News

NEW YORK — Ralph Lauren Corporation has elected David Lauren, the company’s EVP of advertising, marketing and corporate communications, to its board of directors. His election brings the number of directors on the company’s board to 13.

San Francisco, Calif. — RichRelevance, a cloud-based platform and omnichannel personalization solutions provider, has appointed Zach Koekemoer as the company’s CFO. 

Koekemoer has 20 years of experience working at high-growth technology companies, having held executive positions at technology innovators including iPlay, Industrial Origami, WageWorks and @Road. In his new role, he will oversee and lead all aspects of the company’s financial operations as RichRelevance positions itself to rapidly expand across all lines of business.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer is preparing to bring in more than 9,000 new hires in response to the company’s move to expand with several store openings and ahead of the fall and holiday selling seasons. 

Since its founding in the early sixties, Meijer has grown at a relatively slow pace compared to retailers like Walmart, Target and Kmart, which were opening their first discount stores at around the same time — the Midwest retailer has 203 stores. But things are picking up, and fast. 

Walmart has fended off the best efforts of organized labor for decades, but it appears likely the company will need to elevate its game after several major unions joined forces this week.

With rising expectations that Walmart’s sales for the recently ended second quarter will be weak when it reports on August 15, the company once again has naysayers doubting its growth prospects with some questioning its long-term viability.

CAMDEN, N.J. — Campbell Soup Company continues expanding its brands portfolio with its acquisition of Kelsen Group A/S, a producer of baked snacks, including the Kjeldsens and Royal Dansk brands, sold in 85 countries around the world.

Based in Nørre Snede, Denmark, Kelsen is a market leader in the assortment segment of the sweet biscuits category in China and Hong Kong, where growth in sweet biscuits is outpacing the growth of the $60 billion global sweet biscuits market.

FORT WORTH, Texas — RadioShack has unveiled a new “low touch” concept store format at the Manhattan Mall in New York and at Plaza Las Americas in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, and plans to open another in downtown Fort Worth in October.

There is a euphoria surrounding Amazon and the moves the company is making these days that is reminiscent of the phase Walmart went through in earlier decades when it was viewed as the ascendant growth company that could do no wrong. Supercenter expansion was rampant and Walmart was viewed as the company that was going to dominate everything it touched.

CHICAGO — The Quaker Oats Center of Excellence has established a scientific advisory board and an online hub for resources and oat research. Developed in 2012 by the Quaker Oats Company, the Quaker Oats Center of Excellence explores the relevance and benefits of oats through science, agricultural sustainability and innovation.

Newly appointed advisory board members were selected due to their extensive experience within their fields and will be called upon to share knowledge, information and insights based on their areas of expertise:

Doubling sales in any category within a four year time span would be an audacious goal for any retailer, but that was the objective Walmart set for itself in the beer category last fall, according to Bloomberg.