OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

New York City -- Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN Inc., is staying at the home shopping giant and is not interested in becoming the next CEO at Avon Products Inc., according to Women's Wear Daily.

The report cited a letter Grossman sent to top HSN executives at HSN.

Previous reports had Grossman as a top candidate to replace Avon CEO Andrea Jung, who agreed in December to resign.

Akron, Ohio -- Sterling Jewelers said Thursday it has named Ed Hrabak, senior VP merchandising, as COO to succeed Bill Montalto, who is retiring from the position in June.

Hrabak has been with Sterling for over 25 years, assuming increasingly greater management responsibility during his tenure.

Sterling also announced that Stuart Lee, VP merchandising, will be promoted to senior VP merchandising upon Hrabak’s promotion to COO.

Boston -- Research results released Thursday by mobile and social merchandising solution-provider Zmags found that less than one-third of the top 100 Internet retailers are prepared for tablet shopping.

According to “Mobile & Tablet e-Commerce: Is anyone really ready?” commissioned by research firm Hawk Partners, too few retailers have optimized sites for tablet commerce. Most are simply relying on their standard websites to provide an “adequate enough” tablet shopping experience.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- A spokesman for Sears Holdings Corp. said that the owner of Sears and Kmart stores is cutting 100 jobs at its headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

According to Chris Brathwaite, Sears spokesman, the cuts cover a range of positions. The terminated employees were notified Thursday. 

The retailer has not said whether additional cuts are planned.
 

Washington, D.C. -- POS solution-provider POSitive Technology said Thursday that It'Sugar has selected them as their POS partner to implement the Microsoft Dymanics RMS and OpSuite solutions to meet the company’s growth needs.

Candy retailer It'Sugar plans to open as many as 10 new stores in 2012, in addition to continuous updating and refreshing of inventory to keep pace with sales and customer preferences, said the company.

Toronto -- A Thursday report by Reuters said that Sears Canada is cutting prices on more than 5,000 items as a competitive preemptive move before Wal-Mart and Target begin their expansion march across the country.

According to the report, Sears Canada will also roll out weekly sales promotions and new signage.

Cary, N.C. -- C-store chain The Pantry announced Wednesday that it has appointed Dennis G. Hatchell as president and CEO, effective March 5.

Hatchell succeeds Edwin Holman who served as interim CEO since Terrance Marks resigned as CEO effective in October 2011.

Hatchell previously served as vice chairman of Alex Lee, a holding company for Lowe’s Food Stores, Merchants Distributors and Institution Food House.

Chicago -- A survey released Wednesday by WorkInRetail.com found that 45% of retail hiring managers are concerned that their top workers will leave the organization in 2012.

WorkInRetail.com, CareerBuilder’s job site for retail professionals, polled 247 retail hiring managers and 654 full-time retail employees in November and December 2011. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive.