OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

New York – Macy’s has reached an agreement with Lids Sports Group to offer licensed departments called Locker Room by Lids that will sell Lids merchandise both in Macy’s stores and on the retailer’s website. Lids Sports Group will operate the departments, which will be the exclusive source of Macy’s in-store team sportswear.

Columbus, Ohio -- The Limited said Wednesday it has appointed former Brooks Bros. president and COO Diane Ellis as its new CEO, effective Aug. 26.
 
In her role at Brooks Bros., Ellis oversaw information technology, human resources, retail and outlet stores, planning and allocation, product development, sourcing, supply chain, e-commerce and finance.

New York -- Tween apparel retailer Delia’s has hired Daphne Smith as the company’s executive VP operations, reporting to CEO Tracy Gardner.

Smith was previously with J. Crew for 16 years, working in various roles including senior VP of direct. She has spent the past 18 months at New York & Company as the company’s senior VP e-commerce.

Waban, Mass. – Amazon.com was the top-ranked company across 19 industries in the 2013 Web Experience Ratings from Temkin Group. Amazon.com had a score of 77%, almost 21 percentage points higher than the retail industry average.

Other retailers in the top 10 included eBay, tied for fifth place at 70%, and QVC, tied for eighth place at 69%. Taco Bell and Kmart earned ratings that were at least 15 points below the retail industry average. Old Navy was the only retailer to have a double-digit score increase from last year.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Forever 21 has tapped workforce management solution-provider Kronos Inc. for a global solution to address multinational needs and standardize the specialty retailer’s brand experience delivery across the world.

Itasca, Ill. -- Jewel-Osco has appointed Scott Hays as VP operations for the Chicagoland supermarket chain.

Most recently a district manager with Albertsons LLC’s Southern division, Hays will lead the operations team to support Jewel-Osco’s marketing and merchandising initiatives, including the company’s upcoming remodels and opening their five newly acquired Dominick’s locations.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled against a request by plaintiffs in a gender discrimination suit against Wal-Mart who were seeking certification of a class-action suit against the mass merchandise giant. Referring to a 2012 Supreme Court decision about limitations on class-action suits, Breyer ruled that the individual situations of the plaintiffs are too different to be grouped into a single class-action suit.

Indianapolis – Almost eight-in-10 (78%) marketers report feeling pressure to become more data-driven, but only a little more than a third of companies (36%) say they routinely use data-driven marketing to customize messages and offers, in order to improve customer experience and campaign performance. Teradata’s Data-Driven Marketing Survey 2013 also indicates within two years more than 80% of marketers will have implemented or begun projects that automate data quality, performance management and marketing workflow processes.