Mass Merchant

Las Vegas -- Those familiar blue composite panels are going up in Las Vegas.

Ikea announced that steel framing has progressed far enough that installation of the iconic blue panels has begun on its future Las Vegas store. Installing the blue panels is a construction milestone that ensures the 351,000-sq.-ft. store will open summer 2016, and it reflects the unique architectural design for which Ikea stores are known worldwide.

Hoboken, N.J. – Early results indicate Amazon.com may be getting beaten by upstart e-commerce rival Jet.com on price, but Amazon is still outdoing the new kid on the online retail block in one key area. According to data from cloud services provider Instart Logic, the Jet.com homepage takes 25% longer to load than Amazon’s homepage.

Supervalu Inc. said it is considering spinning off its Sav-A-Lot stores into a separate business as the discount chain reported a big earnings increase for the first quarter.

Net earnings soared 42% to $61 million, from $43 million in the same quarter the prior fiscal year. Cost of sales rose at a slower pace than net sales, aiding profit growth. Net sales rose 3% to $5.41 billion, from $5.26 billion.

A popular fashion doll franchise is launching exclusively at Walmart stores.

After a few years on hiatus, the core Bratz dolls, Cloe, Yasmin, Jade and Sasha, are back along with the newest member to their group of besties, Raya. Walmart will carry the newly launched collection of dolls and playsets encouraging girls to tap into their creativity and imagination to create their own worlds. Also, Walmart is unveiling a line dedicated to a favorite childhood pastime, "Sleepover Party," available exclusively at Walmart stores nationwide and on Walmart.com.

Minneapolis – Supervalu Inc. beat Wall Street expectations for profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 and also announced it is considering spinning off its Save-A-Lot grocery banner. Net earnings soared 42% to $61 million, from $43 million in the same quarter the prior fiscal year.

Cost of sales rose at a slower pace than net sales, aiding profit growth. Net sales rose 3% to $5.41 billion, from $5.26 billion.

As more shoppers increasingly shop online for a wider array of items, there's a new player in the online grocery delivery game.

Birmingham-based Shipt.com is looking to get a piece of the grocery delivery pie in cities not already served by Instacart, Deliv or other services. Shipt announced this week that it will begin grocery delivery from Publix in the Tampa Bay area in August.

The calendar may only say July, but retailers are already promoting back-to-school.  

Here are four promotional trends the folks at Market Track predict will play out this selling season:

• Retailers/e-retailers creating new mid-year “Black Friday” type events concurrent with Back to School. (e.g., Amazon's Prime Day, Target’s Black Friday in July, etc.)