Retail

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in February 2013 versus February 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. The home improvement retailers have continued to reverse trends from 2013. Home Depot doubled its page count and slightly decreased ads per page, leading to longer, slightly less dense circulars. Despite this, Home Depot still ran less than a quarter of the number of pages that Lowe’s ran, largely due to Lowe’s running three circulars to Home Depot’s one.

The nation’s leading home improvement retailer is no stranger to e-commerce, but its efforts to offer a more robust omnichannel experience took a major step forward recently with the opening of the company’s first direct fulfillment center.

Weis Markets has promoted Kurt Schertle, previously the company’s EVP, to COO.

Ahold USA has appointed Tom Lenkevich as president of the company’s Giant/Martin's division, effective March 4, reporting to Bhavdeep Singh, EVP operations, Ahold USA.  

The South by Southwest interactive/music/lifestyle event held each year in Austin, Texas, will see leading workwear brand Dickies team up with Amazon to host a lineup of leading musical acts.

The companies have created The Dickie’s Roadhouse presented by Amazon at the iconic Austin establishment known as Banger’s on Rainey Street near the convention center. Headliners at the event include Ludacris and Until the Ribbon Breaks.

Publix’s sales for the fourth quarter of 2013 boosted the company’s stock price from $30 per share to $30.15 per share.

The company reported sales of $7.4 billion, a 5.3% increase from last year’s $7 billion. Comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter of 2013 increased 4.3%.

Net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2013 were $422 million, compared to $392.8 million in 2012, an increase of 7.4%. Earnings per share for the fourth quarter increased to $0.54 for 2013, up from $0.50 per share in 2012.

Bartell Drugs is celebrating healthy and beautiful living during its Spring Health & Beauty Event, being held now at Bartell locations in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

Between March 2 and 15, activities at selected locations will include health clinics, free beauty “mini makeover” demonstrations and hair styling tips by Conair, and product samples ranging from cosmetics to dental care.

Oral-B has launched of an oral care app for children called the Disney Magic Timer App by Oral-B.

Created in collaboration with Disney and powered by DreamPlay, the oral care app is designed to helps kids increase brushing time, which, according to the company, is identified by dentists as an area of concern and improvement for children.