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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Groups Move to Put More Produce on Restaurant Plates
The Produce Marketing Association, National Restaurant Association and International Foodservice Distributors Association joined forces earlier this year to identify opportunities to increase fresh produce use in foodservice to promote healthy…
Really Knowing Where It Comes From
In a move to increase its transparency to consumers, Asda, Wal-Mart’s U.K. subsidiary, has persuaded some of its suppliers and head office staff to perform their day-to-day activities in front…
Kroger Looks to Manufacture Store Brand Opportunities
The trend in grocery retailing is for merchants to contract out production for private label items. One of the exceptions would be Kroger, which today manufactures roughly half of its…
Keeping Female Workers Happy On the Job
Economist, founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy and author of the upcoming book Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up When Business Is Down, Sylvia Ann Hewlett believes American companies…
BrainTrust Query: In-Store Text Messaging – A Real Life Story
“Text the word ‘tent’ to 55657,” the PA system said, “and you will receive 20 percent off one item, on your shopping trip right now.” What has your experience…
Debating Bake Off/Bake On
Today, only 36 of roughly 2,100 Dunkin’ Donuts in the Northeast make doughnuts from scratch in stores. Are stores being short-sighted by focusing on the savings of bake-off operations rather…
PL Buyer: Organic Store Brands Save the Day
After posting double-digit gains during each of the past five years, the organic segment appears to have run out of steam. But according to The Nielsen Co., both unit and…
Retailers Try to Head Off Value-Added Tax
Retailers have long opposed value-added tax (VAT) proposals. Now, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has gone on record as being against a proposed VAT that would help pay for…
Analyst: Look to Wal-Mart to Turn Food Deserts Into Oases
Farmers markets are not the answer to bringing nutritious food to poor towns and neighborhoods in the U.S., according to an agricultural policy analyst at a libertarian think tank. Do…
BI-LO Accepts Food Lion Offer
Delhaize Group has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent to have its Food Lion division acquire most of BI-LO’s assets for $425 million in cash. What do you think…
RSR Research: Localize, But Not Empower? The Role of Today’s Store Manager
At a technology event last week, one “retail focused” CIO panel discussed advances in retail business intelligence (BI). But when the CIOs were asked about making “actionable information” available in…
Outlet Centers Gaining Market Share
While most other channels struggle with growing vacancies, outlet malls are holding onto most tenants and may have seen an increase over the last six months. How should outlet centers…
Online Tracking Bugging Consumers
According to a new survey, two-thirds of Americans object to online tracking and object even more after being told exactly how they are being tracked. The survey comes as lawmakers…
BrainTrust Query: Localization and Limited Buys
Back in the early ’80s, J.C. Penney was the only retailer of its size that maintained a decentralized buying structure. By 2000, Penney began moving toward a centralized structure as…
Dear Customer: Please Buy Something
George Anderson recently opened his mail to find a letter from a local men’s retailer. Getting a mailing from this particular merchant is not unusual but the direct tone of…
Call for Regulation of Nutritional Rating Systems
A group dedicated to fighting obesity in the province of Quebec is calling on the Canadian government to regulate various nutritional rating systems that it says confuse consumers. Have the…
Starbucks Marketing Via Taste Tests: Crazy Like A Fox
This week Starbucks’ Via instant coffee arrived and the chain is expecting 10 million consumers to visit its 7,500 company-run cafes to participate in a taste test this weekend. What…
CVS Transforming Longs
As a chain that has grown primarily through acquisitions in recent years, CVS’s current big project is remodeling 541 former Longs Drug Store locations into CVS pharmacies. Has CVS’s experience…
Bass Pro Shops Doubles as Tourist Attraction
Many retailers talk about making the shopping experience more entertaining for consumers. For Bass Pro Shops, fun doesn’t even begin to explain the experience as the chain has grown into…
Creating the Homework Machine
Jay Harris, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Charles Komar & Sons, recently wrapped a children’s book from 1959, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and “pizza stress” parties into a…
Survey to Gauge Public Perception of Target
For years Target has been lauded for understanding just exactly what it stands for and what that means to consumers. Now, it appears, the company is a little less certain…
