Supply Chain & Merchandising

The Marketplace at Potomoc Towne Center in Ranson, West Virginia, has been acquired for $35.9 million by Heidenberg Properties Group and Strategic Real Estate Partners (SERP) in a joint venture deal. The seller was Carl Freeman Companies of Rockville, Maryland.  

In the age of evolving consumer preferences enabled by digital technologies, customers continue demanding convenience and ease of use while shopping online. Additionally, they want instant gratification of purchasing items in the store and, increasingly, a combination of the two. To this effect, the buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS) option, or click and collect experience, has become a key component of customer satisfaction, loyalty and revenue growth.  

Amazon’s third annual Prime Day was its biggest shopping event yet — and the biggest day in its history for signing up new Prime members.  

Consumers are feeling so positive about Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market that more plan to shop there in the future.   This was according to the “Amazon Shopper Sentiment Report” from ChargeItSpot. The study collected responses from over 900 shoppers at malls across the country, using its integrated survey capability, QuickPoll.  

The brand best known for its smiling pink whale logo is improving pricing, design and buying decisions by using an innovative data source.   By partnering with First Insight, Vineyard Vines will leverage the company’s online social engagement tools to gather real-time product pricing and sentiment data from its customers. This information will then be analyzed by First Insight’s predictive models.   

Retailers who wait until late summer this year to launch back-to-school deals are only hurting themselves, because early shoppers will spend more than late starters.    That's according to Deloitte's "2017 Back-to-School Survey," which also detected a big shift in where back-to-school will be shopping this year. One thing that hasn't changed: In-store still prevails.   

Captain D’s, which introduced fast-casual seafood to Tennessee nearly 50 years ago, continues to expand at a quick pace.   The Nashville-based chain announced this week that four new locations are planned for the Mobile-Pensacola market in the next five years and five new stores are planned for San Antonio. It added that a new franchisee will open a location in the Jackson, Tennessee, market this year, with more to follow.  

The Kroger Co. has named a veteran of discount grocer Aldi to Kroger's own low-cost division.    Kroger on Wednesday appointed Liz Ferneding as president of Ruler, effective July 31. She succeeds Paul Bowen, who retired in May.