News

SAN DIEGO — Petco is leveraging social media to engage existing customers, entice new ones and, as part of its mission statement, help out shelters in need with its “Be a Great One” contest. 

NEWARK, Del. — The Produce Marketing Association has appointed Cathy Green Burns as the association’s president, effective December 1, as part of its continued restructuring of the senior leadership team. 

In her new role, Green Burns will focus initially on leading board and staff team development as well as lending her insight to business development activities. She will report to PMA CEO Bryan Silbermann, who previously held both president and CEO positions.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears is touting its Team Up to Stop Bullying program to parents, educators and students during the back-to-school season. The program is open to customers and Shop Your Way members.

Participants can experience the Sears "Jean Scene" activities in four different ways this month.

Strong sales of chicken and beef pushed Tyson Food’s sales to record levels during the third quarter ended June 29.

The world’s largest protein producer attributed the growth to a combination of volume and price increases. Total sales increased 5.7% to $8.7 billion while profits from continuing operations grew to $249 million, or 69 cents a share, from $76 million, or 22 cents a share.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — nGage Labs, Inc., a leading provider of in-store shopper engagement solutions for retailers, has appointed Peter Charness as president; Nancy Terzolani as SVP of client experience and Larry Negrich as VP of marketing. 

They will be charged with leading the company in its next phase of growth.

NEW YORK — Soupman Inc., the parent company of The Original SoupMan, is about to see "the soup that made 'Seinfeld' famous" hit shelves at nearly 500 Walmart stores. 

The brand's soups, which are already sold in more than 4,000 supermarkets nationwide, include the classic soups that made the company famous: lobster bisque, chicken noodle, lentil and tomato bisque. 

President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton visited Kanombe school in Kigali, Rwanda, to see the P&G Purifier of Water packets at work as part of Procter and Gamble’s Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action to provide clean drinking water to those who need it most. 

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Discount retailers TJ Maxx and Saks Off Fifth outlets plan to dive into e-commerce waters this year, according to reports. 

William Disbrow and Jim Sampey, former executives with Valpak/Cox Target Media, have joined Sterling Payment Technologies to grow Sterling’s loyalty products and a mobile initiative branded as Perkz.

Disbrow and Sampey were both longtime former executives at Valpak/Cox Target Media who held C-level positions.

Irvine, Calif. -- Photo-sharing site Socialbliss is launching a new social commerce platform called Marketplace. The Socialbliss Marketplace gives users the ability to list their own items for sale and link those pieces to inspiration images already existing on the site. This allows a viral conversation to begin which can lead to an item being sold.

Listing is free and backed by a 20% commission fee structure. Globally shoppable inventory on Socialbliss has hit $4.8 million.