News

Ongoing efforts to bolster cyber security at Target will take place under the leadership of an interim chief information officer and several other key positions the company is looking to fill with external candidates.

Earlier this week, Target confirmed that EVP and CIO Beth Jacob has resigned her position and in a statement provided to Retailing Today from Target chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel made it clear the company is intent on elevating its technology capabilities following last December’s data breach.

Connecting brands with influential voices via social media is the premise on which Collective Bias was founded. This week the firm strengthened that proposition with several new initiatives to increase the effectiveness of brand’s social shopper marketing efforts.

The next two years will see Kroger elevate the level of competition in north Texas with an ambitious investment program that comes as Walmart accelerates expansion of its smaller format stores.

Calgon is gearing up for spring with new scents, beauty bar soap products, revamped packaging and a new ad campaign.
 
"We are updating Calgon in formula and design in a way that we believe will help to modernize the iconic brand, while keeping the same attributes that women love about Calgon," said Madeline Blaize, director of marketing of Parfums de Coeur. "It is important to us to offer the consumer the latest trends in beauty care while staying true to the authenticity of the 60-year-old brand."

Uniqlo has enlisted musician and music producer Pharrell Williams as a collaborator and spokesperson for the UT 2014 spring-summer collection. Launched in 2003, Uniqlo’s UT T-shirt brand is getting a fresh start this year, as “The New Model T,” a collection produced by its creative director and street fashion icon Nigo.

The National Retail Federation has issued a statement for a hearing on data security being held by the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, reiterating the retail industry’s commitment to protecting Americans’ financial information.

Google Capital has invested $50 million in Auction.com, the world’s largest online real estate marketplace. As part of the investment, one representative from Google Capital will join the company’s board of directors and another will take a board observer position.

Ottawa, Canada -- Well-executed dynamic pricing strategies, such as those deployed by Amazon and Overstock, led to higher sales during the 2013 holiday season as opposed to all-season discounting and other strategies. In its “Retail’s 2013 Holiday Winners and Losers” report, pricing intelligence vendor 360pi rated retailers’ overall financial performance for the 2013 fourth quarter on a scale from +5 (above expectations/excellent) to -5 (below expectations/very poor) based on third-party financial analysts’ overall assessments.

Lakeland, Fla. -- Publix Super Market Inc.’s net earnings in the fourth quarter rose 7.4% to $422 million, compared to $392.8 million in the year-ago period.

Sales in the quarter, ended Dec. 28, 2013, rose 5.3% to $7.4 billion, from $7 billion last year.

“I’m pleased our operating performance resulted in another increase in our stock price,” said Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw. “Our associates— the owners of Publix — deserve the credit for this achievement.”

Waban, Mass. -- H.E.B. Grocery, Trader Joe's, Chick-fil-A, and Publix earned the highest scores in the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, which ranked 268 companies across 19 industries. Joining those firms in the top 14 spots are Aldi, Food Lion, Sonic Drive-In, credit unions, Dairy Queen, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, Regions, Sam's Club, and Starbucks.