Rick Bendel, Asda’s long-serving marketing director, is to move from the supermarket chain to a new role at its parent Walmart. He will be replaced as chief marketing officer of Asda by Walmart executive Stephen Smith. Mr Bendel, who has been chief marketing officer for Walmart’s international arm for the past three years, will work [...]

HEATHER Irvine is a director at Norton Rose, the law firm. SUMMIT TV: The Competition Appeals Court dismissed the review application brought by the government and the trade unions to overturn the Competition Tribunal decision to allow the Walmart/ Massmart merger on what they called “flimsy” conditions. What has been decided? HEATHER IRVINE: Essentially the [...]

Asda has appointed Stephen Smith as its new chief marketing officer. Smith currently heads up the marketing team for Walmart in China, having joined the global retail giant last July. At Asda he will take over from Rick Bendel, who is moving into a broader project-based role for Walmart. “I was delighted that Steve joined [...]

Carrefour SA (CA), the world’s second- largest retailer, shut an outlet in central China’s Henan province on orders from the local government after it falsely labeled meat sold at the store. Carrefour will focus on training employees in food handling, it said in an e-mailed statement today. The closure is temporary, the Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based retailer [...]

“Service wars across South African retailing are imminent following the Competition Appeals Court’s decision to uphold the merger of Massmart and Wal-Mart,” said Aki Kalliatakis, managing partner of The Leadership LaunchPad, a management consultancy focused on customer loyalty and radical marketing. Appeals court judge president Dennis Davis’ stamp of approval means that the R16.5 billion [...]