News

New York – Old Navy is launching a back-to-school promotion on the YouTube video platform. The retailer is releasing a video of a new back-to-school anthem, “Unlimited,” featuring cameos by stars of the youth multichannel network AwesomenessTV.

E-commerce site Rakuten is expanding its corporate social responsibility efforts with several scholarship opportunities in Japan and around the world.

The cornerstone of its new efforts is its Global Citizens Summit, which will bring together 24 students from around the world at Boston’s Harvard Faculty Club from Aug. 2 to 9. The summit is being hosted with assistance from nonprofit Global Citizens Initiative, which works to build leaders among students, and the participants will meet throughout the week to discuss global issues.

Camp Hill, Pa. – Same-store sales increased 4.6% at Rite Aid Corp. in July 2014. Total drugstore sales for the four-week period increased 4.1% to $1.97 billion, compared to $1.9 billion for the same period the prior year.

July front-end same-store sales increased 1.5%. Pharmacy same-store sales increased 6%. Prescription count at comparable stores increased 3.9% from the prior-year period.

Babies “R” Us has partnered with Medela, a manufacturer of breast pumps and postnatal supplies, to provide the Medela Breast Pump Rental Service to parents nationwide.

Customers visiting any Babies “R” Us store across the country will be able to rent the Medela Hospital-Grade Symphony Double Electric Breast Pump for 30, 60 or 90 days. The program remains flexible, with the opportunity to extend a rental after 30 days.

Atlanta – The Home Depot Inc. has promoted Ted Decker to executive VP of merchandising, effective Aug. 4. Decker is a 14-year veteran of The Home Depot, where he most recently served as senior VP of retail finance, pricing analytics and assortment planning.

Pacific Sunwear’s SVP of women’s merchandising and design Christine Lee has resigned. Filling the role on an interim basis will be Brieane Breuer, who joined PacSun in 2007 and is the company's current VP of women's design.

Breuer received her master's degree in fashion design and styling from Istituto Marangoni and during the past 13 years has held various merchandising and design roles at high-end fashion brands such as Valentino, as well as at Abercrombie & Fitch.

Just how often does Amazon change prices throughout the day? And when do other leading retailers adjust their prices? Price intelligence and optimization leader 360pi is out with a new report that answers those questions and sheds lights on some surprising pricing tactics at top retailers.

The report, titled “When Should You Change Your Prices,” explores the phenomenon of pricing dynamism at leading retailers and assesses its effectiveness. What 360pi discovered is that the level of price dynamism can vary dramatically across retailers.