News

Ascena Retail Group began a search for a new CFO after its current EVP and CFO, Dirk Montgomery, resigned this week. As the company reviews potential new CFOs, Ascena board member and audit committee chair Randy Pearce, will have more involvement with the company’s finances.

Montgomery is expected to stay in his position until the fall, when he will move on to a Florida-based healthcare company, where he recently accepted an offer to be closer to his family.

New York -- Chief marketing officers and chief information officers are working more collaboratively than in the past to take advantage of digital opportunities, but they remain at odds on issues involving how to drive integrated digital marketing solutions for their customers, according to a new study by Accenture.

The report, “Cutting Across the CMO-CIO Divide, reveals  a growing collaboration between CMOs and CIOs – 43% of marketers and 50% of IT leaders think their relationship with the other has improved over the past year.

Plano, Texas – Net earnings at Rent-A-Center Inc. fell 58% year-over-year in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, to $17.5 million from $41.9 million. Costs related to pretax restructuring and the consolidation of 150 stores into core U.S. stores helped reduce total net earnings.

The revelation that IBM and Apple would be working together on a new range of mobile solutions is a huge development in its own right, but the landmark deal also promises to have a wide-ranging impact on the retail industry.

The retail industry is awash with digital innovations, but traditional paid search programs continue to dominate retailers’ digital marketing tactics, according to the 2014 Shop.org/Forrester Research State of Retailing Online study.

Dollar Tree said it would acquire Family Dollar in a transformational cash and stock deal valued at $8.5 billion to create a company with more than 13,000 stores and annual sales of $18 billion.

The deal was unanimously approved by the boards of both companies and involves Dollar Tree paying Family Dollar shareholders $59.60 in cash and $14.90 in equivalent Dollar Tree shares.

Dodgeville, Wis. - Lands' End Kids is running a promotion involving digital pop-up stores in partnership with The Bakery by blogging site PopSugar. Seven style influencers and popular PopSugar Select mom bloggers will curate a collection of "First-day Faves" with a new digital pop-up shop launching each week on the Lands’ End e-commerce site.

Lowe's plans to build a customer support center in Indianapolis, a move that will create up to 1,000 new jobs by 2016.