News

Overstock.com is once again getting attention for the design of its mobile apps.

The company has received top honors in the Web Marketing Association's 2014 MobileWebAwards for “best iOS retail mobile application.” Overstock’s Android application received the same award last year.

Former Procter & Gamble group president Jorge Mesquita has been hired by Johnson & Johnson as worldwide chairman of its consumer companies. 

Mesquita, 53, will serve on the corporation’s management committee, lead the consumer group operating committee and report to Sandi Peterson, group worldwide chairman.

A $43.5 million fine has been levied against 10 Wall Street firms for doing what they were asked by Toys “R” Us as the retailer prepared an ill-fated public stock offering in 2010.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) levied the $43.5 million fine against the 10 investment banks – but not Toys “R” Us – for allowing their equity research analysts to solicit investment banking business and offer favorable research coverage in connection with the retailer’s planned IPO in 2010.

A sharper focus on merchandising and marketing netted positive results for Gymboree, as the company reported an increase in same store sales for the third quarter.

But the company did report a steep loss of $522.1 million, compared with a loss of $24 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Same store sales increased 1%. Net sales were $316.8 million, compared with $309.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2013.

Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) have become more common on companies’ senior leadership teams. They might be in even higher demand after the highly publicized data breaches at Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus and other companies in the past couple of years (see a timeline of data breaches in the past decade here). In fact, Neiman Marcus just hired its first CISO, Sarah Hendrickson.

On the heels of announcing a new partnership with Lowe's and HGTV, Sherwin-Williams Co. is predicting healthy sales growth for this year and next year. For the full year 2014, the company expects consolidated net sales to increase approximately 9% compared with full year 2013.

Bounty created new sales opportunities for retailers by putting its “quicker picker upper” heritage to the ultimate test as sponsor of the 14th Annual AKC/Eukanuba National Championship.

If there is ever a time when a paper towel brand doesn’t want to betray the trust of consumers it’s when they are cleaning up after their beloved pet. So what better place to put the capabilities of the Bounty brand to the test, and create sales opportunities for retailers in the process, than by sponsoring one of the nation’s largest dog shows.

Hangzhou, China – A security flaw in AliExpress, an online marketplace that allows international consumers to make purchases on the Alibaba e-commerce platform, reportedly could have exposed personal information of millions of users to hackers. According to CNBC, Israeli security AppSec Labs discovered the flaw, which would have allowed hackers to alter orders and also gain access to customer personal and financial data, not including credit card numbers.  

New York - Fifty-one percent of consumers say saving money is their top priority this holiday season, and  40% are driven by finding the right product. Those are among the findings of a recent survey conducted by RSR.  

New York - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has reportedly discovered discrepancies in accounting practices its China business was using that made performance look better than it really was. According to Bloomberg, shifty accounting practices included making unauthorized bulk sales to other retailers and even booking non-existent sales.