Supermarket/Grocery

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Pepsi has unveiled a new single-serve bottle, marking its first design update since 1996.  The new bottle will be rolled out in markets nationwide starting in April in 16-ounce and 20-ounce packaging, with full conversion taking a few years. 

Sam’s Club this week opened a new 136,000-sq.-ft. club adjacent to a Walmart supercenter in La Marque, Texas.

The club, built in 1991, was relocated from neighboring Texas City. The communities are located along I-45 southeast of Houston en route to the coastal community of Galveston. The new club, Sam’s first of the year, is one of an expected 15 to 20 new units this year that mark Sam’s most aggressive expansion in roughly a decade. Sam’s ended last year with 620 clubs and sales of $56.4 billion.

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu announced that Janel Haugarth who will remain with the company as EVP and president of independent business and supply chain services. The announcement comes as Sam Duncan, Supervalu president and chief executive officer, continues finalizing his leadership team following the sale of five retail banners to AB Acquisition LLC, a transaction that was completed on March 21.

Coupon publisher News America Marketing has expanded its mobile application to the iPhone following last year’s introduction on the iPad.

Mobile coupons still have a long way to go before unseating the conventional print circular, but innovative solutions such as the SmartSource Xpress, or SSX, are helping accelerate the pace of change by enabling brands to put coupons directly into shoppers’ hands via their mobile device.

LOS ANGELES — U.K.-based Tesco has lost up to $2 billion in its failed Fresh & Easy California venture, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times — Tesco had placed the troubled grocer on the sales bloc in December following the departure of Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason. 

The retailer's struggles can be traced to labor unions and an ambitious investment into an 850,000-sq.-ft. distribution center that placed pressure on the 200-store chain to expand rapidly, according to the LA Times report. 

New York -- In another sign that British retail giant Tesco is reconsidering its U.S. Fresh & Easy division, the company sent an email sent to shoppers in which it acknowledged that the grocer doesn't know "if Tesco will continue to own the company," the Los Angeles Times reported.
 
Fresh & Easy spokesman Brendan Wonnacott said that Tesco is still reviewing its American chain, and will make an update in April as part of the company's full-year results, the report said.

The recent announcement that retail giant Walmart plans to open more than 100 of the brand’s Neighborhood Market stores in 2013, and as many as 500 Neighborhood Market locations over the next few years, has industry analysts and observers talking. They have my attention, as well.

New York -- Subway, Google, and Target, took the top three spots in “Social Currency Impact Study 2013” from global consulting firm Vivaldi Partners.

Minneapolis -- Supervalu announced appointments to its executive team, including Janel Haugarth who will remain with the company as EVP and president of independent business and supply chain services. The announcement comes as Sam Duncan, Supervalu president and chief executive continues finalizing his leadership team following the sale of five retail banners to Cerberus-led investment group AB Acquisition LLC, a transaction that was completed on March 21.

In other appointments:

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu has completed the sale of its Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Market stores and related Osco and Sav-on in-store pharmacies to AB Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of a Cerberus Capital Management-led investor consortium, in a stock deal valued at $3.3 billion, including $100 million in cash and $3.2 billion in debt assumption.