aggregatedcontent

Atlanta -- Aaron's announced that Jeannie M. Cave has been hired as the company's new VP real estate and construction. She will be responsible for a number of activities including the development of strategies that support Aaron's real estate goals and the management of the company's real estate portfolio for both company-operated and franchised stores. Cave brings 10 years of leadership experience from Cox Enterprises.

An eerily lifelike Steve Jobs doll will not be sold because the company behind the product received "immense pressure" from Apple's lawyers and the late CEO's family to not sell the figurine.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy announced that Shari Ballard and Mike Vitelli, who had both been president of Best Buy's domestic business, will take on separate jobs, effective immediately. The retailer, which posted disappointing holiday results, said it was undertaking the changes to accelerate its strategy by aligning the company's senior operating talent with its highest priorities. Ballard, who joined Best Buy in 1993 as an assistant store manager, was named president of the international business, which includes stakes in China, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Vitelli, who joined Best Buy in 2004 after 23 years at Sony Electronics, will continue

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM announced that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is working with IBM software to help the company transform its online business to achieve greater speed and efficiency. The initiative is part of Abercombie's strategic goal to expand its direct-to-consumer capabilities and drive its e-commerce business to $1 billion. "Abercrombie & Fitch Co., and its portfolio of brands including Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister Co, Abercrombie kids, and Gilly Hicks, is growing its e-commerce and cross-channel operation dramatically in the coming years. We require a world-class solution that will scale over time, bolster international expansion, and support cross-channel commerce.

Shoppers may soon see retail employees patrolling store aisles looking like Star Trek officers carrying tablet computers. More than half of retailers surveyed by RIS News are testing in-store tablets in 2012. 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Peter Lynch, who has led Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. since December 2004, will resign as chairman, president and chief executive officer of the chain when its merger with BI-LO LLC is completed. The transaction is expected to close between...

Belk will soon have new capabilities to improve customer satisfaction across its 303 stores in 16 states by using solutions from Teradata. The department store has selected multiple Teradata Data Warehouse Appliances and the Teradata Retail Logical Data Model to build a new integrated database-driven analytics environment.

New York City -- Saks Inc. announced that Jack L. Stahl, 58, was appointed to the company’s board of directors effective Jan. 16. He also will serve on the audit committee of the board. From 2002 through 2006, Stahl served as president and CEO of Revlon. Prior to joining Revlon, he spent over 20 years with The Coca-Cola Co.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has hired Neil Ashe as the new president and CEO of its global e-commerce business. Ashe’s most recent position was president of CBS Interactive, in which capacity he headed all online properties and also drove development of new ways to distribute programming produced by the company and its subsidiaries. Ashe succeeds Eduardo Castro-Wright who is retiring in September. Castro-Wright is assisting in the transition. According to Mike Duke, president and CEO of Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart, which has more than 10,000 retail units under 69 banners in 28 countries: “We are on track to create the next

Watson, the IBM computer that took on the very best "Jeopardy" contestants and won, is a computer who gets us. It isn't easily stumped by any other of our human quirks. But what does it have to do with retail? It turns out that we humans are creating lots and lots and lots of data at an accelerating rate. Not just data, big data.