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Ideally, a capitalist economy is constantly becoming more efficient. The benefits of that newly gained efficiency, however, aren't always uniformly distributed. Sometimes it goes to business owners in the form of higher prices, sometimes to consumers in the form of lower prices and other times to labor as increased wages. You don't have to be an economist to know that for the past generation, workers have gotten the short end of this particular stick. Corporate profits have gone steadily up, consumers have been offered an increasingly wide selection of affordable products, but wages for most of us have stagnated.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Callaway Golf Company has named Harry Arnett as SVP marketing. In this role, Arnett assumes leadership of the company's global marketing, communications and go-to-market functions. The announcement was made by Chip Brewer, president and CEO, Callaway Golf. "Harry has demonstrated an impressive ability to develop and execute compelling strategies on a global scale that clearly connect with golfers," said Brewer. "We're looking forward to his contributions and leadership of our Marketing as we further strengthen our organization and move ahead with our turnaround plan." "It's awesome to be a part of such an iconic

NEW YORK — Macy's has launched its annual summer fundraising campaign for children's literacy. Starting June 22, customers can give $3 to help provide a book for a child in their local communities. Through the program, customers will receive a coupon for $10 off an in-store purchase of $50 or more (certain exclusions apply), and Macy’s will donate 100% of every $3 to Reading Is Fundamental. The five-week fundraising effort ends July 31. To celebrate the launch of the campaign in-store, select Macy’s across the country will host Reading Circles with professional athletes including Joel Dreessen of the Denver

New York -- School is just ending in some areas of the Northeast, and already the first back-to-school shopping survey has been released. The survey, by online shopping site PriceGrabber, reveals that nearly half (46%) of consumers are planning to spend more this back-to-school shopping season than in 2011. In comparison, only 13% of shoppers planned to spend more last year, and this data was reflected in an overall disappointing back-to-school season for retailers in 2011. In the Back-to-School Shopping Forecast, conducted from May 22 to June 5, 2012, 17% of shoppers plan to start their back-to-school shopping in

DSW Inc., which opened a Manahattan store earlier this year, is buying back $100 million of its stock. DSW Inc. DSW Inc. Latest from The Business Journals Countdown: Public company stock performanceEastpoint Mall sells at auction for reduced MCentral Ohio earnings reports for the week Follow this company will buy back $100 million of its stock during the next year. The Columbus-based company said Monday it would use cash on hand to fund the share repurchase program. DSW (NYSE:DSW) stock closed at $58.80 a share on Friday. “Our business continues

New York -- Tesco PLC is leaving the Japanese retail market after nine years. The company will sell 50% of Tesco Japan to Aeon Co., Japan’s largest retail group. Tesco said it will form a joint venture with Aeon and invest £40 million ($63 million), then sell the remaining 50% to Aeon at a later date.

The recently completed implementation of the Impact 360 workforce optimization solution across five Cabela's customer contact centers in Nebraska provides the retailer with quality monitoring, speech analytics, desktop and process analytics, performance management, eLearning and coaching and encryption management functionalities. The Impact 360 solution from Verint also offers Cabela's the ability to capture and analyze the quality of customer interactions, maximize resources, increase visibility into staff performance and advance payment security. The software can also help the retailer, known for its multi-channel strategy and execution, gain deeper insights into customers' wants and needs. "One of the main reasons we

Etsy shoppers purchased $65.9 million of goods (after refunds and cancellations) in May 2012, up 3.6% from the previous month, and 68.5% more than a year ago. The number of items sold increased 51% year-over-year to just over 3 million, 2.1% higher than April. Etsy sellers listed 26% more new items in May 2012 than last year - 2.248 million new items were listed, which was 2.1% higher than April's 2.202 million. Etsy May 2012 Sales May 2011 May 2012 Percent Change Dollar Sales $39.11 million* $65.9 million 68.5% Unit Sales 2,006,810 3,034,442 51% New items listed 1,788,017 2,248,143

With its IPO out of the way, attention has turned to how Facebook will make money to appease its new shareholders. Many retailers are using the free tools available on Facebook rather than paying to advertise on the site. While retailers are very happy with the returns they're seeing from Facebook, many are doing so for free. A prime example is luxury retailer Melrose.com, which has seen its sales rise 25 percent over the last two years. Melrose.com spent just $1,500 on Facebook ads in that time, with most of its activity focused on managing its (free) page.