News Briefs

Casey’s General Stores has completed the largest deal in its 50-year-plus history.

The Iowa-based convenience store chain said that it closed on its previously announced acquisition of Fikes Wholesale, owner of CEFCO Convenience Stores, on Nov. 1. The $1.145 billion acquisition will bring 148 additional stores to Texas, considered a highly strategic market for Casey’s, as well as 50 stores in the southern states of Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. With the acquisition, Casey’s has a total store count of approximately 2,900 stores.

“This acquisition is the largest in Casey’s history and in line with the strategic plan laid out at the June 2023 Investor Day,” said Darren Rebelez, president, CEO and board chair of Casey’s. “We are thrilled to complete this transaction, welcome Fikes to the Casey’s team, and look forward to bringing Casey’s pizza to these high-volume stores.”

Fikes Wholesale and CEFCO stores were founded as a family-owned and operated business in 1952, starting as a single “filling station” in Cameron, Texas.

“The acquisition by Casey’s, especially given its reputation and shared values, is an exciting development for Fikes and our employees,” said Raymond Smith, president of Fikes and CEFCO, in July when the acquisition was announced. "I am happy that the CEFCO stores will join a top convenience retailer that will reinvest in the stores and eventually bring Casey’s pizza to many of our customers as well as provide professional opportunities for our employees.”

Founded more than 50 years ago, Casey’s has grown to become the third-largest convenience store retailer and the fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States.  

A new survey reveals the ways consumers are leveraging artificial intelligence to aid their e-commerce activities.

According to the survey of more than 1,000 consumers conducted on behalf of online coupon platform CouponCabin, over 96% of respondents are at least somewhat familiar with AI, with nearly 82% indicating that the technology is already a part of their lives in some way.

Nearly 54% of respondents said they notice AI while online shopping, and roughly 33% find it most helpful to online shopping. Here’s how consumers use AI when it comes to online shopping:

• 54.48% used AI to find the products they want faster.
• 43.93% used AI to search for savings at specific stores.
• 42.82% used AI to find deals for a specific item they wanted.
• 31.17% used AI to show the products they might be interested in.
• 29.57% used AI to find out when a sold-out product might be restocked.
• 25.03% used AI to research the products they’re interested in.
• 20.37% used AI to find dupes of the product they want.

In other findings, 60% of respondents believe AI is trustworthy and nearly 89% believe that AI will become even more popular over the next few years. 

[READ MORE: Salesforce: AI can help retailers meet customer expectations]

This survey was conducted on behalf of CouponCabin on Wed., Oct. 16, 2024, among 1,036 consumers.

Paul Kurzawa, a 20-year veteran of the commercial real estate and entertainment industries, has taken over as president of Centennial, owner-operator of malls such as MainPlace in California and Liberty Center in Ohio.

Most recently the COO of CenterCal properties, Kurzawa ended a seven-year stint at Caruso in 2013 in that same position. From 2013 to 2016, he served as the global head of retail development at DreamWorks animation. 

“Paul has deep industry experience – both mall and open-air,” said Dallas-based Centennial’s founder and CEO Steven Levin. “He also has excellent industry relationships and a wealth of operations expertise, making him the right choice to lead Centennial forward.”

He replaces Whitney Livingston, who has moved on to the International Council of Shopping Centers as its COO. 

“Whitney has been instrumental in helping us acquire, transform, and create some of the most dynamic destinations in retail real estate,” said Levin . “She has grown our portfolio, elevated our talent pool, and bolstered profits for our own organization as well as those we manage for others. Whitney will be sorely missed.”

An app that connects shoppers with fresh produce, meat and other groceries at up to 50% off has been redesigned.

Flashfood is releasing version 3.0 of its app, which offers deals on groceries nearing their sell-by date with the goal of diverting food waste from landfills. New and revised features include a refreshed onboarding process, as well as a new map screen that lets users browse multiple stores in one view, with vertical and horizontal scrolling.

A new card-style display also makes it easy to compare deals at different stores at a glance. In addition, a single React Native codebase that replaces previous separate Android and iOS codebases.

This enables Flashfood to develop and update both iOS and Android apps more efficiently while providing a consistent experience across platforms and enabling faster delivery of new features the future. 

A simplified SNAP EBT payment method provides a clear SNAP EBT subtotal on the checkout screen to make it easier to track budget before paying. Retailers operating in the grocery space that have piloted and deployed Flashfood in the past few years include Save Mart Companies, Giant Food, Meijer, Hy-Vee and SpartanNash.

"Our customers have been asking for a new Flashfood app for a long time and we could not be more excited to deliver it," said Jordan Schenck, president and COO at Flashfood. "Our growth and success to-date have not been because our app was the best in the business, but because we deliver real value for our shoppers. Moving forward, Flashfood will offer both: affordable, fresh groceries through an excellent app experience.”

The new Flashfood app is now available on the Apple Store and Google Play.

Publix reported gains in earnings and sales for its third quarter.

Net earnings increased 31.7% to $1.1 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 28, compared to $833 million in 2023. Earnings per share increased to $0.33 per share, up from $0.25 per share in 2023.  

Sales rose 4.9% to $14.6 billion. Comparable store sales increased 3.4%. The company estimates sales for the quarter increased 0.6% due to the impact of Hurricane Helene.

“During the last several weeks, many of our associates and customers have faced difficult times with Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” said Publix CEO Kevin Murphy. “I’m so proud of our associates for the comfort they bring to our customers and their fellow associates.”

Effective Nov. 1, Publix’s stock price increased from $16.46 per share to $18.05 per share. (Publix stock is not publicly traded and is made available for sale only to current Publix associates and members of its board of directors.)

The grocer's sales for the nine months ended Sept. 28, 2024 were $44.2 billion, a 4.3% increase from $42.4 billion in 2023. Comparable store sales for the nine months increased 2.5%.

Publix, the largest employee-owned company in the U.S. with more than 255,000 associates, currently operates 1,383 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky.

Fashion retailer Lacoste is utilizing a new AI tool to help spot counterfeit products.

The France-based retailer has partnered with Cypheme, a French technology company, to deploy Vrai AI, an anti-counterfeit technology that can detect fake products based on just a picture of a specific detail of a product or label through visual analysis. Lacoste is the first company to utilize the technology, according to Cypheme.

The technology, which will be used by employees in Lacoste’s warehouses, examines microscopic visual details of a specific feature of the product and can differentiate a real from a fake, in a similar way to how a human expert would. For Lacoste, Cypheme’s Vrai AI tool uses the famous crocodile logo to identify fake items among a wide variety of Lacoste products.

[READ MORE: Four Ways AI is Humanizing the Retail Experience]

“Today, according the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, counterfeiting represents 2.5% of the world’s trade, or $461 billion, and puts low-quality goods on the market, generating risks for health, well-being, security and safety,” said Hugo Garcia-Cotte, CEO of Cypheme. “Implementing anti-counterfeiting technologies helps brands combat piracy, secure operations, enhance revenue and improve customer engagement, however they do not stop at just that, they have a much larger impact, helping shape safer societies overall.” 

Founded in 1933, Lacoste operates 76 stores in the United States.