News

New York -- Macy’s and Maker Studios, the world’s largest producer and distributor of online video content for Millennials, announced a collaboration to launch an original fashion-lifestyle series, to be called “The Next Style Star.” The program will feature 16 up-and-coming stylists battling head-to-head for a $10,000 cash prize, a chance to serve as a guest stylist on an upcoming Macy’s photo shoot, and have his or her winning look featured in the Impulse Department at Macy’s Herald Square in New York City.

In a move to increase traffic and grow sales, Family Dollar said it added 400 products to its food offerings and reduced prices on 1,000 other items.

As part of the rollout, the operator of more than 8,100 stores enlisted the aid of television personality, author and chef Pat Neely. Plans call for Neely to participate in several special events including a recipe contest in which the challenge is to prepare a meal for four for under $15. The contest winner will receive a cooking experience with Neely at his home in Memphis.

The sale of Unilever’s meat snack business to Jack Link’s closed this week, clearing the way for the Minong, Wis.-based company to pursue its global ambitions.

Jack Link’s is already the leading U.S. meat snack brand with a pervasive presence at retail but has set its sights on international growth.

The hit show 24 staring Kiefer Sutherland as super agent Jack Bauer will be available exclusively to subscribers of Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service.

Amazon.com has a licensing agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution which allows its Prime Instant Video to be the exclusive online-only subscription provider for all 192 episodes of the program.

After 37 years with Kroger, Robert Williams is stepping down from his role as SVP of operations in May.

Williams has served in his current role since 2007 and oversees seven of Kroger’s supermarket divisions. His successor was not immediately named.

The backyard chicken movement is a consumer trend that likely went undetected by the insights teams at most retailers, but not Tractor Supply.

The nation’s leading farm and ranch store has developed an innovative promotion called “Chick Days,” and is touting the benefits of raising backyard poultry with the promotional piece, “Raise Your Roost.” A dedicate landing page at TractorSupply.com also features a wide range of chicken products to help customers raise a healthy flock.

Consumer goods manufacturer SC Johnson continues to make progress on an ambitious waste reduction goal by securing “zero landfill” status at its eighth global manufacturing facility.

The company has set a target of reducing its global manufacturing waste by 70% by 2016. From 2000 to 2012 the company reduced its waste by 62% as a ratio to production.

Mia Goldwyn was named chief content officer at StyleHaul, a company that describes itself as the leading multi-platform marketing solution for fashion and beauty brands with scale.

Goldwyn joins StyleHaul, a platform with 138 million YouTube subscribers with 53 million unique monthly visitors, from Paramount Pictures. She spent 13 years with the studio and most recently served as vp of business development, digital and insurge. In her new role she will report to StyleHaul president and CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski.

To survive the long, bumpy ride through the recent recession, many retail logistics executives focused on cost reduction. This necessary objective drove important changes in supply chain strategy, from network right-sizing to innovative warehouse automation and energy-efficiency tactics. A “lean and mean” supply chain model arose, and quickly became vital to survival.

At the recent Oracle Industry Connect Conference held in Boston, a number of speakers from prominent retailers including Kohl’s, Hot Topic, and C. Wonder extolled the virtues of “vanilla” implementations of enterprise systems. In this context, vanilla means implementing an enterprise platform with all or many of that vendor’s applications, minimizing customization or use of one-off “best of breed” solutions.