Supermarket/Grocery

Former Barnes & Noble executive Jamie Iannone was named president and CEO of Samsclub.com in a restructuring that elevates and integrates Sam’s Club’s online business into the Walmart’s Global eCommerce business unit based in California.

Iannone previously served as president of digital products at Barnes & Noble and oversaw the book seller’s Nook Media unit. He also spent seven years at eBay, earned a bachelor’s degree at Princeton and an MBA at Stanford.

Declining sales at Sears during the holiday period prompted the company to announce that it anticipates a fourth-quarter loss.

The company expects a net loss of between $250 million and $360 million for the quarter, compared to a net loss of $460 million a year earlier. Same-store sales dropped 5.7% in the quarter through Jan. 6 at Kmart, and 9.2% at U.S. Sears stores , resulting in a for a companywide decline of 7.4%.

Lindt and Sprungli has introduced a bevy of new premium chocolate offerings, with flavor combinations ranging from sweet-and-salty to delicate milk chocolate. 

The new product offerings include Lindor Coconut truffles, Classic Recipe Caramel with Sea Salt bars, special additions to the Lindt Chocolate Specialties line, and the first-ever Lindt Brownie Mixes.

Retail and consumer products industry veterans Vince Burke, Jim Gillis and Rich Juliano have founded the Burke-Gillis-Juliano Group, a global consultancy focused on the supermarket, mass retail, convenience, drug and specialty retail trade channels.

The consultancy will offer executive management, market strategy, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, business development, product marketing, trade relations and related services to leading retailers, suppliers and vendors in the United States and around the world.

Supervalu reported net earnings of $31 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2014, almost double the net earnings of $16 million reported in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. This dramatic increase came even as net sales slipped 1% to $4.1 billion from $4.5 billion.

Regional discount retailer Fred’s is making some big changes to its merchandising and operations groups to begin 2014 and has retained several firms to review strategic opportunities.

Schnuck Markets chairman and CEO Scott Schnuck plans to transfer the latter title in March to his brother, president and COO Todd Schnuck.

Todd Schnuck will become president and CEO of the family-owned supermarket chain in March, while Scott Schnuck will remain chairman and assist in the transition through September. Meanwhile, Craig Schnuck will formally retire from the company and become chairman emeritus. Todd Schnuck originally began working at the company in 1987 as treasurer and served as corporate VP and CFO before becoming president and COO.

Safeway and Giant Eagle are rolling out the inMarket Mobile to Mortar iBeacon location sensing platform at more than 150 grocery stores in Seattle, San Francisco and Cleveland, with additional retailers and markets launching in the coming months.

iBeacons are micro-location technology that use a low-energy Bluetooth signal to enable unique mobile app experiences based on the customer’s location in the store.