The fallout from Amazon.com Inc.’s agreement to acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. is just beginning. But the implications are already clear: This transaction, if completed, will shake up the mass retailing community as nothing has done in years, if not decades. Parallels do not come readily to mind. Walgreen Co.’s merger with Alliance Boots GmbH
The e-commerce blitzkrieg that has transformed the retail landscape in so many merchandise categories has yet to upend the grocery business, but signs are emerging that Web-based merchants involved in the sector are steadily gaining traction. A new report from sales and marketing firm Acosta indicates that, while most people still prefer to shop for
Time is not the friend of traditional fast-moving consumer packaged goods retailers. Category by category, share point by share point, sales of consumer products continue to migrate to digital alternatives or services such as click-and-collect and auto replenishment that actually keep shoppers out of the store. No wonder mass market retail executives are looking for
Food and beverage companies have spent more than a century figuring out exactly where and how to present their products in the store to best appeal to shoppers. Since the first self-service grocery store opened just over a century ago, brands have run experiments, testing new types of displays and locations in the store looking
Item and price have been the keys to retail success for almost a century. Sell high-demand items at a better price than your competition and you were likely to prosper. But, things have changed — permanently. Today values have replaced value as the organizing principle of commerce and society. Millennial and Gen Z shoppers
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) announced that it is scrapping its plans to buy Rite Aid Corp. and instead will acquire only a portion of the drug store chain, after the original takeover effort seemed doomed by the Federal Trade Commission. The new agreement replaces a previous merger deal with Rite Aid
GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General Corp. has tapped Jason Reiser as executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. The retailer also named Carman Wenkoff executive vice president and chief information officer. Reiser, who had been serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Vitamin Shoppe, was slated to join Dollar General on
MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. is testing a household essentials delivery service that is said to have cheaper shipping and shorter delivery times than those available to Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Pantry customers. The service, called Target Restock, launched late last month as a pilot in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for the retailer’s RedCard holders. Target said
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — More than 500 suppliers flocked to Walmart stores last month to pitch their “made in the USA” products at the retail giant’s fourth annual Open Call event. Guest speakers at the event included Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who lauded Walmart for helping to provide many jobs in the state, which enjoys a
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Southeastern Grocers LLC said it is searching for a president and chief executive officer to succeed Ian McLeod, who announced he would be leaving the company June 30 to take another job. Anthony Hucker, the company’s chief operating officer, agreed to assume the roles of president and CEO on an interim basis.
CINCINNATI — Kroger Co. is expanding its Our Brands lines to offer more value, variety and quality. The new products will supplement the company’s more than 30,000 Our Brands items, including food, beauty, personal care, pet and household essentials, many of which are made at one of Kroger’s 38 U.S. production plants. “Our Brands sold
WASHINGTON — U.S. retailers collectively sustained a $48.9 billion hit from theft and other inventory shrinkage in 2016, according to the annual National Retail Security Survey. That’s an 8% increase from a year earlier and came as budget constraints prompted some retailers to cut spending on security, according to the survey, released last month by