OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Washington, D.C. - The Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA), a trade association of closed loop gift card retailers committed to promoting and protecting the use of gift cards, has appointed Mary Donovan, account director Kellen Company as the new executive director. Kellen Company has been named the association's management firm.

In addition, the RGCA has named Nicole Willis of Groupon and Erin Wood of Subway to the board of directors. They will be filling vacant board positions left by their respective companies.

Beijing – Chinese e-commerce retailer Alibaba is reportedly planning to open a U.S. e-commerce website through its subsidiaries Vendio and Auctiva. According to Reuters, the site will operate at 11main.com.

Los Angeles – The “Dumb Starbucks” parody store which opened in Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 8 has been revealed to be a prank for a Comedy Central TV show. According to the Associated Press, comedian Nathan Fielder made a public announcement on Feb. 10 that he opened the store for use in his TV show “Nathan for You.”

Indianapolis – Gregg W. Throggmartin, COO of Hhgregg Inc., has resigned as the executive VP and COO of the company and as a member of the board, effective March 31, 2014. Throgmartin is leaving Hhgregg to pursue outside interests and manage family businesses.

Hhgregg will commence a search for a new COO. In the interim, other operations officers of the company will fulfill the responsibilities of Throgmartin.

Leiden, Netherlands – Ikea Group reported progress in its “People and Planet Positive” sustainability strategy during fiscal year 2013. Highlights include:

• Sold 22.4 million LED products, including 12.3 million LED bulbs.

• Ikea Group has committed to own 137 wind turbines and installed 550,000 solar panels, taking the company closer to producing more renewable energy than the total energy it uses by 2020.

Salt Lake City – Overstock.com has promoted one executive to the position of senior VP, general counsel and also promoted four other executives to VP positions. The company named VP and general counsel Mark Griffin to the position of senior VP and general counsel, and promoted four other executives to VP.

Mount Laurel, N.J. -- Agilence, a provider of cloud-based exception reporting solutions, announced that Redner's Markets has deployed Agilence’s Retail 20/20 to reduce shrink and improve in-store operations. The solution will also be utilized to provide visibility into daily store processes to increase efficiency and reduce fraud. Based in Reading, Redner's Markets is an employee-owned, regional supermarket chain with 44 warehouse markets and 18 quick shops throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears has debuted In-Vehicle Pickup, a new service powered by the chain’s Shop Your Way mobile app that enables customers to pick up their online purchases at any Sears store within five minutes of arrival, without ever leaving the car.