Supermarket/Grocery

Kroger customers are about to find out "how low" gas prices can go with a new contest from the nation's largest supermarket chain.

With Kroger's newest #FuelPointsSweeps giveaway, customers have a chance to win free fuel for a month, not to mention pay as little as 1 cent for a gallon of gas.

Walmart and three of the nation’s largest bottled water suppliers are coming to the aid of Flint, Michigan, residents who lack access to safe drinking water after the municipal water supply became tainted with lead.

Walmart, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo are sending 176 truckloads of water to Flint – roughly 6.5 million bottles – which is an amount estimated to meet the daily needs of more than 10,000 children for the rest of the year.

Some major retailers sharply reduced their use of printed free standing inserts (FSIs) last year but the total dollar value of FSIs still grew to a record $515 billion.

The value of free standing insert (FSI) coupons increased 3.7% in 2015 to $515 billion, according to Kantar Media. However, the number of FSI pages distributed fell 8.1% as marketers cut back on pages that didn’t include a coupon. The number of coupons circulated increased nominally versus the prior year, and combined with higher face value led to growth in dollars circulated.

The need to provide a seamless customer experience is having a big impact on the types of solutions retailers are trying to implement.

According the new Retail Industry Insight benchmark report conducted by Retail Systems Research for SPS Commerce Inc., e-commerce and stores have switched places as the top growth driver for retail IT purchases. Retailers rank growing e-commerce sales as their top priority (75%) followed by improving the in-store experience (53%).

Farmingdale, New York -- Kimco Realty Corp. announced that Stew Leonard’s has opened its newest location at Airport Plaza shopping center in Farmingdale, New York. The new 60,000 sq. ft. store will be located across from the existing Stew Leonard’s Wines of Farmingdale store.

The Farmingdale location is home to Stew Leonard’s fifth store and first grocery store location on Long Island.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association has recognized the CEO of Hy-Vee Inc. with a collaborative leadership award.

Randy Edeker, chairman, CEO and president of Hy-Vee, Inc. was honored ths month with the GMA 2016 Industry Collaboration Leadership Award. Hy-Vee operates 240 stores throughout eight predominantly Midwestern states.

Photo: Marvin Ellison, CEO, J.C. Penney

Executives from Sprouts and Albertson’s/Safeway are among the newly appointed board members at the Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC).

The Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC) elected four new board members during its annual January meeting in LaQuinta, Calif. The newly elected directors are: