News

Veteran retail operations executive Troy Rice has joined Office Depot as EVP of retail as the company continues to build out its senior leadership team in the wake of its merger with OfficeMax.

Rice spent the past eight years with Toys “R” Us, most recently serving as EVP fo stores and services. Prior that he spent 16 years with The Home Depot and served as president of the retailer’s $24 billion northern division at the time of his departure.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Sears Holdings with a 2014 Energy Star Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award. Sears Holdings, an Energy Star partner since 1998, will be honored for its long-term commitment to energy efficiency.

The company's related accomplishments in 2013 included:

New York -- Liberty Media Corp. has entered into agreements to reduce its stake in Barnes & Noble. Liberty Media informed Barnes & Noble that while Liberty has sold the majority of its shares to qualified institutional buyers, it will retain approximately 10% of its initial $204 million investment, which could be converted to a 17% ownership stake.

Former SAS executive Greg Soussloff has joined pricing intelligence and competitor monitoring solutions provider 360pi as vp of customer value.

Soussloff spent the past 10 years with SAS and most recently served as senior sales director of retail and CPG and oversaw a 30 member national sales team. Prior to SAS, Soussloff served in diverse roles at several wholesale companies, including VF Corporation where he led the sales efforts for the mass channel in what was then the VF Knitwear division.

Washington, D.C. -- Despite a slight decrease in corporate payments fraud and a heightened interest in security risks, 2013 saw an increase in fraud specific to credit and debit cards as criminals and their schemes became more sophisticated, according to the 2014 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey released by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP).

Online home goods retailer Tablesets.com said digital innovator Weihu Yan has made an investment in and joined the company as a strategic advisor.

By Shelley E. Kohan, VP, retail consulting, RetailNext; instructor, Fashion Institute of Technology

Consumer confidence is 10 points higher than this time last year. Spring weather forecasts show April will be warmer than average for many areas. So, how can retailers optimize sales during this season? Learning from last year’s data and trends is a great place to start.

Former H.H. Gregg EVP and COO Gregg Throgmartin has been name CEO at upstart cycling retailer BikeStreet.

Throgmartin resigned from HH Gregg after a 13 year career which saw him rise to become EVP and COO of the 228 store consumer electronics retailer. He joins BikeStreet, a company founded in 2012, as it embarks on an ambitious strategy to growth from 17 stores to more than 1,000 stores during the next seven years.