Distribution

Ace is the place with the helpful hardware store, and the retailer is extending its classic motto to the digital realm.

As an independently-owned retail cooperative, Oak Brook, Illinois-based Ace Hardware Corp. operates more than 4,400 stores and a distribution network of 14 retail support center across the U.S. The company leverages this physical footprint to help meet the needs of online shoppers.

Ace is the place with the helpful hardware folks and now the retailer is extending its classic motto to the digital realm.

As an independently-owned retail cooperative, Oak Brook, Illinois-based Ace Hardware Corp. operates more than 4,400 stores and a distribution network of 14 retail supply centers (RSCs) across the U.S. The company leverages this physical footprint to help meet the needs of online shoppers.

The Kroger Co. is making a “meaningful” investment in specialty natural/organic grocery chain Lucky’s Market that could expand the supermarket giant’s product assortment.

Kroger did not disclose the size of its stake in Lucky’s, which is based in Boulder, Colorado, and operates 17 stores in 13 states throughout the Midwest and Southeast U.S. Lucky’s stores average 30,000-sq.-ft. and are laid out to resemble an indoor farmers market, and also offer an assortment of prepared foods.

Online delivery is a retail technology niche undergoing active evolution. Consumers are expecting a wider range of goods available in a shorter period of time than ever before. Here are three ways providers are responding:

Eliminate the Middleman

The Kroger Co. is reportedly planning to expand its ClickList click-and-collect service to the Lone Star State in summer 2016. According to the Cincinnati Business Journal, Kroger will offer ClickList, which lets customers order groceries in advance and pick up them up at a predetermined time at a local store, at select stores in the Houston and Dallas markets. Those markets contain a total of 214 stores, including some in Louisiana, but the retailer intends to offer ClickList at about 20 stores in each metro area.

Select Comfort, operator of 490 Sleep Number stores, named several executives to key new roles following a supply chain disruption that cause fourth same-store sales to plummet 30%.

Select Comfort named Suresh Krishna to the role of senior VP and chief operations, supply chain and lean officer, effective April 11. He will report directly to CEO Shelly Ibach and assumes responsibilities previously held by Kathy Roedel. She served as executive VP and chief services and fulfillment officer and will retire effective April 7.

Chain Store Age recently spoke with Stefan Weitz, head of product and strategy at eBay Enterprise, about the changing nature of omnichannel retail and what it means for fulfillment strategies.

How important is it for today’s retailers to have omnichannel fulfillment capability?

A few days after announcing a new fulfillment center in Edgerton, Kansas, Amazon.com is unveiling plans for another new center that will serve customers a little further west.

Amazon plans to open a seventh California fulfillment center in San Bernardino, where the company launched its first Golden State fulfillment center in the state in 2012. The retailer currently employs more than 12,000 full-time hourly associates at its six existing California locations and says it will hire more than 1,000 full-time employees in the new San Bernardino facility.