Supermarket/Grocery

City of Commerce, Calif. - 99 Cents Only Stores LLC has named Jack L. Sinclair as chief merchandising officer. Sinclair will be responsible for merchandising and marketing functions.

Growth prospects for the food and consumables business at 99 Cents Only just improved considerably following the appointment of a former Walmart EVP of merchandising to a key role.

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.

Twenty-five food makers across Texas have a shot at getting their products on H-E-B shelves as part of the grocer’s innovative Primo Picks Quest for Texas Best contest.

Seattle – Everyone from mass merchandisers to dollar stores has been getting into the grocery business in recent years, and the vertical may soon have a new and very large participant.

Beijing, China - Tmall.com, an online shopping platform run by Alibaba Group, is launching same-day grocery delivery services to residents of Beijing. Beijing residents who order from Tmall’s supermarket before 11 a.m. will be eligible for the delivery service, called Tmall Supermarket.

Tmall is partnering with Cainiao, the logistics affiliate of Alibaba Group, to deliver the service, In the future, Tmall Supermarket and Cainiao plan to roll-out same-day delivery services to Shanghai and other Chinese cities.

Seattle – Last month Facebook overtook Wal-Mart in valuation, and now another digital giant has reportedly achieved the same feat. According to the Associated Press, after intense after-hours trading, which followed Amazon’s rare report of a second quarter fiscal 2015 profit, Amazon now has market capitalization of about $264 billion.

Rockville, Md. - Shifting household dynamics are changing the way Americans shop for groceries, with moms no longer always assuming this role exclusively. According to market research publisher Packaged Facts, the percentage of men who are now the primary shoppers in their households has more than doubled in the past two decades.

Months after urging its food producers to improve their animal welfare practices, Walmart has decided to expand distribution of the leading free range egg brand in the U.S.

The happy egg co. is the only U.S. egg brand that is 100% free range with a hen welfare program that covers everything from living conditions to feed to the expertise of the caregivers. To continue its mission of providing humanely produced eggs at an affordable price to consumers nationwide, the happy egg co. says it will now be available in 1,600 Walmart retail locations throughout the U.S.

The pervasiveness of smartphones is making this back-to-school season the most technology-influenced ever, and a new study from Synchrony Financial provides fresh insight on the impact digital tools are having.