Target

Target Corp. has named a former Gap executive to replace the departed Michael Francis as chief marketing officer. Jeffrey Jones II, who most recently was a partner and president of McKinney, an advertising agency based in Durham, N.C., has taken on the role of Target’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, effective immediately. "We're very excited to welcome Jeff to the Target team," said chairman, president and chief executive officer Gregg Steinhafel.

Cos Bar is a family-owned chain of 12 beauty boutiques that carry luxury brands in many of the United States' most exclusive destinations. Now it's collaborating with Target to bring its new collection of bath and body lotions, tools, and bags into the retailer's stores beginning May 6.

During the 2011 holiday season, the top retail apps and websites combined — Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Target and Wal-Mart — reached nearly 60 percent of smartphone owners, according to Nielsen. “The majority of smartphone owners used their devices for shopping this past holiday season,” said John Burbank, president of strategic initiatives at Nielsen. “Mobile shopping has reached scale and is only going to grow as smartphone penetration continues to rise.”

Target, Costco Wholesale and Gap are among 15 retailers recognized on the Ethisphere Institute's 2012 "World's Most Ethical Companies" list. The other retailers honored were Safeway, Whole Foods Market, Starbucks Coffee Co., Patagonia, Wegmans, Marks and Spencer, Best Buy, eBay, Timberland, OfficeMax, Petco, and Ten Thousand Villages. Ethisphere evaluates hundreds of companies, naming only those that surpass their industry peers to the "World's Most Ethical Companies" list. The 2012 list features 145 companies in more than three dozen industries that show leadership in promoting ethical business standards.

Later this month, Target will complete remodels at more than 100 of its general merchandise stores where, beginning March 25, the retailer will offer a full selection of affordable and quality fresh foods.

Target announced today it's donated $37,500 in monetary support and product to assist with tornado relief efforts underway in the Central United States. The donation includes $25,000 cash for the American Red Cross to aid their efforts and an additional $12,500 that can be used either as cash or product donations to local organizations in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri.

Target, Wal-Mart and a slew of other retailers have reportedly joined the emerging battle over turning smartphones into virtual wallets. The two giant discount retailers along with about two dozen unnamed retailers are teaming up to develop a mobile-payments system in an effort to capture at least a piece of a market expected to surpass $600 billion by 2016.

Kohl's has joined a handful of other up-and-coming masters of retailing in spreading brick-and-mortar stores nationwide during the suburban building boom. Now, however, Kohl's real estate ambitions are waning as the retailer deals with the effects of online retailing and slower growth overall in its physical stores.

Target is pulling a greeting card that mocked Whitney Houston's questionable taste in men. The discount retailer announced that the card, which reads "Next time you think of dating the bad boy, consider Whitney Houston," was sold in its stores prior to Houston's death on Feb. 11th, but they began the process of removing it from their nationwide stock shortly after it was flagged as inappropriate and insensitive.

Target recently ran a mobile advertising campaign that was executed poorly and not optimized for mobile devices. Since then the retail giant has redeemed itself by mobilizing the campaign and showing that it's never too late to get back on track.