News

Responding to the Ebola virus that has ravaged West Africa, RetailROI has launched a major campaign to help fight the disease in Liberia. Working with its partner charities operating in Liberia, including More Than Me and Love In Action, the #RetailFightsEbola campaign is rallying retailers, manufacturers and individuals to provide much-needed medical and hygienic supplies to Liberia.

RetailROI’s goals are two-fold:

The spread of the deadly Ebola virus has been all over the news lately. Protecting underprivileged children in West Africa from Ebola is one more important effort supported by RetailROI. Katie Meyler, founder of More Than Me, a non-profit dedicated to assisting at-risk youth in Liberia, recently discussed how More Than Me and RetailROI are helping to combat Ebola there.

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Anyone planning to attend the NRF Convention Jan. 11-14, 2015, should consider arriving one day early to attend another event that is chock-full of information and industry expertise: SuperSaturday. Each year, RetailROI independently offers SuperSaturday, a one-day event held the Saturday before the official Sunday kickoff to the NRF Convention.

This year, SuperSaturday falls on Jan. 10. Held at the PwC Auditorium in Manhattan from 8 a.m.

Industry uses strengths to aid children in need

Modern retail is a global effort to provide consumers with the goods and services they need.

Former J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson is back in the game. Johnson, who prior to joining Penney headed up Apple’s retail store operations for nearly 12 years, is launching a new company — called Enjoy — and contrary to earlier rumors, it’s not an on-demand tech-gadget delivery service. Instead, it’s a service to help online shoppers make the right product choices.

Johnson isn’t divulging much about his new start-up, or exactly what it will offer.

To some folks, he’s an innovator, a genius who has fundamentally transformed the retail equation. To others, he’s a bully. And now Jeff Bezos has a new label: the world’s best-performing CEO.

The designation comes way of the Harvard Business Review’s 2014 ranking of the 100 best-performing CEOs. The list offers the only ranking of global CEOs’ performances over their entire tenure.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot on Tuesday reported better-than-expected results for third quarter and raised its outlook for the year.    The retailer posted a profit of $29 million  for the third quarter compared with $133 million in the year-ago quarter. The previous-year quarter included a gain on the sale of the Office Depot de Mexico joint venture.   Sales grew 55% to $4.07 billion, fueled by the addition of OfficeMax.

Los Angeles -- Lifestyle brand Paul Frank is launching a pop-up shop at the Paramount Hotel in New York City, now through Jan. 30, 2015, with omnichannel features. Customers can participate in two digital activations featuring the face of Paul Frank, Julius the monkey.   

New York -- U.S. households plan to spend an average of $538 on gifts this holiday season, up slightly from $528 last year, The Conference Board reports today. About 8% of consumers say they plan to spend more this year on holiday gifts, while approximately 32% plan to spend less. The remaining 60% plan to spend about the same as last year.  

New York -- Retail and consumer merger and acquisition activity in the United States during the third quarter of 2014 was driven by the highest volume of mega deals (deals with a value of over $1 billion) in at least seven years, leading to overall transaction value jumping significantly during the quarter when compared to the year ago period, according to PwC’s U.S. retail and consumer deals insights Q3 2014 report.