Sobeys

A monthly pricing survey conducted by Credit Suisse in December shows that while Walmart remains the lowest price on a basket of 60 products across two major markets the gap continues to narrow and is now at the lowest level in three years.

This is seen as an encouraging sign by those in the financial community who interpret the data as evidence of a rational pricing environment, even though from a shoppers perspective there exists less of a clear distinction between Walmart every day low prices and those of its competitors.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Building on the success of its store brands O Organics and Eating Right, Safeway is boosting its portfolio with a new line of healthy, nutritious food.

Open Nature includes more than 100 products made with 100% natural ingredients from natural sources. The first Open Nature items now are available in Safeway’s meat departments, with additional products to be added to the store brand throughout the year.

Current items up for grabs are priced between $3.99 and $5.99, the retailer said.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Safeway announced that it has formed a fund to aid the victims of the recent shooting that occurred in one of its Tucson stores.

The company launched the fund with an initial contribution of $100,000 from the Safeway Foundation, and encourages in-store contributions from Safeway customers and community members in the company’s Arizona stores.

MINNEAPOLIS - Despite an easy prior-year comparison, Target fell short of its December same-store sales guidance with a disappointing 0.9% gain. The company had forecast December comps in the low to mid single-digit range after it released November results, which saw comps advance 5.5%. Analysts were expecting the company to report a 4% December gain.

With Target set to release December sales results this Thursday, the issue isn’t whether the company’s results will be in line with expectations but the degree by which they are likely to exceed same-store sales guidance in the low- to mid-single digit range.

The time to ponder that question is when everything is going right, which pretty much seems to be the case at Target these days. The company’s stable senior leadership team has articulated a clear strategy that is being well-executed and delivering expectation-exceeding results such as a 5.5% gain in November same-store sales and third quarter earnings per share that surged 28.5% to 74 cents.

Looking for insight into promotional efforts at Walmart and other retailers? Check out the new series of reports from ECRM at a newly launched website at www.promotionalreflections.com.