OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Dayton, Ohio -- Retail design firm Interbrand Design Forum has announced seven new hires to support its continued growth. Staff additions include three new members to the environmental design team, a fixture specialist and several supporting staff members.

Ryan Slicer has been named Senior Environmental Designer. Previously he worked with WD Partners.

Amanda Handermann joins as an Environmental Designer. Before coming to Interbrand Design Forum she co-founded the Wig Wam Collaborative, a multi-disciplinary freelance design team.

Washington, D.C. -- In a settlement agreement with the U.S. Labor Department, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to improve safety conditions for employees who use trash compactors and cleaning chemicals at 2,857 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in 28 states.

The retailer will also pay a $190,000 fine to fix hazards uncovered during an Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection at a store in Rochester, N.Y.
 

Itasca, Ill. -- Jewel-Osco has appointed Scott Hays as VP operations for the Chicagoland supermarket chain.

Most recently a district manager with Albertsons LLC’s Southern division, Hays will lead the operations team to support Jewel-Osco’s marketing and merchandising initiatives, including the company’s upcoming remodels and opening their five newly acquired Dominick’s locations.

New York -- Tween apparel retailer Delia’s has hired Daphne Smith as the company’s executive VP operations, reporting to CEO Tracy Gardner.

Smith was previously with J. Crew for 16 years, working in various roles including senior VP of direct. She has spent the past 18 months at New York & Company as the company’s senior VP e-commerce.

Waban, Mass. – Amazon.com was the top-ranked company across 19 industries in the 2013 Web Experience Ratings from Temkin Group. Amazon.com had a score of 77%, almost 21 percentage points higher than the retail industry average.

Other retailers in the top 10 included eBay, tied for fifth place at 70%, and QVC, tied for eighth place at 69%. Taco Bell and Kmart earned ratings that were at least 15 points below the retail industry average. Old Navy was the only retailer to have a double-digit score increase from last year.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Forever 21 has tapped workforce management solution-provider Kronos Inc. for a global solution to address multinational needs and standardize the specialty retailer’s brand experience delivery across the world.

Indianapolis – Almost eight-in-10 (78%) marketers report feeling pressure to become more data-driven, but only a little more than a third of companies (36%) say they routinely use data-driven marketing to customize messages and offers, in order to improve customer experience and campaign performance. Teradata’s Data-Driven Marketing Survey 2013 also indicates within two years more than 80% of marketers will have implemented or begun projects that automate data quality, performance management and marketing workflow processes.

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney has named Debra Berman as senior VP marketing. Berman previously served as VP marketing strategy and engagement at Kraft Foods Group since 2009.