News

Ron Johnson returns with re-imagined Geek Squad
Former Apple and JCPenney executive Ron Johnson’s career has been marked by spectacular success and failure, which is why his new retail venture called Enjoy is of interest, even if it borrows heavily from a service Best Buy launched more than a decade ago.

Billed as a “a whole new way to buy and enjoy technology,” Johnson secured $30 million in funding last fall and launched the service on Wednesday in the San Francisco area and debuts May 13 in New York.
Zulily names CFO
Seattle -- Online retailer Zulily announced today that Brian Swartz has been appointed senior VP and CFO, effective June 1, 2015.

Swartz brings more than 20 years of operational and financial experience to Zulily. For the last six years, he served as senior VP and CFO of Apollo Education Group, Inc., a private-sector education company. Swartz joined Apollo from EaglePicher Incorporated, a technology and industrial products and services company, where he served as VP and corporate controller.

Zulily’s first-ever site redesign emphasizes enhanced customization and usability

Seattle -- Online retailer Zulily has launched of its first major website redesign, which will provide a more customized daily shopping experience for each of its customers.

"We are changing the way people shop by allowing customers to easily discover unique and special products every day," said Darrell Cavens, CEO of Zulily. "The site redesign is the first of several initiatives for the year that will allow us to continue to surprise and delight our customer each and every day."
Tucker Development, Hutensky Capital Partners acquire Town Square Wheaton

Chicago -- Tucker Development, in joint venture with Hutensky Capital Partners, announced the $57.25 million acquisition of Town Square Wheaton (TSW), a 200,000-sq.-ft. shopping, dining and office destination located in Wheaton, Illinois.
Whole Foods targets Millennials with new store concept

Whole Foods Market set another sales record in the second quarter – but that’s not enough for the grocery chain, which announced it is launching a new store concept targeted to the Millennial shopper.
Mobile sales propel HSN in Q1

HSN’s push to make it easier for smartphone shoppers to buy its products online was successful in the first quarter, with the multichannel retailer reporting a big increase in mobile sales.

Digital sales at HSN grew 18%, with mobile sales increasing 31%. HSN earned $0.63 per share in the first quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.58 per share. Similarly, revenue of $841.9 million was better than the $826.08 million analysts expected.
CPG executives sound off on supply chain/execution issue

With retailers and CPG companies continuing to struggle with in-store execution issues like on-shelf availability, inventory and promotions, leading supply chain analytics and insights provider Orchestro asked industry thought leaders to weigh in on the three key questions.

Go to the Orchestro article by clicking here.
RetailMeNot partners with Swirl Networks on beacon-powered in-store offers

Austin, Texas -- RetailMeNot and Swirl Networks have entered a strategic partnership to bring in-store promotions using new beacon marketing technology to nearly 20 million RetailMeNot mobile app users and thousands of retailers and brands currently in the RetailMeNot marketplace.
Office Depot profit rises despite sales decline

Store closures led Office Depot sales to decline in the first quarter, but the retailer still reported a sizable bump in profit.
Office Depot, Sears and Groupon sign on with Boomerang Commerce

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Boomerang Commerce, a provider of omnichannel pricing technology, announced that Office Depot, Sears, and Groupon have deployed Boomerang’s Price Perception Index and rapid pricing testing platform.

Boomerang enables revenue growth and protects margins by rapidly analyzing, testing and deploying smart pricing, inventory and assortment strategies.

In addition, Boomerang unveiled two executive hires to help scale the team and the company’s global sales and marketing efforts.