OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Portsmouth, R.I. -- Readers now prefer e-books to printed paperbacks and use social media to help make purchase decisions, and Amazon.com is the overwhelming first choice for book purchases. Results of a survey of almost 3,000 readers conducted by novelist Marie Force show that 77% of respondents read e-books and 52% read paperbacks, although multiple answers to this questions were allowed meaning some readers may use both formats.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation said the retail industry added 37,000 jobs in the month of July, with increases in general merchandise, food and beverage and building and garden supply stores.

CARLISLE, Pa. — Ahold USA has appointed Nick Bertram as its senior VP store strategy and execution, the supermarket operator said Thursday.

Bertram previoulsy worked for Jewel-Osco, where he oversaw operations across Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. He was also senior VP of Supervalu and worked in executive positions at Walmart in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. His new position at Ahold USA will be based out of the company's Carlisle, Pa., headquarters.

New York -- H&M has launched online shopping in the United States, effective Aug. 1. In addition to offering the same merchandise as in-store and some exclusive “online only” items, the site marks the debut of the H&M Home collection, available exclusively online.

New York – American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is launching “Rock Your Walk,” a series of consumer-created videos showing them wearing American Eagle jeans the retailer says will create a “virtual denim runway” stretching across the U.S. Consumers can upload videos via Instagram or Vine on PC or mobile device and have them added to the virtual runway displayed online.

Boca Raton, Fla. – Private home builder David Weekley Homes has presented Office Depot with its Partners of Choice Award. The award is presented to companies that receive the highest marks from approximately 600 David Weekley Homes employees from all levels of the organization.

Fremont, Calif. -- Allen I. Questrom, who has held CEO and other senior executive positions at several major retailers in the past 40 years, has joined the board of directors of The Men’s Wearhouse. With the addition of Questrom, currently a member of the boards of directors of Sotheby's and the Glazer family of companies, Men’s Wearhouse has nine directors, seven of whom are independent.

Boston -- Japanese retailer Yummie House is piloting a new mobile rewards solution at 10 stores in Shanghai, China. Yummie House is using a joint application from Appconomy and ByteLight that combines the cloud-based Appconomy Platform mobile marketing platform solution with ByteLight light field communication (LFC) technology.