Supermarket/Grocery

State College, Pa. - Consumers are spending 5% less time in supermarkets, compared to the previous year. Concurrently, the sixth annual C-Store MegaStudy from VideoMining Corp. found that shoppers' time in convenience stores increased 6% from the previous year.

VideoMining integrates behavioral data with a range of other data sources, including transaction data and exit interviews. In the C-Store MegaStudy, for example, this integration showed a correlation between time in store and average dollar basket size, which grew by 9%.

Franklin, Tenn. – Retailers lose $1.1 trillion worldwide due to inventory distortion. According to new research from IHL Group, by fixing problems such as out-of-stocks and excess inventory from overstocks, retailers could improve their revenues by 7.5%.

The combined cost of poor merchandise planning alone equals $452 billion. Inventory distortion costs retailers nearly $158 for every person on the planet, and $252.2 billion annually in North America. The Asia/Pacific region contributes 39% of all inventory distortion.

It's going to be a lot easier for consumers to make meals from recipes thanks to a new partnership between food magazines and Popcart.

Bon Appetit and Epicurious have teamed up with Popcart to make recipes "shoppable," according to Ada Age. No longer will consumers have to read a recipe and make a shopping list and head to the store.

Photo: Fred Morganthall has been named senior VP of retail divisions for The Kroger Co.

Food Lion has launched a new web site designed to make shopping, saving and planning for dinner easy for shoppers.

Cupertino, Calif. – Apple Inc. is enacting a number of significant enhancements to its Apple Pay mobile payment app, including adding support for rewards programs and store-issued credit and debit cards. During a June 8 keynote address at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay, said that retailers, including Dunkin' Donuts, Walgreens, Wegmans, and Kohl's, will support the new reward card functionality.

Franklin, Tenn. - The new EMV card payment mandate may not provide financial ROI for retailers. According to new research from IHL Group, most retailers will never recoup the expense that EMV imposes.

The Kroger Co. has named Fred Morganthall, currently president of Harris Teeter Supermarkets, as senior vice president of retail divisions for the Kroger Co.

Rod Antolock, currently Harris Teeter's executive vice president, has been named president of Harris Teeter.