News

Stockholm -- The U.S. payments market is getting a new player: Klarna, a Swedish e-commerce company focused on simplifying buying, plans to expand to the U.S. market in early 2015. The nine-year old company has an impressive track record in Europe that includes more than 25 million users and 45,000 retailers including Asos, Spotify and Zara.

Atlanta -- Home Depot Inc. confirmed that some 56 million payment cards were likely compromised in its five-month data breach, making it the largest known breach of a retail company’s computer network to date. By comparison, the widely publicized breach at Target last December affected 40 million credit and debit cards.

Shop24 gives new meaning to the phrase “small format” and recently named a new vp of marketing and business development to help grow its footprint.

GNC Holdings has appointed former Dick's Sporting Goods executive Jeffrey R. Hennion as EVP, chief marketing and e-commerce Officer, and former Office Depot executive Daisy Vanderlinde as chief human resource officer.

Additionally, Carl Seletz, GNC's SVP of international business development, will assume the additional responsibility of leading the company's domestic and international franchise operations.

Brown Shoe Company has invested in Jack Erwin, a men’s brand that offers high-quality, handmade men’s shoes directly to consumers.

“We looked at several companies and Jack Erwin really stood out to us as a great incubator brand with high growth potential and an interesting, new business model,” said Diane Sullivan, CEO, president and chairman of Brown Shoe Company. “Lane and Ariel, the founders, have an unwavering commitment to quality and detail and represent the next generation of business in our industry.”

L'Oréal USA Women in Digital, a program that recruits, supports and promotes female entrepreneurs in technology, has announced the three new companies that have been selected as winners of its 2014 NEXT Generation Awards.

The winners — GLAMSQUAD, Jibo and Shareablee — were honored Thursday evening at an event in New York City hosted by athlete, fashion pioneer, actress and L'Oreal Paris spokeswoman Aimee Mullins, to celebrate both established and up-and-coming female leaders in technology.

Fairway has appointed Jack Murphy as CEO. Murphy was a co-founder of natural foods grocer Fresh Fields before it was sold to Whole Foods, and most recently served as CEO of Earth Fare, an organics and natural food chain with locations in the Southeast and Midwest.

With a name like Loop Integration it was only logical that Amaze and contiigo would choose Chicago as the location for their new joint venture focused on users of SAP’s hybris e-commerce solution.

Undeterred by pet specialty heavyweights PetSmart and Petco, Pet Supermarket just opened its 150th location and has plans for more.

The forty year old Sunrise, Fla.-based company recently opened its 150th location in the central Florida town of Bartow and indicated it plans additional growth while stopping short of providing a specific expansion target. The company’s stores measure about 7,500-sq.-ft. and are currently concentrated in states such as Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, California and Nevada.

The merger between Albertsons and Safeway is expected to close in a few months and when it does the combined company already has a new senior leadership and field operations structure in place.

The companies late Friday announced key leadership positions it said drew on strong talent within both organizations to build an innovative, customer-focused and growth-driven company.