OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. announced that Timothy Massa will be promoted to group VP human resources and labor relations.

Massa, 47, currently serves as VP of corporate human resources, talent development. In this expanded role, he will take responsibility for labor relations when Paul Heldman, executive VP, secretary and general counsel, retires in May.

New York – PriceGrabber and StellaService are launching a partnership where PriceGrabber will display StellaService's online retailer ratings and customer service performance data on PriceGrabber.com. In addition, PriceGrabber will act as a distribution partner for StellaService to its network of digital publishers.

Research Triangle Park, N.C. -- ChannelAdvisor Digital Marketing now offers support for Google Merchant Promotions so retailers can advertise special offers within Google product listing ads, and ChannelAdvisor’s new Portfolio Bidder predicts optimal bids to help maximize revenue for online retailers and manufacturers.  

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. highlighted its use of technology and innovation to bridge the growing digital world with its physical stores at the company’s annual meeting with investors. In new initiatives, the retailer is expanding its reserve in-store service to all U.S. Gap stores by the end of the second quarter, enabling online and mobile shoppers to now reserve items at more than 1,000 Gap and Banana Republic store locations.

New York - Retailers are preparing for a strong Easter shopping season, with shipments of “Easter” related items up more than 22% from 2013. According to analysis of shipments from December to February (the time when retailers stock their shelves for Easter) from global trade data provider Panjiva shows that U.S. retailers recorded a total of 4,610 Easter-related shipments during this period in 2013-2014, compared to 3,772 in 2012-13.

Washington, D.C. - The National Retail Federation told a congressional panel on April 16 that the retail industry is committed to safeguarding and protecting consumer data and information from cybercriminals and hackers. Tom Litchford, NRF VP for retail technologies, testified before a field hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies, where he outlined specific steps that the nation’s retailers are pursuing and implementing to identify, prevent and combat cyber attacks.

Brentwood, Tenn. -- Tractor Supply Company announced that Lee Downing has been promoted to executive VP store operations, effective April 14. In conjunction with his promotion, he will assume added leadership responsibilities for the company's real estate team.

In addition to leading the store operations and store support administration teams, Downing will be responsible for the strategic new store site selection, facilitation of store openings and ongoing maintenance, in addition to other real estate functions.

San Francisco - Banana Republic has named fashion designer Marissa Webb as creative director and executive VP of design, effective April 28. She will be responsible for guiding the brand’s overall creative direction, as well as leading global product design for Banana Republic women’s, men’s, and accessories.