OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Chicago – More retailers are hiring extra holiday staff this year. According to a new annual holiday hiring survey from CareerBuilder and Harris Interactive, 39% of retail hiring managers reported that they plan to hire seasonal workers this year, up from 36% last year and 29% in 2011.

New York -- J.Crew ranked No. 1 overall in customer service in September for the third consecutive month, in a monthly survey by StellaService, the independent ratings provider that ranks online retailers according to their customer service. StellaService measures companies monthly across four service areas: phone, email, shipping and returns.

Here is a look at the top finishers in the four individual categories:

Rogers, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores is focused on near-term execution to grow its same-store U.S. sales, improve returns in Walmart International and leverage expenses for the full year, company president and CEO Mike Duke said Tuesday at the company’s 20th annual meeting for the investment community.
    

Cupertino, Calif. -- Apple Inc. has hired a much-admired fashion industry veteran to run its retail stores. The company announced Tuesday that Angela Ahrendts, CEO of British luxury giant Burberry Group Plc, has been appointed to the newly created position of senior VP of retail and online stores. She will join Apple in the spring from Burberry.

At Apple Ahrendts, 53, will become a member of the executive team and report directly to CEO Tim Cook. She will be the first woman on Apple’s 10-member executive team.

New York – In a sign of just how competitive the upcoming holiday season is expected to be, Macy’s said that most of its stores will open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving evening. It’s the first time in its history that the company will be open for business on the holiday.

Los Angeles -- Sport Chalet, Inc. has elected Miki R. Berardelli, chief marketing officer for Tory Burch, to the company's board of directors. Berardelli has more than 20 years of marketing and e-commerce experience.

As chief marketing officer for Tory Burch, she oversees global marketing, public relations and e-commerce. Prior to joining Tory Burch in 2009, Berardelli spent eight years at Ralph Lauren as the senior VP of marketing. In addition, Berardelli is serving her second term as board chairman of Shop.org and is on the board of Giggle.com.

Mahwah, N.J. -- The websites for the top 500 U.S. retailers are still too slow and continue to get slower – pages have slowed down 14% since summer 2013, and are 16% slower than fall 2012, according to a study by Radware.

Niwot, Colo. -- Former Wal-Mart executive Greg Sullivan has been appointed general manager of Crocs' Americas region, which includes all of North America, Central America and South America. In this role, Sullivan will be responsible for managing the region's day-to-day operations, including overseeing sales, marketing, finance and human resources functions, as well as the region's wholesale, Internet and direct-to-consumer channels.