Supermarket/Grocery

Foodland Super Market, Hawaii's largest locally owned and operated grocery retailer, recently launched a mobile app for both iPhone and Android. The app, built in partnership with mobile commerce provider DoubleBeam, was rolled out Jan. 29 and has seen a tremendous customer response with more than 19,000 downloads in the first three weeks.

Advantage Sales & Marketing (ASM) has acquired San Antonio, Texas-based Longhorn Food Brokers to strengthen its fresh food focus in the Lone Star state.

“The addition of Longhorn will provide complimentary resources and broader support for our clients and customers in the fresh category,” said Tanya Domier, Advantage Sales & Marketing CEO. “The Longhorn acquisition continues our strategy of building a national footprint for perishable-focused retail and headquarter services by partnering with the regional leaders in these categories.”

Kronos Foods, a privately held, leading manufacturer of gyros and other Mediterranean and specialty foods, has named Howard Eirinberg as the company's CEO.

Eirinberg, who succeeds long-time CEO Michael Austin, now chairman of Kronos Food, joined the company in 2011 to lead all sales and marketing initiatives for the company's wide-ranging operations in meat, bakery, dairy, dessert, restaurant and distribution. Eirinberg is credited for growing sales by launching new products like chicken shawarma into the club and foodservice channels.

What’s next for Walmart under the leadership of new CEO Doug McMillon is the focus of the Spring edition of Walmart Supplier News.

Change is in the air at Walmart as the Doug McMillon era begins. No company makes a change at the top out of a desire to maintain the status quo, and McMillon has already indicated there are changes to come.

Finance executives who participated in professional services firm BDO’s annual CFO survey expect 8.2% growth in online sales this year and not surprisingly plan to increase investments in mobile capabilities.

Mobile and online sales will continue to drive growth for retailers in 2014, the firm said. However, now that e-commerce has firmly taken root in the retail industry, growth is beginning to stabilize. As a result, about 64% of CFOs said online sales will grow in the coming year, a figure below the 74% who expressed that sentiment the prior year.

Many retailers have pointed to a persistent and severe winter for weak holiday and fourth-quarter sales. But according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), retail sales rebounded in February.

The NRF said that February retail sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, increased 0.2% adjusted month-to-month and 2.3% unadjusted year-over-year.

National Retail Federation SVP David French told the House Judiciary Committee in a letter this week that legislation is needed to level the playing field between local retailers and out-of-state competitors, as the NRF continues to push Congress to pass legislation that would require online and remote sellers to collect state and local sales taxes.

Dannon Light & Fit Greek Yogurt, Tide Pods and Monster Energy Ultra were recognized as New Product Pacesetters this week as Information Resources (IRI) unveiled the best new products of 2013 at its annual summit.