News

MADISON, Wis. — The Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles, the country’s longest-running mobile marketing campaign, are trying out a different type of mobile space with the brand’s launch of its first-ever Wienermobile Run program.

Oscar Mayer is leveraging social media to engage existing and would-be fans. First, the brand is encouraging people to visit WienermobileRun.com, where they can join their favorite Wienermobile team. Those who do will receive a team bumper sticker while supplies last, and help their team earn points. 

FAIRFAX, Va. — Geeknet, the parent company of online retailer ThinkGeek.com, has appointed Julie Pangelinan as the company’s CFO, effective Aug. 12.

Pangelinan has more than 25 years of operations and financial experience, most recently as CFO of Interstate Hotels and Resorts and Sunrise Senior Living.

Women’s apparel brand and retailer Lilly Pulitzer is turning to supply chain commerce solution provider Manhattan Associates to revamp its omnichannel retail capabilities so it can address its growing brick-and-mortar and e-commerce businesses. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Banana Republic has been named the formal attire supplier for Oracle Team USA as it defends its title at the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco Bay in Sept.

NEW YORK — Walmart confirmed in an op-ed in the Washington Post that if the D.C. Council passes a bill setting a higher minimum wage for large retailers, it will pull the plug on three planned stores in the Washington, D.C., area. 

It’s not your father’s Pep Boys...not by a long shot. The auto parts and service retailer is testing a new store concept designed to extend its appeal beyond its core DIY-car enthusiasts audience to “do-it-for-me” drivers, which include many female customers.

Business and friendship are generally considered incompatible. It’s hard to take the dispassionate, profits-first mindset that traditionally governs business transactions with a person you think of as a friend. However, in this burgeoning age of social media and social commerce, retailers need to make friends with their customers to maximize engagement, loyalty and profits.

Toronto -- A "Sears Hometown" store owner in Woodstock, Ontario (Canada), has launched a class action lawsuit on behalf of approximately 260 Sears Hometown dealers across Canada against Sears Canada and its American affiliate, Sears. Both are subsidiaries of Sears Holding Corp.

The lawsuit alleges that Sears lowered dealers' commissions, reduced advertising for local stores and bypassed the franchises by selling directly to customers who are located within their markets.

New York -- Jones Group Inc. has tapped Citigroup Inc. to explore a possible sale, according to Reuters.
 
In April, Jones Group said that it would close 170 stores and cut 8% of its workforce after first-quarter profit was less than analysts’ estimates. The news comes just months after activist hedge fund

The company, whose brands include Stuart Weitzman, Jones New York, Easy Spirit, and Nine West, had a market value of about $1.2 billion as of July 5.

Corte Madera, Calif. -- Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. said Friday that a group of stockholders will plan to sell up to 10 million shares of the company.

The company registered an offering of up to 10 million shares worth as much as $753.2 million. It did not specify who will sell the shares or when the offering is expected to close.

Restoration Hardware's biggest shareholders are the private equity firms Catterton Partners and Tower Three Partners, followed by Glenhill Capital.