Convenience Stores

Walmart is launching a new tool to give shoppers more reasons to use their Walmart credit and prepaid cards. 

The retailer is rolling out a new, simplified rewards program to bring more value to the everyday purchases customers make using the Walmart family of credit and prepaid cards. Walmart's new 3-2-1 Save cash back program will provide all qualifying cardholders in the U.S. and Puerto Rico with the opportunity to earn rewards for purchases they make, including:

The Kroger Co. is reportedly planning to expand its ClickList click-and-collect service to the Lone Star State in summer 2016. According to the Cincinnati Business Journal, Kroger will offer ClickList, which lets customers order groceries in advance and pick up them up at a predetermined time at a local store, at select stores in the Houston and Dallas markets. Those markets contain a total of 214 stores, including some in Louisiana, but the retailer intends to offer ClickList at about 20 stores in each metro area.

Walmart and its financial services partners have added a loyalty component to credit, debit and prepaid card offerings that provide an extra incentive to make online purchase.

A few months after Whole Foods Market and The Fresh Market initiated price-cutting strategies to lure more shoppers, Trader Joe's has apparently followed suit, according to a new report.

New data from Deutsche Bank indicates that prices on 77 similar items at a New York-based Trader Joe's store and nearby Whole Foods found that Trader Joe's was about 26% cheaper, a decrease from a similar analysis Deutsche Bank did in 2013.

Online delivery is a retail technology niche undergoing active evolution. Consumers are expecting a wider range of goods available in a shorter period of time than ever before. Here are three ways providers are responding:

Eliminate the Middleman

In a history-making move that would have a direct impact on the retail industry and food service sector, the state of California has moved closer to raising the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.

Consumers are buying groceries online in increasing numbers, but are following specific trends.

According to a new survey of 12,000 U.S. grocery shoppers conducted by grocery retail consultancy Brick Meets Click and sponsored by SAP hybris, the percentage of U.S. consumers that have purchased groceries online in the past 30 days nearly doubled to 21% in the fourth quarter of 2015 from 11% in 2013. Forty-one percent of consumers have purchased groceries online at some point.

Gen Z and Millennials are big on physical stores — even more so than their older counterparts.

That’s one of the findings of a new research study by insights firm iModerate in which 74% of all respondents said it is important for brands to have a physical location rather than solely selling online. Interestingly, 80% of Gen Zers and 82% of Millennials respondents said it is important, compared to 69% of Gen Xers and 65% of Boomers.

Online delivery service Instacart is launching its first expansion of 2016 – and it’s a big one.
 
Instacart is now offering deliveries in as little as one hour from Whole Foods Market, Gelson’s Market, Stater Bros. Markets, Ralphs, Smart & Final, Costco (no membership needed), Petco, and H Mart to residents of Orange County, California. Whole Foods will offer delivery via Instacart at prices that are the same as shoppers find in-stores.
 

Lafayette, La. -- Stirling Properties and CBL & Associates Properties celebrated the grand opening of Ambassador Town Center located in Lafayette, Louisiana. The center is currently 97% leased and includes either first-time locations within Lafayette or Louisiana, or both.