Strategy

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway is offering its customers the ability to earn reward points redeemable at participating Exxon or Mobil gas stations.

"Safeway listens to its shoppers, and we understand the importance of stretching grocery dollars," said Mir Aamir, president of customer loyalty and digital technologies at Safeway. "By teaming up with ExxonMobil, we're able to thank our customers with a loyalty program that makes two frequent and critical purchases lead to real savings."

NEW YORK — Ahold USA has named Mark McGowan as EVP merchandising. He will lead a merchandising team that supports Ahold USA and its four divisions: Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover and Giant Carlisle.

McGowan had previously served as EVP supply chain for Ahold USA and previously led the Boston division of Stop & Shop.

OMAHA, Neb. & ST. LOUIS — ConAgra Foods has completed its acquisition of Ralcorp Holdings. ConAgra Foods agreed to acquire Ralcorp on Nov. 26, 2012, for $90.00 in cash per share of Ralcorp common stock. The closing of the transaction follows the approval of the acquisition by Ralcorp’s shareholders on January 29, and the receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

SEATTLE — Amazon.com reported that net sales increased 22% to $21.27 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $17.43 billion in fourth quarter 2011. 

Net income decreased 45% to $97 million in the fourth quarter, or 21 cents per diluted share, compared with $177 million, or 38 cents per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2011.

NEW YORK — Limited access to healthy, affordable food choices, is an oft-cited reason for poor food habits among the nation's less fortunate. In order to address this issue, hunger relief organization Philabundance has teamed up with retail design consultancy CBX to create a prototype for a not-for-profit grocery store.

SALISBURY, N.C. — The future grocers of America will get a taste of what its like to work in the industry, thanks to a new, interactive exhibit by Food Lion on display at the Children's Museum in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Children will be able to go behind miniature-sized counters and cash registers and pretend they are checking out customers. They will also be able to experience three preparation areas to further allow them to imagine they are Food Lion associates.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Revel Touch, a technology provider in the mobile commerce space, has named Joe Davis as CEO. 

Davis previously served as president and CEO of Coremetrics (acquired by IBM) and held executive roles at Nortel, PeopleSoft and IBM. As CEO of Revel Touch, he will be responsible for driving the company’s accelerating growth.

LIVONIA, Mich. — Valassis, a provider of intelligent media delivery, has hired Silicon Valley innovator Rajat Shroff as VP product development for Brand.net, a Valassis Digital Company.

Consumer confidence in January fell to its lowest point since November 2011, according to the Conference Board.

The Conference Board’s index decreased to 58.6, down from a revised 66.7 in December. The figure was lower than forecast; Bloomberg predicted a median of 64.

The drop in confidence coincides with the 2% payroll tax increase used to fund Social Security.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Tractor Supply Company reported that net sales for the fourth quarter increased to $1.29 billion, or 3.7% over the prior year's 14-week period.

Same-store sales increased 4.7% compared with a strong 7.6% increase in the prior-year period.The same-store sales increase was driven primarily by continued strong results in key consumable, usable and edible (C.U.E.) products, principally animal- and pet-related merchandise.