Inside The Industry

Retail

As of Thursday, May 28, 2020

The Dallas Market Center announced that its Apparel & Accessories Market will run June 23– 26 and its Men’s Market would run Aug. 14–18. The Texas-based market center reopened for business May 4 working with health officials to support health and safety, said Cindy Morris, the Dallas Market Center’s president and chief executive officer. Market-center executives were mindful that retailers might have concerns. “We understand that for many retailers their first steps are reopening their doors, restarting their sales and then making careful decisions about visiting the marketplace. But Dallas has clear advantages that balance good business with good health,” said Eva Walsh, the market’s executive vice president of retail development.

Target Corp. announced that it would be participating in a new retailing service produced by the social-media platform Instagram. Named Instagram Checkout, the application allows shoppers to make purchases on Instagram without leaving the page where they were shopping. In the past, shoppers had to leave Instagram to make a purchase. Target consumers can specifically visit the retailer’s Instagram pages @Target and @TargetStyle. Instagram is owned by Facebook, Inc. The company’s Facebook division recently introduced a new digital-commerce application called Facebook Store.

Talkshoplive, a live video service with a commerce platform, announced that it will introduce a pay-to-enter live-streaming service. The service will enable people producing Talkshoplive events to monetize their events. Page owners can use this service to keep track of inventory and cash in real time as they sell products. Viewers will be able to purchase products and also make donations, according to co-founders Bryan Moore and Tina Moore.

Mossimo Giannulli, a California designer who shot to stardom during the 1990s, agreed to plead guilty for his involvement in the Operation Varsity Blues college-admissions bribery scandal that became national news in 2019. His wife, Lori Loughlin, who starred in the sitcom “Full House,” also pled guilty to attempting to fraudulently gain admission to the University of Southern California for their daughters. A formal sentencing will be announced in August. Giannulli might serve five months in prison, pay a $250,000 fine and complete 250 hours of community service. Loughlin faces two months in prison, a $150,000 fine and 100 hours of community service.

The Afterpay payments platform announced May 26 that Elana Rubin would transition from the publicly traded company’s interim chair to the chair of its board. Anthony Eisen, Afterpay’s chief executive officer and managing director, said that Rubin’s selection was made after an extensive global search. The company also announced that Sharon Rothstein was appointed as an independent non–executive director of Afterpay. She will join the board on June 1. Rothstein presently sits on the board of Yelp Inc. and is also an operating partner at Stripes Group, a growth equity firm. She formerly served as a global chief marketing officer for Starbucks Corp. and as a senior vice president of marketing at Sephora. Afterpay is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol APT.