DIRECT HIT: Federated Direct, Federated Department Stores’ direct-to-consumer division, appointed Marilyn Carracino as senior vice president for merchandising of Bloomingdale’s Direct. She was at Saks Fifth Avenue as senior vice president of Saks Folio and saksfifthavenue.com. She succeeds Rebecca Dannenfelser, who moved within the corporation to Rich’s/Lazarus/Goldsmith’s.

INTIMATE OPERATORS: Intimate Brands Inc.’s Bath & Body Works division installed Ken Stevens as chief operating officer, a new position. He reports to Beth Pritchard, president and ceo of BBW, who will be able to “better focus my time and attention on the merchandising, product development and creative aspects of the brand.” Stevens was most recently president and chief operating officer of the marketing firm InChord Communications. Likewise, BBW’s White Barn Candle Co. unit has named Rick Payne as chief operating officer, also a new post. Payne had been executive vice president of operations and administration at BBW and now reports to Christiane Michaels, White Barn’s president.

THEY’LL GET BACK TO YOU: E-tailers are delivering packages in a timely fashion, but they’ve yet to figure out how to respond to cybershoppers’ online queries promptly. A survey taken last month by Jupiter Media Metrix found just 30 percent of B2C sites were able to answer questions within six hours after shoppers posed them. The result follows a November JMM poll in which 57 percent of consumers said the speed with which online queries are answered affects their decision to buy things at a Web site.