finds traditional grocery store brands rank highest overall in three of the four regions surveyed. The EQ index examines three key factors of brand equity: familiarity, quality and purchase consideration.

San Francisco - Only 1.7% of products are posted on social commerce properties. In addition, according to the Search and Social Commerce Index from predictive media optimization technology Kenshoo and semantic advertising company DataPop, even among products in their most popular product categories, retailers post only 7.2% of their products via social commerce.

Austin, Texas – Parents spend, on average, $659 on school-related costs throughout the year per family. According to a survey from digital coupon provider RetailMeNot, 67% of parents start their back-to-school shopping by the end of July, which is down slightly from 2013 (71%).

San Francisco - GameStop customers can now exchange gift cards online for a GameStop e-gift card. The new offering is part of a partnership with Cardpool, a gift card exchange platform.

With three steps, a consumer will be able to trade in plastic and e-gift cards online by filling out his or her individual gift card. Upon verifying the information and completing the transaction, a GameStop e-gift card is emailed and the recipient can either redeem the e-gift at a Game Stop store or the company’s e-commerce site.

Stamford, Conn. -- General Electric is spinning off its Synchrony Financial consumer credit business in an initial public offering (IPO) and seeking a market valuation as high as $22 billion. Synchrony offers store credit cards for retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and J.C. Penney Co.

By Ben Pivar, Senior VP, Retail Leader, North America, Capgemini

Showrooming may not be as concerning as many traditional retailers once thought. In fact, retailers who embrace clienteling and other strategies can leverage showrooming as an element of the overall all-channel experience for their customers. Through the use of new technologies as well as in-store and online strategies, many of those retailers who have tested clienteling have experienced a lift in customer conversion.

Former CVS, Macys and Sears executive Mark Cosby has a new role at Office Depot where he will serve as president of the company’s North American business.

Ross Stores is in the process of opening 23 Ross Dress for Less and seven dd's Discounts stores across 17 different states. The new locations are part of the off-price retailer's plans to add a total of 75 Ross and 20 dd's Discounts stores during 2014.

"These latest openings reflect our ongoing expansion strategy to fill in our presence in existing markets while also increasing penetration in our newer Midwest region where we added another eight Ross locations in July,” said Jim Fassio, president and chief development officer.