Retail

True Value's Mobile Order App for smartphones is putting more power into the hands of retailers, according to the co-op.

The True Value mobile ordering app, which began as a concept about 18 months ago, is now in its sixth month of operation. It's in use at about 1,800 retailers making thousands of orders, said Rosalee Hermans, head of information technology for True Value.

AB Acquisition LLC, which operates Albertson’s LLC and New Albertson’s Inc., has appointed Rick Navarro, who had been the company’s CFO since its inception in 2006, as chief administrative officer. Succeeding Navarro as the company’s CFO is former Nash Finch executive Robert Dimond.

In his new role, Navarro will oversee the IT, legal, business development, human resources and public affairs functions.

Bi-Lo Holdings and Delhaize Group have received approval from the Federal Trade Commission to proceed with the transaction in which Bi-Lo Holdings will acquire substantially all of the stores in the Sweetbay, Harveys and Reid’s supermarket chains from Delhaize.

Kroger has promoted Dennis Gibson to president of the QFC division. He succeeds Joe Fey, who was named president of Kroger's Mid-Atlantic division in January.

Gibson has been serving as VP merchandising in Kroger's Columbus division.

Although the Home Depot’s overall sales missed analysts' expectations, the retailer said the calendar shift, which resulted in one fewer week in the fourth quarter compared to the prior-year quarter, affected its results.  

The world's largest home improvement retailer reported fourth-quarter total sales of $17.7 billion, down 3% from the same quarter last year, which benefited from an extra week in the calendar. On a 13-week basis, the company's sales actually increased 3.9%.

Amazon customers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany can now buy, spend and earn Amazon Coins on their Android phones and tablets. Previously available for use exclusively on Kindle Fire tablets, Amazon Coins can now be used to buy the latest apps, purchase extra lives within Candy Crush or unlock Red’s amazing Super Roaster in Angry Birds GO directly from their Android devices.

Since Office Depot completed its merger transaction with OfficeMax Nov. 5, 2013, the company has been aggressively executing its integration plan. The company’s fourth quarter results for the period ended Dec. 28, 2013 include OfficeMax’s operations, which generated $939 million of sales.

Roam, an Ingenico company and a leading mobile commerce platform provider, has expanded its mPOS solutions to include chip and PIN acceptance with the RP750x mobile card reader.

The new cloud-based solution is fully compatible with Roam’s mobile commerce platform, which supports new mPOS players with all mobile card acceptance types: magnetic stripe, NFC, chip and sign and chip and PIN.

Features of the RP750x include: