Business Analytics

Sunbury, Pa. — Weis Markets on Monday announced it has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership, a program, that will help the grocer assess the environmental and energy efficiency of the trucks supplying its 161 stores.

Norwell, Mass. -- Bluestone Energy Services has helped The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company substantially reduce energy consumption in hundreds of store locations and warehouses, enabling the supermarket operator to meet aggressive sustainability goals, cut costs, and receive over $4 million in utility incentives.

Atlanta -- RedPrarie Corp., a global supply chain and retail technology provider, announced that BJ’s Wholesale Club plans to use RedPrairie’s transportation management system to streamline its transportation operations and reduce costs. The solution is designed to enable wholesale clubs and retailers to improve operational efficiencies by automating transportation tasks and optimizing the planning of shipments. BJ’s Wholesale Club will be able to better monitor carrier performance and shipment activities throughout the supply chain.

Amstersdam — Ahold experienced several bright spots during its fourth quarter and full year, the Dutch-based supermarket company said.

Fourth-quarter net sales totaled $9.4 billion, a 4.5% increase above the year-ago period, while net sales for the year increased by 2.5% to $39.1 billion.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. on Wednesday announced it is temporarily suspending its efforts to sell its credit-card-receivables portfolio until later this year or early 2013. The company also outlined plans to pay J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. about $2.8 billion, along with a make-whole premium, to retire financing from 2008. The payment, along with a premium, is expected to reduce its fourth-quarter earnings by about 8 cents per share.

New York City -- The Grupo Pao de Acucar, the largest retailer in South America, has selected the SAP Carbon Impact OnDemand solution to monitor and manage carbon emissions and energy consumption in each of its 1,832 stores. The solution, from SAP, will help the group, long recognized as a sustainability leader for retailers both in Latin America and globally, to more effectively control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase the data quality of environmental reports submitted to financial and sustainability regulatory agencies.

Atlanta -- Retail analytics solution provider QuantiSense said Monday that Urban Outfitters has licensed its full suite of solutions including QuantiSense Merchandising, Direct and Store Ops.

Urban selected the QuantiSense Decision Orchestration Platform, which combines business intelligence, data warehousing and sophisticated retail analytics into role-based, actionable and repeatable processes.

NEW YORK — Retail industry sales are expected to rise, albeit not at the same pace as 2011, according to the National Retail Federation.

Retail industry sales will rise 3.4% to $2.53 trillion, NRF said, compared with a pace of 4.7% in the year-ago period. The expected slowdown in consumer spending, NRF said, will be influenced by a number of factors, including stalled unemployment rate and lack of newly-created jobs. But despite the lower projection, the industry is expected to garner stronger numbers than other industries, NRF said.