News

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens reported June sales of $5.8 billion, an increase of 2.5% from the same month in fiscal 2012.

June pharmacy sales increased by 2.9%, while comparable store pharmacy sales increased 3.3% and increased by a calendar day-shift adjusted 560 basis points. This year's June had one additional Sunday and one fewer Friday compared with June 2012, Walgreens reported. Calendar day-shift adjusted comparable store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 280 basis points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months. 

MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. has appointed former senator and secretary of the interior Kenneth Salazar to its board of directors. He replaces Mary Dillon, who resigned from the board last month after being named CEO of Ulta Beauty.

Salazar, who recently began working for the law firm WilmerHale, served as a Democratic member of the Senate from Colorado from 2005 to 2009 and as interior secretary under the Obama administration from 2009 until earlier this year, when he was replaced by Sally Jewell. 

LEXINGTON, Mass. — The Keds division of footwear manufacturer Wolverine Worldwide is back for an encore performance with superstar Taylor Swift.

This fall, Keds will launch its second footwear collaboration with seven-time Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The collection expands this season to 17 styles, offering a variety of prints, colors and finishes inspired by Swift.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart is celebrating its inclusion in the summer comedy, “Grown Ups 2” by offering one Shop Your Way member a chance to be an extra in a future Sony Pictures Entertainment film.

Shop Your Way Members can enter the "Stars of Summer Sweepstakes" now through Sunday, July 21, for a chance to see themselves on the silver screen.

Hasbro and Electronic Arts have taken their relationship to the next level and extended their agreement, which will see EA develop several of Hasbro’s bestselling gaming brands for mobile platforms globally. 

Molson Coors Brewing Company has appointed former human resources director of Vodafone Vicky Cookson as the company’s chief people officer for Molson Coors Europe, based in Prague, Czech Republic, effective Sept. 1.

Cookson will report directly to global chief legal and people officer Sam Walker and join the European leadership team led by Mark Hunter. Cookson is human resources executive with international and cross-cultural experience. 

Progress Financial may not be directly affiliated with Walmart, but a Bloomberg story this week reveals the companies are connected in some interesting ways.

Digimarc Corporation, a digital solutions company, has added audio watermarking to its Digimarc Discover mobile engagement platform. An audio watermark is embedded in an audio signal and identifies ownership of copyright, so retailers and brands can differentiate Digimarc’s solution from competing technologies. 

Digimarc’s mobile engagement platform is designed to enable retailers and brands to simplify and enhance mobile consumer engagement, build brand loyalty and drive purchase opportunities from each component of their marketing campaigns. 

Peru tends to be a logical new market for many Chilean retailers and Walmart will be next, according to unconfirmed reports from a company executive who spoke to Reuters.

The news agency this week said Walmart, which is already one of the leading retailers in Chile, will begin work this year to open stores in Peru and plans to form a local management team. As expected, Walmart denied the report but did acknowledge it planned to run a quality assurance office in Peru for procuring products.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in June 2012 vs. June 2013 and noticed some common overall trends across top retail chains. Although Staples and Walmart each saw large year-over-year increases in circular page count, page count was fairly stable overall, with none of these key retailers seeing a decrease of more than 13%.