News

Memphis, Tenn. — Strong third quarter results at AutoZone caused shares to surge on Tuesday and pushed the company’s stock toward the $300 mark.

Jerry Inman has joined 7thOnline to help the provider of retail merchandise assortment planning, forecasting and optimization solutions grow its visibility within the retailer and supplier communities.

Shenzhen, China — Walmart will be looking to capitalize on compelling growth prospects in China under the leadership of new senior executives following the simultaneous departure of CFO Roland Lawrence and COO Rob Cissell.

Both men left the company to pursue other development opportunities, according to Walmart, leaving leadership of Chinese business in the hands of Walmart China president and CEO Ed Chan and Wal-Mart Stores Asia president and CEO Scott Price.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid has appointed David Kelly as group VP construction, the retail pharmacy chain said Monday.

Kelly, who has worked in real estate and development for more than 25 years, will start work May 31 and will have overall responsibility for all store planning and construction services, in addition to having a role in various segmentation initiatives, including Wellness, value and co-branded Save-A-Lot/Rite Aid stores. He will report directly to SVP, CFO and chief administrative officer Frank Vitrano.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Sears Holdings has named William Phelan as acting CFO, replacing Michael Collins, currently SVP and CFO, who resigned last week to pursue another opportunity, the company reported in an SEC filing.

Collins will remain with the company until June 10 in order to ensure a smooth transition, Sears noted in the filing.

Although Targets’ new e-commerce platform isn’t expected to relaunch for a few more months, it is worth acknowledging that the massive undertaking is on time and under budget. That isn’t the case a lot of times with big technology projects, and the complexity associated with Target’s e-commerce business coupled with the rapid pace of change in the mobile and social media world’s created the potential for costs and project timelines to get out of control.

NEW YORK  — Ann Inc., the parent company of Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft stores, reported that for the fiscal first quarter of 2011, earnings per diluted share were 51 cents, compared with earnings per diluted share of 38 cents in the first quarter of 2010.

Target CFO Doug Scovanner moderated analysts’ second-quarter and full-year earnings expectations slightly, although it can at times be difficult to tell given the language used to communicate in the Wall Street guidance game.